Election issues concern sportsmen

Given the height of the bulk election mail stacked on my kitchen table, I can't help but wonder how many trees possibly could be left in our nation's forests. Perhaps some of you can recall an election when more mud has been slung, more personal attacks made or more nonanswers given. I don't know that I can, at least not today.

What I do know is an awful lot of people will be happy once the election finally is over, the phone stops ringing and the mailman quits filling up the mailbox. And that's just my wife and kids. Whatever the outcome, it appears that America's sportsmen will be well represented at the polls this year.

According to a study commissioned by the Safari Club International, 90 percent of sportsmen and women plan to vote in Tuesday's election. Strategic Research, the company that conducted the study, interviewed 500 sportsmen in late September and discovered key issues that will have an effect on voting choices. The bottom line is that 47 percent of sportsmen think their interests are underrepresented in Washington, D.C.

At the top of their list of concerns is the Second Amendment and gun ownership rights -- 93 percent are concerned and 74 percent are very concerned. As you might imagine, this issue generates the most concern in the South and the least in the Northeast. Sportsmen also are concerned about laws governing ammunition -- such as prohibitions against lead -- new hunting equipment laws, hunting license and permitting requirements and land use rights.

One question where I found perplexing answers was: "Of the following, who would you most prefer to go hunting with?"

Don't Know led the field with 37 percent, followed my Mike Huckabee (26 percent), Barack Obama (16 percent), Newt Gingrich (11 percent) and Mitt Romney (9 percent). Am I missing something?

Study participants were fairly evenly split across political party lines -- Democrats (30 percent), Republicans (41 percent) and those who classify themselves as Independents or other (30 percent). The same was true of men (52 percent) and women (48 percent).

■ slow start for upland bird hunters -- The first two weeks have been a struggle for most upland game bird hunters in Southern Nevada, though some hunters have found a few coveys of quail and even some chukar. Action near traditional areas like those between Nelson and Searchlight has been slow. But hunters who are willing to drive a little farther south are finding birds near the Newberry Mountains east of Cal-Nev-Ari. That's also an area where you'll want to keep an eye and ear out for rattlesnakes, especially if the current weather pattern continues.

I spoke with a hunter who spent a few days hunting chukar in central Nye County. Though he wouldn't give the specifics on location, the hunter said he and his friends found good bird numbers. Destinations to consider are the Bare Mountains and Bullfrog Hills near Betty or the country around Mount McGruder between Lida Junction and California. If travel time isn't a problem, the Toiyabe Mountains north of Tonopah is another option, but remember to bring a coat and hat.

Freelance writer Doug Nielsen is a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His "In the Outdoors" column, published Thursday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NDOW. Any opinions he states in his column are his own. He can be reached at intheoutdoorslv@gmail.com.