Nevada: Apprentice Hunting Bill Passes Committee, Heads to House Floor!

Please Contact Your Assemblymember Today!

Yesterday, the Assembly Ways and Means Committee passed Assembly Bill 246.  The bill now heads to the House floor for consideration. 

AB246, introduced by Assemblyman David Bobzien (D-24), would establish an apprentice hunting license that would allow prospective hunters 12 years old and older to try their hand at hunting before completing a hunter education course.  Apprentice hunters would be required to be directly supervised in the field by a mentor who is at least 18 years old and who holds a valid Nevada hunting license.  Experience in more than two dozen other states shows that this apprentice hunting program is exceptionally safe and will bring many new hunters into the field. 

Hunter recruitment is critical to the long-term preservation of our hunting heritage.  Hunter numbers are declining and radical anti-hunting organizations like the Humane Society of the United States are doing everything they can to keep people from hunting.  Nevada currently ranks 49th among the states in hunter recruitment.  For every 100 Nevada hunters who permanently quit hunting, only 30 new hunters replace them.  This slide must be reversed, and AB246 will help in this effort. 

Research shows that overly burdensome regulations deter citizens from trying hunting for the first time.  This includes the current requirement that virtually all prospective hunters complete hunter education.  An apprentice hunting program allows people a “try it before they buy it” opportunity.  Ultimately, many will want to complete a hunter education course in order to hunt on their own and pursue game that requires special tags.  In the end, more citizens will complete hunter education and join the hunter ranks as a result.

Please contact your Assemblymember TODAY and respectfully urge them to support AB246.  Contact information for the committee can be found here.