Governor Vetoes Nevada Apprentice Hunting Bill

Your Support is Needed to Help Override the Governor’s Veto

On Thursday, May 28, Governor Jim Gibbons (R) vetoed Assembly Bill 246.  AB246 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. 

AB 246 passed the Assembly on May 15 by an overwhelming vote of 38 to 2 with 2 absent and passed the Senate on May 22 by a unanimous vote of 21 to 0.   Even with the overwhelming support by the Assembly and the Senate the Governor still decided to veto this important legislation to help preserve Nevada’s hunting heritage.

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. 

It is vital that Nevada’s sportsmen voice their support for the apprentice hunter program.  This dramatic step toward improving the state’s abysmal hunter recruitment rate is too important to reject.

It is CRUCIAL that you contact the Republican Minority Leaders and the Legislators listed below TODAY and respectfully urge them to vote to override the Governor’s veto of this important legislation.

State Assembly

Assemblywoman Heidi S. Gansert (R-25), Minority Leader
[email protected]
775-684-8837

Assemblyman John Hambrick (R-2)  
[email protected]
775-684-8827

Assemblyman Richard McArthur (R-4)       
[email protected]
775-684-8829

Assemblyman Chad Christensen (R-13)
[email protected]
775-684-8853

Assemblyman Joseph Hardy (R-20) 
[email protected]
775-684-8857

Assemblyman Lynn D. Stewart (R-22)
[email protected]
775-684-8823

Assemblyman Melissa Woodbury (R-23)
[email protected]
775-684-8503

Assemblyman Ty Cobb (R-26)
[email protected]
775-684-8848

Assemblyman Don Gustavson (R-32)         
[email protected]
775-684-8851

Assemblyman John C. Carpenter (R-33)
[email protected]
775-684-8831

Assemblyman Pete Goicoechea (R-35)      
[email protected]
775-684-8573

Assemblyman Ed Goedhart (R-36)   
[email protected]
775-684-8805

Assemblyman Tom Grady (R-38)     
[email protected]
775-684-8507

Assemblyman James Settelmeyer (R-39)   
[email protected]
775-684-8843

State Senate

Senator William J. Raggio (R- Washoe County No. 3), Minority Leader     [email protected]
775-684-1419

Senator Mark E. Amodei (R-Capital Senatorial District)    
[email protected]
775-684-1470

Senator Mike McGinness (R- Central Nevada Senatorial District) 
[email protected]
775-684-1442

Senator Dean A. Rhoads (R-Rural Nevada Senatorial District)     
[email protected]
775-684-1447

Senator Barbara K Cegavske (R- Clark County No. 8)
[email protected]
775-684-1445

Senator Dennis Nolan (R- Clark County No. 9)      
[email protected]
775-684-1421

Senator Warren B. Hardy II (R-Clark County No. 12)
[email protected]
775-684-1462

Senator Randolph Townsend (R-Washoe County No. 4)   
[email protected]
775-684-1450

Senator Maurice E. Washington (R-Washoe County No. 2)         
[email protected]
775-684-1480