Committee amends shed-antler bill after debate over 'deadheads' and regulation authority

Senate Bill 235, a measure on the gathering of shed antlers and certain skulls or heads, drew detailed questioning and a last‑minute amendment from the Nevada Department of Wildlife before the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources voted to move the bill forward.

The bill, introduced in the Senate by Senator Hansen (listed in the committee packet as the sponsor), would clarify when people may gather shed antlers or dead animal heads and whether tags are required. Becky Peratt of the Legislative Counsel Bureau summarized the bill and noted an amendment that restores prior statutory language related to commission rulemaking.

Alan Janae, Director of the Nevada Department of Wildlife, described a department-submitted amendment and said it was intended to send a clarified version to the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners for potential regulation. Janae told the committee, “we do support trying to get some regulation around the deadheads out on the hills,” and said that the department’s proposal was intended to avoid creating a loophole that would allow people to cite deadheads as the reason for being on closed winter ranges.

Assembly member DeLonge pressed for clarity on whether the department’s proposed edits would prohibit ordinary members of the public from picking up an antler found on the ground. DeLonge noted the bill’s different references to shed antlers and to skulls or heads without tags and asked why regulations would be needed for items that the bill otherwise allows to be gathered without a tag.

Senator Hansen, who spoke at the committee table, said he had included an “incidental” provision in his version to avoid criminalizing people who simply pick up an antler while hiking. Hansen said, “I don't want people being criminalized when they simply are picking up an antler when they're on a hike or something like that,” and objected to an amendment he described as changing the bill’s intent. On the record, Hansen did not accept the Department of Wildlife’s amendment and indicated he preferred the language he had circulated to committee members.

Following discussion, Chair Anderson entertained a motion “that we amend with Senator Hansen's submitted amendment, and pass SB 235.” The transcript records the motion was made; later in the meeting the committee provided a floor statement for SB 235, indicating the measure advanced; an on-the-record roll-call vote and tally are not recorded in the available transcript excerpt.

Committee questions focused on two distinct issues: (1) the existing Nevada Administrative Code seasons and county-level seasonal closures for collecting shed antlers in specified counties; and (2) whether the bill should send unresolved technical issues (deadhead definitions, incidental take) to the Board of Wildlife Commissioners for regulation rather than embedding detailed rules into statute.

The committee’s action amends the bill on the record in committee and advances it toward the next stage of consideration. Members asked staff and the department for further clarity on how seasonal restrictions in NAC intersect with statutory language; those technical interactions will follow in rulemaking or subsequent legislative work.