Nicholas Maus, Chairman
Nicholas was born and raised in Nevada and grew up exploring its vast open spaces. As a child he learned to fly fish on the Truckee river and camped in the high sierras. As an adult he learned about backpacking, rock climbing, and hunting. He now spends his free time chasing his two GSPs (Trigger and Blaise) all over the west, fly fishing for LCT’s at Pyramid Lake, and pursuing wapiti all over northern Nevada.
Nicholas got his Master’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Nevada, Reno. He has been involved in renewable energies, manufacturing, quality consulting, R&D, and Lecturing for both the University and the private sector.
Nicholas joined BHA to get more involved in the fight against the privatization of public lands and to help in conservation and wildlife management efforts. BHA has helped him become more involved in his local community and continue to enjoy the wilderness and wide-open public spaces.
Erich Dutchover, Vice Chair
My name is Erich Dutchover. I am an avid wilderness and backcountry hunter. I take hunting public land hunting extremely serious. I’ve even made a point of taking my children hunting with me. I’ve taken all of my children hunting big game on their first hunts very young, just as my father did with me.In California my father and I never had the hunting opportunities that we have been fortunate enough to experience here in Nevada. I harvested my first big game animal in Nevada in 2012 when I harvested a beautiful cow elk solo on the first day of archery season in unit 072, the Jarbidge wilderness. Since then I’ve successfully harvested 16 other big game animals, including a Nelson sheep, in Nevada with Archery, Muzzleloader and Rifle equipment.
Hunting to me is more than antlers, horns or a trophy on the wall. Hunting to me is about spending time with family and friends providing them with the best, healthiest, cleanest, and the most natural meat that we can put on the table. To me hunting is about the experience, that time in the wilderness, and the connection to where our food comes from.
I am an avid public land hunter and I advocate for the rights of public land hunters. As such I feel a strong obligation to promote the protection and expansion of our resources. Without hunters there will be no game, and without hunters our way of life and heritage as hunters will end. Therefore it is of the up most importance to expand our influence and encourage new and young hunters to participate in our heritage.
Patrick Romano, Treasurer
Patrick, a long time BHA leader and public lands lover grew up in Lake Tahoe as an avid fisherman and adrenaline junkie, participating in ski racing and mountain bike racing. He attended Montana State University – Bozeman where he began his path into big game hunting and conservation. There he co-founded the college chapter and club for BHA and served as chapter president while earning his BS in Business Management. He has had the opportunity to live in a plethora of states across the west, getting to reflect and participate in policy and advocacy in a sundry of different political and environmental climates. Today he lives in Reno, NV where he continues to engage with public lands and waters, enjoying conservation and outdoorsman pursuits while chasing elk and mule deer anywhere he can across the West. You may also find him out chasing birds or fish with his dog, Coho in tow.
Hayden Shaw, Secretary
I grew up in the norther Nevada area on a small family farm, raising our own animals and produce where I grew a deep connection to food. Growing up in an environment so closely tied to the food on our plate gave me a very different understanding of how everything came to be there, more so than most of the people around me. Hunting was the next logical step for me after leaving the farm and since I picked up a shotgun and started chasing birds years ago, I’ve been hooked. Living in a state like Nevada has given me an immense appreciation for our public lands and spaces and that’s what we’re here to protect. Most of my hunting season is spent chasing birds over my two Spanish Pointers, exploring all the public lands and open spaces Nevada has to offer.
One of the things that drew me to hunting was the connection to our food. Working as a butcher now, I see the disconnect every day between the public and how that food got to be on their plate. Hunting has given me a way to get that connection back, without the reality of farm life looming in the background.
Bryce Pollock, Policy Co-Chair
Bryce grew up with a Grandpa that was a retired wildlife biologist and parents that ran the local chapter of a conservation organization in Elko County. He was very fortunate to be raised in a sportsman’s paradise hunting, hiking, and fishing for as long as he can remember. It wasn’t until he moved away from his home state that he realized how precious Nevada’s public lands are and how much many residents of the state take them for granted.
Bryce now lives in Reno, NV with a deep appreciation for the outdoors and a passion for protecting the public lands and hunting rights that we Nevadans enjoy. During the summer, you can find Bryce on any tiny stream in a remote Central Nevada mountain range crawling through brush to put a fly in front of a trout.
Molly Beaupré, Policy Co-Chair
Born and raised in rural Nevada I have special love for the beauty of the desert landscape and the peacefulness of being outdoors. My husband and I love hunting, hiking, growing our own food and looking for new ways to live a sustainable life. The memories we have from spending time hiking, hunting and exploring are invaluable to me. I spend my free time breeding, raising and training pack goats, gardening, cooking and learning new skills.
I became involved with BHA because I wanted to make a difference in Nevada and help protect the resources I enjoy so much for future generations. One way I saw to do that was get involved with BHA in order to learn more about the issues surrounding public land, hunting and fishing in Nevada so I could have honest conversations with others. The way forward is educating those who don’t have the experiences I do and helping them see the value of what we do and why we do it. I have had many enlightening conversations that changed the way people viewed hunting, fishing and public lands.
Logan Stamm, Southern Board Representative
Logan was born in Wyoming but now calls Southern Nevada home. He is a firefighter in the Las Vegas area and spends his free time exploring with his wife Lauren and son Cole. Logan grew up camping and hiking mountain streams for trout. These early trips help build a passion for conservation and public lands.
Logan has hunted, fished and backpacked all over the western United States. He spends his summers backpacking and fly fishing, falls hunting big game, and winters chasing birds in the Nevada desert. He is interested in hunting ethics and wild game cooking. Logan is committed to helping BHA protect access and opportunity for future generations.
Luke Barrett, Eastern Board Representative
Luke is a native Nevadan and now lives in Spring Creek, Nevada with his wife and two dogs. He enjoys the many outdoor recreational opportunities offered by living in northeastern Nevada where open space and public lands abound. Luke can be found hiking, backpacking, fishing, and paddling in the summers and hunting and skiing in the fall and winter.
David Weeks, Board Member at Large
I was born and raised just north of Reno, and I have lived in Nevada my whole life. I have been lucky to have hunted and fished across much of our beautiful state since I was a child. My father, uncle, and stepdad were the “Three Kings” of my outdoor education. My father was a diehard duck hunter, my uncle was a flyfishing guide and author, and my stepdad is an upland bird and big game hunter. Thanks to them I have gotten to make some phenomenal memories in some of the most unique places in our state. All but a few were on public lands and waters, which is something that as an adult I no longer take for granted. I know that most of those memories I have with them would not be possible without public land, and that I am lucky to have grown up in a state with so much of it. Which is why I chose BHA. To advocate for the protection of our public habitats from privatization and degradation, so that future generations have an opportunity to make the same kind of memories I did.
Karen Boeger, Board Member at Large
Karen grew up in the farm country of northern California, running across the fields to fish in the American River after school, hiking, camping, backpacking, and fishing with family in the Sierras. Hunting has been a part of her family culture likely since the Pleistocene, all grandparents being immigrants from the "old country". She grew up eating fish and game and harvesting wild greens and mushrooms.
Now a retired school teacher, she has been a Nevada desert rat by choice and a conservation activist there, in the "last of the wild west," for almost half a century. She lived 20 of those years in a remote, way-beyond-the-grid, hand-built homestead in the northwest Nevada mountains with her husband, partner activist and muzzle-loader enthusiast Dan Heinz, now deceased. She now resides in a cabin on an historic ranch in Washoe Valley and continues their work on wildlife, Wilderness and ORV issues. Hiking, burro-packing, canoeing, and accompanying hunter, angler, or outfitter pals into wild places remains the solace for her soul.
Karen feels fortunate to have grown up at a time when much of the west was still wild and the dominant recreational uses were traditional. Within a generation, she has witnessed those opportunities vastly diminish. This is the primary reason she so passionately believes in BHA and their mission of ensuring traditional hunting and fishing opportunities will continue into the future for generations to come.
Kevin Dutchover, Board Member at Large
I began hunting and fishing in California as a young man and shared these activities with my boys, when they were very young. I learned then that it is not about the catch or kill, it is about being outdoors with family and friends. Conservation and Stewardship is important. We are a minority in this country and if we don’t respect and uphold these values we will loose our heritage of supporting wildlife and providing healthy foods for our families. My wife and I moved to Nevada over 9 years ago and enjoy utilizing our public lands and the outdoor activities Nevada has to offer. We now share these values with our grandchildren at every opportunity. I look forward to serving on the Nevada Chapter Board and helping preserve access to our vast public lands.