In most places, game wardens routinely check state-issued hunting and fishing licenses, but it’s not that simple in Oklahoma.
Historic confusion was again amplified after five Oklahoma tribes announced a cooperative agreement on July 12 to honor each other’s tribal hunting and fishing licenses on each of their respective tribal lands. Last week, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation fired back with its own statement that the state’s Title 29 laws still apply to everyone.
State game wardens and the hunting and fishing public are caught in the middle.
For decades, confusion reigned with overlapping state and tribal jurisdiction issues where tribal citizens claimed sovereign rights to fish and hunt historic lands without a state-issued license. In 2015, the Cherokee Nation signed the first state-tribal hunting and fishing compact, and the Choctaw Nation soon followed suit. The annually renewed agreements had the tribes purchasing bulk orders of state hunting and fishing licenses at a reduced rate and re-issuing those licenses at no cost to tribal members.