New hunting, fishing proposals also to be reviewed
New hunting, fishing proposals also to be reviewed

U.S. Forest officials and state wildlife officials have scheduled unrelated public meetings next week to discuss proposed changes that will affect outdoor recreation in southeastern Oklahoma.

The most controversial involves the planned restrictions on the use of off-road vehicles in the Ouachita National Forest in Le Flore and McCurtain Counties. Beginning Oct. 1, off-road vehicles in the forest will be restricted to designated trails only.

Riding ATVs and other motorized vehicles is the fastest growing recreational use in the national forests. Recreational riders from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana flock to the Ouachita National Forest to play.

"Ten years ago it was unusual to see any ATV riding here,” said Gary Rose, federal law enforcement officer with the U.S. Forest Service in the Ouachita National Forest. "Now, we've literally got hundreds and even thousands of people every weekend.”

Because of the growing trend in off-roading and increasing damage to the forest as the result, the U.S. Forest Service nationwide is restricting riding to designated trails only in national forests.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, public meetings are scheduled in Poteau and Idabel where U.S. Forest officials will unveil their choices for designated trails. This is the third and final set of public meetings in the initial process of designating trails, said C. J. Norvell, spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service.

More trails and a "game retrieval” exception to the rules have been added to the trail system from the map that was shown to the public at previous public meetings, Norvell said.

During deer seasons, hunters will be able to retrieve a downed deer on an ATV, but they can't go randomly searching for the animal on a motorized vehicle, she said.

After Oct. 1, the designated trails will be reviewed annually and possibly changed, she said.

"We are kind of scattering (designated) trails all over (the forest),” Rose said. "What the public has been asking for, we are trying to accommodate them.”

But beginning Oct. 1, off-road users will not be able to travel as freely through the forest as they have done in the past.

This year's list of changes has not sparked the kind of controversy like last year when state wildlife officials wanted to reduce the deer buck limit from three to two and establish a trophy deer zone in southwestern Oklahoma. Hunting seasons on black bears, mountain lions and river otters also were debated last year.

The most significant hunting change proposed this year is to extend the deer gun season on the Broken Bow, Honobia Creek, Three Rivers and the Ouachita Wildlife Management Areas from nine to 16 days, making it the same as the statewide season on private land.

"Those areas are big enough they can withstand the additional hunting pressure,” said Alan Peoples, chief of the wildlife division for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.

Other proposed rule changes would allow deer archery hunters to harvest a deer of either sex from Jan. 1-15. Currently, only antlerless deer may be taken.

The number of deer that could be harvested annually by bowhunters would increase from four to six deer under another proposal. Other hunting rule changes include:

Changing the deer gun season limits and muzzleloader season limits on Keystone and Skiatook wildlife management areas so the limit on each season would be one antlered and one antlerless deer.

Changing the muzzleloader season at Lexington WMA to allow for the harvest of antlerless deer the second Saturday and Sunday of the season. Currently, deer muzzleloader season on Lexington WMA is limited to antlered deer only.

Allowing hunters certified to use a crossbow to use a device that permits a bow to be held mechanically at full or partial draw for archery hunting.

Between April 1 and June 15, fishing for alligator gar would be catch and release only and bowfishing would not be allowed.

Spotted bass are very slow-growing and do not reach the size of largemouth bass, but they compete for the same food in Oklahoma lakes with largemouth and smallmouth bass.

"They are taking groceries away from the fish we like to produce,” said Jeff Boxrucker, assistant chief of fishers for the state wildlife department.

State wildlife officials want bass anglers to remove more spotted bass from Oklahoma lakes to improve the fishing for the more desired species, largemouth and smallmouth bass.

Alligator gar, one of the most ancient fish in Oklahoma, can be found in the Red, Little, Mountain Fork and Deep Fork river systems. Currently, there are know limits on how many an angler or bowfishermen can catch and state wildlife officials want to protect the species from being wiped out.

"We know very little about the population,” Boxrucker said. "We do know that there are much less of them than there were historically. We are erring on the side of caution (with the proposed rule change).”

An Oklahoma State University graduate assistant, Eric Brinkman, is currently conducting research on alligator gar in Oklahoma. Biologists want to learn more about growth rates, seasonal movements and population estimates of the fish.

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