The Big Foot hunting season is off so this is the next crazy idea from our lawmakers.
How about banning the state from purchasing more public hunting land.
From the Daily Oklahoman: >>State Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, is public enemy No. 1 with many hunters in the state.
Murdock, who has tried unsuccessfully in the past to stop the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation from adding more public lands for hunting, is trying again this year with SB 766.
As introduced at the beginning of the legislative session, SB 766 would not have allowed the Wildlife Department to buy more land than it already has.
However, the bill was amended to require the Wildlife Department to stay on the sidelines for six months before attempting to buy land.
It was then approved by the Senate Agriculture and Wildlife Committee and passed overwhelmingly in the Senate by a vote of 39-6.
As written now, the bill states the Wildlife Department could only acquire land, for no more than the appraised value, only after the land has been publicly offered for sale at a minimum of six months at a fair market value.
The bill has now moved to the House, where it likely will be assigned to a committee.
A third of Oklahoma’s hunters rely on the public hunting lands that the Wildlife Department manages, according to theagency’s surveys.
As in the past, a grassroots campaign has formed among Oklahoma hunters and hunting groups in an attempt to defeat the bill. Lawmakers are being inundated with phone calls and emails in opposition.
Corey Jager, legislative liaison for the Wildlife Department, said the agency doesn’t like the six-month restriction before buying land but could live with it. But there is still a question about leasing and having land gifted to the Wildlife Department, she said.
The Wildlife Department’s interpretation is that the bill also would require a six-month wait before the agency could lease property for public hunting and fishing, as it does through its Oklahoma Land Access Program, or before accepting property through a donation, Jager said.
“With the language it has now, we do have concerns with it because we are not sure how it applies to leases and donations,” she said.
Jager, though, said she expects the bill to be amended to exclude lease properties and donations from the six-month wait, along with any private inholdings that might come up for sale that are already within a wildlife management area. “I did talk to Sen. Murdock and I know he has already submitted an amendment to the House author that does clarify that this is only supposed to apply for purchases,” she said.
Murdock, who served in the House from 2014 to 2018 before being elected to the Senate, posted a video on social media last week explaining his motivation behind the bill.
Murdock operates a cattle ranch in Cimarron County and said he is trying to protect farming and ranching for future generations.
“Slowing the government down from owning property,” he stated on the video. “That’s the whole intent of this legislation.”
He urged members of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association
and Farm Bureau — which he claims are in favor of SB 776 — to contact their representatives in support of the bill.
“But be nice about it,” Murdock said in the video, claiming that some hunters have verbally attacked lawmakers.
Murdock said in the video that he would prefer that the Wildlife Department be prevented from buying any more land.
“How much land does Wildlife need,” he said. “They control right now close to 1.5 million acres for Oklahomans to hunt on and they are still actively hunting land to buy.”
The 1.5 million acres of public hunting land the Wildlife Department currently manages represents less than 4% of the land in Oklahoma.
“We see it as an attack on our public lands,” said Josh Karum, chairman of the Oklahoma chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, of Murdock’s bill. “We see it as a back-handed way to limit the growth of our already small public land footprint.” <<<
How about banning the state from purchasing more public hunting land.
From the Daily Oklahoman: >>State Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, is public enemy No. 1 with many hunters in the state.
Murdock, who has tried unsuccessfully in the past to stop the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation from adding more public lands for hunting, is trying again this year with SB 766.
As introduced at the beginning of the legislative session, SB 766 would not have allowed the Wildlife Department to buy more land than it already has.
However, the bill was amended to require the Wildlife Department to stay on the sidelines for six months before attempting to buy land.
It was then approved by the Senate Agriculture and Wildlife Committee and passed overwhelmingly in the Senate by a vote of 39-6.
As written now, the bill states the Wildlife Department could only acquire land, for no more than the appraised value, only after the land has been publicly offered for sale at a minimum of six months at a fair market value.
The bill has now moved to the House, where it likely will be assigned to a committee.
A third of Oklahoma’s hunters rely on the public hunting lands that the Wildlife Department manages, according to theagency’s surveys.
As in the past, a grassroots campaign has formed among Oklahoma hunters and hunting groups in an attempt to defeat the bill. Lawmakers are being inundated with phone calls and emails in opposition.
Corey Jager, legislative liaison for the Wildlife Department, said the agency doesn’t like the six-month restriction before buying land but could live with it. But there is still a question about leasing and having land gifted to the Wildlife Department, she said.
The Wildlife Department’s interpretation is that the bill also would require a six-month wait before the agency could lease property for public hunting and fishing, as it does through its Oklahoma Land Access Program, or before accepting property through a donation, Jager said.
“With the language it has now, we do have concerns with it because we are not sure how it applies to leases and donations,” she said.
Jager, though, said she expects the bill to be amended to exclude lease properties and donations from the six-month wait, along with any private inholdings that might come up for sale that are already within a wildlife management area. “I did talk to Sen. Murdock and I know he has already submitted an amendment to the House author that does clarify that this is only supposed to apply for purchases,” she said.
Murdock, who served in the House from 2014 to 2018 before being elected to the Senate, posted a video on social media last week explaining his motivation behind the bill.
Murdock operates a cattle ranch in Cimarron County and said he is trying to protect farming and ranching for future generations.
“Slowing the government down from owning property,” he stated on the video. “That’s the whole intent of this legislation.”
He urged members of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association
and Farm Bureau — which he claims are in favor of SB 776 — to contact their representatives in support of the bill.
“But be nice about it,” Murdock said in the video, claiming that some hunters have verbally attacked lawmakers.
Murdock said in the video that he would prefer that the Wildlife Department be prevented from buying any more land.
“How much land does Wildlife need,” he said. “They control right now close to 1.5 million acres for Oklahomans to hunt on and they are still actively hunting land to buy.”
The 1.5 million acres of public hunting land the Wildlife Department currently manages represents less than 4% of the land in Oklahoma.
“We see it as an attack on our public lands,” said Josh Karum, chairman of the Oklahoma chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, of Murdock’s bill. “We see it as a back-handed way to limit the growth of our already small public land footprint.” <<<
