Outdoors legislation

During the past deer hunting season, a former state legislator was ticketed for shooting a white or piebald deer without first getting written permission from the state wildlife director.
Now, there is a bill in the Oklahoma Legislature to allow hunting of white deer without written approval from the state wildlife director.
Coincidence? I think not. But no one is ever denied permission to hunt white deer anyway, so it’s a needless hoop that hunters have to jump through.
Other outdoor-related bills that have been introduced this legislative season include a bill to exempt all lifetime hunting and fishing license owners from any other additional permits or requirements, such as the black bear hunting license and sandhill crane permit.
Makes sense to me. A lifetime hunting license should include everything.
Another bill would allow for hunting with gun suppressors with landowner permission. A similar bill failed last year when game wardens opposed it.
And there are catfish anglers still upset with the blue cat fishing regulations.
The catfishing community was divided two years ago when the state Wildlife Department set a limit on the number of trophy blue cats that could be kept per day to just one.
Anglers could still keep a total of 15 catfish per day, but only one blue catfish can be 30 inches or greater.
Hundreds of anglers signed a petition last year trying to get the regulation repealed but that attempt failed. A bill has been introduced again this year to try and repeal the regulation.
State wildlife officials contend that too many big blue catfish are being harvested from Oklahoma waters. One big blue per day seems plenty to me. Keep raping the resources and no one will have any.

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