logo
Login Subscribe
Google Play App Store
  • News
    • Obituaries
    • Lifestyle
    • Opinions
  • Sports
  • E-edition
  • Calendar
  • Archives
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Advertisers
    • Form Submission
    • About Us
    • News
      • Obituaries
      • Lifestyle
      • Opinions
    • Sports
    • E-edition
    • Calendar
    • Archives
    • Contact
      • Contact Us
      • Advertisers
      • Form Submission
      • About Us
Wishing You an Enjoyable and Successful 2024
news
January 31, 2024
Wishing You an Enjoyable and Successful 2024
By WADE FREE, INTERIM DIRECTOR OKLAHOMA DEPARTMENT OF WILDLIFE CONSERVATION,

Turning the calendar to another January, I wonder what this year is going to bring. Exciting fishing trips, heart-racing hunts, and making memories with my family come to mind. Well, we here at the Wildlife Department also have some things on the Outdoor Oklahoma radar that we want to share with you.

We’re working with legislators to modernize, consolidate, and update hunting and fishing licenses. Currently, there are more than 100 offerings, and we want to simplify that to fewer than 20. As an example, we’re proposing a “youth super license” for anyone younger than 18 that would cost $25 for residents and $100 for nonresidents. This license would replace all other hunting licenses for them; they could hunt any species or season that’s open.

We will look closely at nonresident deer hunting and management, especially as it relates to our public hunting areas. Our wild turkey research will continue, and we’ve implemented another tool to track local turkey populations.

We will also be assessing the economic value of our two yearround trout fisheries on the Lower Mountain Fork and Lower Illinois rivers in an effort to better manage these important fisheries.

Several years ago, we began an aggressive effort that aims to renovate a dozen existing public shooting ranges and build 20 new ones. The next new build will likely start this spring at Atoka Wildlife Management Area (just down the road from the campgrounds).

As part of our continued effort to expand and improve boating and fishing access for our constituents, we have 12 boating and fishing access projects that will be completed, started, or awarded in 2024.

We continue to monitor and manage the fisheries at our amazing lakes, rivers, and streams, and will again stock about 15 million fish statewide.

Oklahoma again will host the Bassmaster Classic on March 2224 at Grand Lake, with weigh-ins at the BOK Center in Tulsa.

Our Game Wardens are often a first point of contact with the public. Here’s a handy link to their phone numbers: wildlifedepartment. com/ l aw/ game- wardendirectory. Please help them help all of us by letting them know if you see anything that doesn’t look right out there in the woods or on the water.

And lastly, please check out our Wildlife Conservation Foundation (okwildlifefoundation. org). Its sole purpose is to provide financial support for the Wildlife Department, and you can see a list of projects it has funded online: okwildlifefoundation. org/projects.

I look forward to working with our amazing staff to provide the very best fish and wildlife resources our state can offer, and I wish you a great 2024!

The annual 4th of July Fireworks show
A: Main, news
The annual 4th of July Fireworks show
July 9, 2025
Eufaula’s population was swollen over the weekend as thousands of out-of-towners joined locals to watch the annual 4th of July Fireworks show, held Friday, July 4. The display took place over the Eufa...
A: Main, news
City gets more attorneys; OKs growth plan
By JERRY FINK MANAGING EDITOR 
July 9, 2025
New-and-former City Manager Jacob Foos continues to make changes at city hall. Shortly after being re-hired for the position he left in September, 2021, Foos issued a statement that he was establishin...
Local resident stars in U.S. Cellular ad
A: Main, news
Local resident stars in U.S. Cellular ad
By JERRY FINK MANAGING EDITOR 
July 9, 2025
In all of her 58 years Louana Christie, EHS Class of ’85, never thought she would appear before a camera. Movie making was for her older sister, Selina Jayne Dornan, former Eufaula mayor and who once ...
A: Main, news
Eufaula school feels the chill from Trump’s funding freeze
By JERRY FINK MANAGING EDITOR 
July 9, 2025
When the Trump administration announced this week it was freezing over $70 million in education funding earmarked for Oklahoma, it surprised a lot of administrators. Eufaula School Superintendent Mont...
A: Main, news
Trump freezes over $70 million in state’s education funds
July 9, 2025
States won’t receive funds from six federal programs, including after-school care and English learner support, until further notice. NURIA MARTINEZ-KEEL OKLAHOMA VOICE OKLAHOMA CITY — The Trump admini...
Noah Alexander trades football uniform for West Point uniform
A: Main, news
Noah Alexander trades football uniform for West Point uniform
By JERRY FINK MANAGING EDITOR 
July 9, 2025
Noah Alexander will begin his senior year at the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., this fall. It seems like only yesterday he was a stand-out running back for the Eufaula Ironheads, ...
ePaper
google_play
app_store
Editor Picks
Bud McCombs to speak to Friends of Library
news
Bud McCombs to speak to Friends of Library
By LENORE BECHTEL 
July 9, 2025
How Eufaula happened to exist will be Friend’s speaker’s topic at the Eufaula Memorial Library at 1 p.m. Friday, July 18, When Eufaula was only an intersection, the city’s founding fathers lived in a ...
news
Annual Memorial Service planned at Honey Springs Battlefield
July 9, 2025
CHECOTAH — Honey Springs Battlefield will hold its annual memorial service on Saturday, July 19, at 10:30 a.m. to honor the 162nd anniversary of the Battle of Honey Springs near Checotah. The service ...
Calls needed to protect National Weather Service operations
commentary
Calls needed to protect National Weather Service operations
By JOE DORMAN OICA CEO 
July 9, 2025
OKLAHOMA CITY – We at the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy (OICA) extend our deepest condolences to families tragically impacted by the recent flooding in Texas. Flooding along the Guadalupe Rive...
news
Jeff Starling launches campaign for attorney general
July 9, 2025
TULSA ––Jeff Starling, Oklahoma’s Secretary of Energy and Environment, has officially announced his candidacy for Attorney General of Oklahoma. Starling is a conservative, attorney, businessman, and d...
Warriors of God, ready yourselves
commentary
Warriors of God, ready yourselves
July 9, 2025
Of my 56 years of being in this world, 50 of those years I have been filled with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. I was only six years old when I attended my first Tiger Mount...
Facebook

THE EUFAULA INDIAN JOURNAL
100 N. 2nd Street
Eufaula, OK 74432

(918) 689-2191

This site complies with ADA requirements

© 2023 THE EUFAULA INDIAN JOURNAL

  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility Policy