…and other weekly hunting news from Oklahoma.
The senior class of Sasakwa High is sponsoring a crow hunting tournament
on March 1st. [Watch for the next big school shooting to happen there, sometime after March 1st.]
[Crow] “hunters” can register for the tournament as individuals or
three
person teams.
The deadline to enter is Feb. 17th. The cost is $20 per person. The
first
place will pay 35 percent of the entry fees. The second place will be
awarded
15 percent.
The Okla. Station Chapter of the Safari Club International is holding its
29th
annual convention banquet and fundraiser on March 1st at the Okla.
Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
In 2010 and 2012, the chapter’s banquet program won best-in-class among
all the organization’s chapters across the world.
The 2014 banquet will feature much more. This includes more than
$500,000
worth of auction items such as big-game hunts around the world, bird hunts,
fishing trips, guns, gear, jewelry, sculptures and more.
Auction items can be viewed on line and the tickets are $75 in advance or
$95 at the door
Photo Copyright Jim Robertson
Okla. is now debating whether to hunt a young deer buck or shoot a trophy
deer. Now, deer associations and landowners work together to manage
deer and other wildlife on their properties, with a common goal, such as
protecting young bucks and increasing the buck age structure.
A bill has been introduced in the Okla. House of Representatives that
proposes a 6-point antler restriction on bucks for hunters ages 17 or
older.
This is an attempt to protect young bucks. They can’t grow into trophy
bucks if they keep getting killed as yearlings.
Other states have similar restrictions. However, some wildlife officials
don’t think it would work in Okla.
Because so many deer hunters voluntarily do not kill young deer, wildlife
officials believe that the trend in Okla. is that more hunters keep passing
on young bucks.
One official notes “Hunters are better educated, and they are more
selective about what they harvest.”
Four of the top five states that had the lowest percentage of yearling
bucks
harvested were states that did not have any antler regulation.
Depending on which side of the deer management debate often depends
on whether you primarily hunt for meat or hunt for horns.
The Okla. Wildlife Dept. tries to please both groups thru liberal hunting
seasons and Deer Management Assistance Programs for landowner
interested in managing for bigger bucks.
Exposing the Big Game 
I’m in Oklahoma and am so glad you posted about the ‘crow hunt’. Sasakwa is a tiny town in Seminole County. I did a short search and found out there is a Sasakwa cheerleader’s predator hunt. After another search I find there is a coyote hunting contest scheduled for Feb. 22, 2014, which is probably the coyote slaughter contest. The information on that hunt can be found here, http://www.facebook.com/SasakwaCoyoteHunt
Another coyote slaughter contest in Oklahoma happened on February 8, 2014, and the information is here, http://www.boomershooter.com/forums/index.php/topic/14141-5th-annual-north-canadian-coyote-calling-contest/
Another coyote slaughter contest was held in Elk City, OK back on January 4, 2014. The information is here, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Western-Oklahoma-Coyote-Calling-Contest/
This is infuriating. I would write to the town newspaper, but there isn’t one, so I will be writing about these killing contests in letters to the editor for the Tulsa World and, the racist rag, The Daily Oklahoma. I’ll send one to the newspaper that is the most local to Sasaska, too. Shawnee, OK newspaper; Seminole, OK newspaper (if they have one).
Right now, I’m completing a M.S. in Environmental Science with a focus on watersheds. This is my last semester of classes, but my thesis work won’t be finished and defended until next December. Given that I’m a non-traditional student (well in to mid-life), and work full time it doesn’t leave much spare time. It’s been a busy semester, too. Anyway, my plans for when I finish the degree is to start moving to get more attention and, hopefully, reform to hunting and trapping laws. I will start in my home state, Oklahoma, which means I have a major battle ahead. I’ve contacted Project Coyote to see if they were interested in getting a presence in Oklahoma, and if so that I was interested. They requested I send them a Curricula vitae. I will go from there. If that doesn’t work out I will start my own NGO once I’m finished with this degree and have the time to dedicate. When that happens, and it will happen, I will be at as many pow-wows (yes, I’m Native American), and small town outdoor festivals as I can attend. These killing contests have raised the ire in me, and I will not let go of this.
Until fairly recently I had no idea of these coyote killing contests. It is ridicules, unethical, inhumane, and immoral the way our hunting laws are decimating, destroying, and torturing our wildlife. I’m really quite fed up. I’m fed up with the killing contests and I’m fed up with the traps.
Thanks for speaking out for coyotes and others there. You may not win any popularity contests with most of the folks in Ok, but we’d love to read what you write to the papers you mentioned.
HAHAHA You don’t even have a clue and the biggest difference you will make on this earth is how many beer cans are thrown in the ditch.
OMG, it just never ends. š¦
Stupidity will never end if there is no law to stop them! “Creekwaterwoman”you are a sweet heart!Thank you!!!!
Reblogged this on "OUR WORLD".
I am fed up with backward-thinking individuals who come up with these “fun for the entire family” killing events! What worthless, deplorable, god-forsaken lives people must lead in order to find fun and entertainment in the mass killing of innocent animals!! Squirrels, crows, wolves, coyotes, badgers, prairie dogs, skunks, raccoons, pidgeons, doves, deer, bears… the list is endless, or so it seems. And, no end in sight! I am sickened. The very idea that this is ‘fun’ and for children as well as adults ought to be treated as child abuse. Teaching children love and respect for the animals that grace our continent should be our priority, not instilling a lust for the life, the blood and the hides of these magnificent animals. When will our statesmen stand up against the almighty gun toters and call them evil which is what they are!? When will they put a stop to these insane, backward ‘traditions’ such as rodeos and circuses? When will they stop the horrible culls, blood-fests, animal bashings and have the guts to call them what they really are? Nothing but a widescale wipeout of innocent animals… Stop this insanity! It is not right!
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About the crow kill — I wrote to the principal of the high school and received a polite but annoyed letter back. He wrote that the school has nothing to do with the hunt. He informed me that while he hunts for food, he does not take part in this contest. Right or wrong, this crow kill contest is legal, so he says. It is a community event but has nothing to do with the school. He asked to stop spreading misinformation. While I obviously find crow killing despicable, this beleaguered principal isn’t the right person to complain to. Would love to know what others have learned via writing him.
The senior class is sponsoring it, but apparently the principal is such a hunting apologist that he’s not willing to inform you who we should contact instead.
Here is his email to me, and below it, the email I sent to him…
In regards to the crow hunt:
Everybody has been mislead and misinformed on the crow hunt. NO school children take part in the hunt. The event is not held at the school and not during school time and once again no students are involved with this event. It is a hunt for the community and surrounding areas. This is a large hunting community and it is a legal activity in the state of Oklahoma. I understand your concern for children and the welfare of animals. Although, I am an avid hunter and fishermen, I only harvest animals that my family and I will eat. I myself do not take part in the hunt. So please stop spreading false information that has been twisted via the internet and certain peoples agendas.
thank you,
Brent Griffin
——————————————————————————–
From: Bmoritsch@aol.com
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2014 21:25:58 -0500
Subject: Crow killing contest?
To: brentgriffin13@hotmail.com
If this is true, I strongly urge you to cancel the event, or, if it has been held already, don’t ever do it again. How can you teach children reverence for life if you teach them killing for fun is acceptable? This is morally very, very wrong.
Barbara J. Moritsch
Good response to him, Barbara. The information about the senior class sponsoring the crow hunt came from the Oklahoma game department’s Weekly Hunting News. I posted it word for word. Nothing is twisted except the people who hunt crows. Time for someone to eat crow, unless they aren’t all as “ethical” as the principal claims to be.
My letter back is identical. My letter to him was similar to yours . . . a bit longer. If no school kids are involved in the hunt, then what is up with the senior class sponsoring it? Is it some weird offshoot of AARP?
Oh. Just saw this from you. You can pretty much disregard my prior response, wondering why you said to contact him and the school coordinator. Keep us posted if you learn anything else. And thanks.
Karen DeBraal–I got the same letter in response to my email…It is important that we direct comments to the right people. Exposing Big Game–can you help with this?? I also cannot find anything about this “event” when I do internet searches.
They must be keeping it pretty quiet. I heard about it through someone who sends out the Oklahoma Weekly Hunting News from their “game” department.
You can try calling Coordinator Debra Thompson at Sasakwa High School at 405-941-3213. Tell her you know it’s not a school event, but the Senior class is sponsoring it, so they can’t play completely dumb. Ask her who else would she recommend you contact.
This is a repeat of the prior contacts and we both already wrote the principal and got the same later back. See my prior post. Do you have any other info on this?
There were announcements on the school website last week about the ‘cheerleader’s annual predator hunt’ and the crow hunt. I guess people have been calling them. I assume they removed it from the website.
I’m getting ready to drop a letter in the mail to the school district superintendent. I’m going old school since I’m state local.
James Matthews, Superintendent
Sasakwa Public Schools
106 N. Olive ST
Sasakwa, OK 74867
A link to let you know it is indeed happening. I guess the school principal has called out for help.
http://www.duckhuntingchat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=439441&start=0
Good that we got them to remove it from the website, but I wish it meant they would end it completely, rather than just hiding it. I can’t believe their principal is in such denial.
I can’t find anything worth much either. There is mention of it on a coyote killing site, and it seems the Safari Club is involved. Seems “Exposing the Big Game” is giving us a repeat of the original contacts. I didn’t phone Debra Thompson as I have a phone aversion. Let me know if you discover anything. wonder how many contacted the principal.
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