OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation was cautioned recently by the state Attorney General about pursuing criminal charges against tribal members hunting and fishing in Indian Country.
“These enforcement actions are not merely ill-advised – they are unlawful. They expose individual Wildlife Department officers to personal liability,” Attorney General Gentner Drummond wrote in a Nov. 13 letter to ODWC Director Wade Free. “They waste limited law enforcement and prosecutorial resources on cases that cannot succeed. And they inflict significant harm on the State’s government-to-government relationships with the Five Tribes – relationships that took years to rebuild and that benefit all Oklahomans.”
At issue is a directive from Governor Stitt to ODWC leadership that tribal members will be prosecuted for hunting or fishing on Indian reservations without a state permit. Drummond has vowed to take over such cases and dismiss the charges.
In his letter to Free, Drummond outlined how the policy is based on a “stark misreading” of case law and violates well-established federal law that recognizes tribal sovereignty over hunting and fishing of tribal members.
“The practical consequences of ODWC’s policy are equally troubling,” Drummond wrote. “ I have been informed that: (a) ODWC game wardens are actively threatening and citing tribal members engaged in lawful hunting activities on reservation lands; (b) Citations are being referred to the Governor’s office for prosecution by special counsel in state court; (c) Game wardens are reporting information about tribal members to their superiors, creating investigative files on individuals exercising protected treaty rights; (d) The State has appointed special counsel to prosecute at least one Chickasaw citizen for hunting on the Chickasaw Reservation without state licenses.”
Southwest Ledger called the ODWC’s public spokesman twice last Friday, and the agency’s assistant director on Monday, and left voice messages all three times, but neither of them called back.
The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office announced Oct. 30 they will not allow Native American hunters to be prosecuted by the state for hunting in “Indian Country” without a state license “when they are otherwise acting in accord with duty enacted tribal law.”
A hunting-without-a-license charge that was filed Oct. 24 in Pushmataha County District Court was dismissed Oct. 29 by Senior Deputy Attorney General Jimmy R. Harmon.
“This is another senseless attempt to ignore the sovereignty of the tribal nations in Oklahoma, and it cannot be tolerated,” Drummond said.
Shawn Kohl Robertson, 24, of Antlers, an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation, received a citation Oct. 14 from a state game warden employed by the ODWC.
The ODWC issued a statement Oct. 9 which “reminds all hunters and anglers that state fish and wildlife laws apply to everyone in Oklahoma regardless of race, heritage, or background.” Consequently, Robertson was issued a citation for “resident hunting without a valid license.”
Drummond’s office took over the case and dismissed the charge. He also said that “any further cases filed against members of Native American tribes for hunting on tribal land without a license will be taken over by the Attorney General’s Office and promptly dismissed.”
Drummond vowed he is prepared to argue the issue in court if such policies are not rescinded.
“I take no pleasure in the prospect of litigation between state agencies. But my paramount obligation is to the rule of law and to the protection of Oklahoma’s legal and fiscal interests. ODWC’s current policy threatens both,” he wrote.