The 2023 Oklahoma legislation session is halfway through. The following sportsmen-related bills have crossed over. This means a bill that did not pass out of its house of origin, is essentially defeated for the year.
HB 2353 requires the open hunting season for black bears to include a muzzleloader period, and an archery period starting no earlier than September 1 of each year.
House Bill 2644 recognizes the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding adults who are transporting, carrying, or storing their firearms or ammunition in a locked vehicle.
HB 2647 protects Oklahoma’s firearm industry from those who want to destroy the sporting community with crippling lawsuits against firearms manufacturers for the violent acts of third parties.
HB 2868 creates a five-day hunting license for nonresidents hunting winged upland game, excluding wild turkey, in a commercial hunting area.
SB 648 specifies that persons intending to kill feral swine on public property during the night shall be required to obtain a permit from the Department of Wildlife Conservation. The measure also strikes language requiring landowners to have a current agricultural exemption permit as it relates to the night hunting permit.
SB 910 authorizes the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission to declare an open season to hunt and harvest velvet bucks during the time beginning on the Saturday morning prior to the last weekend of August to the Sunday evening of the last weekend of August in counties that can sustain an open season.
SB 941 directs the Wildlife Conservation Commission to prepare a report for the Legislature with proposed licensing fees based on the latest Consumer Price Index year-to-date percent change every 5 years, starting 5 years after the effective date. The measure also increases the maximum age for persons exempted from fishing and hunting license requirements from 16 to 18.
The Sportsmen’s Alliance will continue to monitor the legislative session and alert our members and supporters on matters of interest. Please take a moment to check out our legislative map to see all the bills the Sportsmen’s Alliance is monitoring in Oklahoma and around the nation.
About the Sportsmen’s Alliance: The Sportsmen’s Alliance protects and defends America’s wildlife conservation programs and the pursuits – hunting, fishing and trapping – that generate the money to pay for them. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation is responsible for public education, legal defense and research. Its mission is accomplished through several distinct programs coordinated to provide the most complete defense capability possible. Stay connected to Sportsmen’s Alliance: Online, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
