Page 7 - Outdoor Oklahoma July/Aug 2021

and you can be proud of Blackburn. He did everything a wildlife
Game Bag
officer could do to be helpful (to a resident no less) and left a
Welcome theDock! A COLLECTION OF LETTERS TO THE WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT lasting good impression of the Oklahoma Department of Wild-
to
life Conservation.
William C. Bridgforth, Pine Bluff, Ark.

We’d like to hear from you! Send your letters to Outdoor Oklahoma
Letters, P.O. Box 53465, Oklahoma City, OK 73152, or send e-mail to
donald.brown@odwc.ok.gov. Dear Wildlife Department,
I recently had Upland Game Biologist Tell Judkins out to my
property in Pittsburg County to look at quail habitat improve-
Dear Director J.D. Strong,
ments. My father-in-law and I couldn’t be more impressed with
I want to take the opportunity
Tell. It was nice seeing somebody really into their job! Thank
to thank you and the Oklahoma
you for the valuable resource!
Department of Wildlife for being Kyle Thomson, Pittsburg County
an integral part of the Oklahoma
Highway Patrol’s Captain Merit
Promotion Process. By accommo- Dear Wildlife Department,
dating our request and allowing I started hunting
your officer to participate, the in northeast Okla-
Promotion Board was a success. homa in 1938, and
it was only rabbits,
Lt. Col. Wade Farrar (ODWC Lt. Col. Wade Farrar
Assistant Chief, Law Enforce- squirrels and quail
ment) was an excellent choice who performed his assignment — no turkey or deer.
with utmost diligence and professionalism. My sincere appre- I’m so grateful that
ciation for a job well done. nowadays, there are
Col. Brent A Sugg III, Chief of Patrol, OHP turkeys in good num-
bers statewide most
every year. I had the
Dear Director J.D. Strong
chance to bag the
It was my pleasure to hunt tur-
biggest tom of my
keys in your great state last week.
life this spring near
I was able to harvest one on April
Woodward, and I
10 in Custer County and one in
got the biggest buck
Roger Mills County the follow-
whitetail I’ve ever
ing morning. When I returned to
harvested last fall. I
camp, I tried unsuccessfully on
just wanted to thank the ODWC and its wildlife biologists who
my phone to register them online,
knew what they were doing in managing wild turkeys and deer.
so I called the help line and a
Game Warden Tucker Blackburn At 90 years old, I look at where we are today compared to how
very courteous lady gave me the
things used to be, and the efforts of the Wildlife Department
number for Game Warden Tucker Blackburn.
have been a great success! I plan to keep hunting as long as I
I called him and he could not have been more helpful and
can, and I just want to thank ODWC for making it possible.
more courteous. He told me he would come to the camp, near Jack Keeling, Muskogee
Wheeler, Texas, and help me if I needed him to. I told him I
would try again. He assured me it would not be an inconve-
nience and to call him if I still needed help. ERRATA: In the May/June 2021 issue, an author of an article
As a former chairman of the Arkansas Game & Fish Com- titled “Kayak Fishing Primer: Getting Started Right” was mis-
mission, I know well how important it is for the wildlife agen- identified. The authors are Danny Bowen, Fisheries Biologist
cies to have courteous, competent and helpful wildlife officers, (retired) and Bruce Burton, Wildlife Biologist (retired).

July/August 2021 5

6/16/2021 9:13:12 AM
OutdoorOK-2021-July-August.indd 5 6/16/2021 9:13:12 AM
OutdoorOK-2021-July-August.indd 5