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This year’s recipient of the coveted ODWC Landowner of the Year award is Mr. Gerald Choate of Catoosa. A small business owner in Tulsa, who owns a modest-sized property south of Henryetta, Mr. Choate demonstrates how and why small businesses (and land-parcel owners) can succeed in Oklahoma – by utilizing fiscal prudence and creativity. In a season of football, Choate’s story is analogous with a budding college program working hard and succeeding with NFL efficiency, but achieving those goals using only a high school budget.

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2019 Landowner Conservationist of the Year Award: J.D. Strong, Director-ODWC; Russ Horton, Research Supervisor; Gerald Choate, honoree; Bill Dinkines, Assistant Chief-Wildlife; Carlos Gomez, Game Warden; Wade Free, Assistant Director-ODWC.

In spite of its inconvenient location 90 minutes from his home in Catoosa, Choate has been able to transform his 325 acres into a wildlife oasis in just 12 years. Carved from the rough hills above the North Canadian River near Dustin, this diamond-in-the-rough quickly emerged from Choate’s investment of knowledge, tight budgets and sweat-equity. Mr. Choate has employed all the conventional equipment, including a brushhog, disc, tree-pincher, ATVs, broadcasters and chainsaws. But maximizing relationship-resources has been perhaps his most unusual and creative asset. Studying and strategizing existing openings, maximizing the periodic benefits of fire, ongoing mineral-exploratory operations on or near his property, and leveraging neighboring landowner alliances, have all contributed to accomplishing his management goals.

One beneficial nugget has been his use of a 60:40 mix of wheat torye grains (not grass) mixed with prescribed seeding densities of turnips, cabbages and clovers, planted all together in the early fall. The wheat provides the early-season food; turnips produce a late-season food; and the rye serves as both a natural, inexpensive fixator of nitrogen (fertilizer) and “weed-reducer”. Maintaining 10 percent of his total acreage in food plots, he strives to keep them connected where possible using mowed, disked, and seeded openings following the naturally occurring travel-lanes. When coupled with strategically timed and rotating controlled burns, and protected brush-piles, the property has transformed from good land into great land.

With only the help of a son and daughter-in law, he works the plots and trails on a three-year rotational basis. To many, this could be daunting and easily overwhelming. But to landowners like Gerald Choate who possess a sportsman’s passion, helping wildlife flourish and making it ‘want to be on his land’ has also been therapeutic!

Beyond the satisfaction of improving the wildlife populations, Choate sees his most gratifying reward when ‘sharing his fruit with others.’ Gerald generously realizes there’s more fun in having fruit when you can share with others. He fully understands wildlife is a renewable resource that can provide plenty for many and that has been the real cherry-on-top for Tulsa area sportsmen. Through Gerald’s participation and support to his local National Wild Turkey Federation chapter in Tulsa, a great many sportsmen have become familiar with him and witness to his productivity. By donating hunts for fundraising, he’s been directly responsible for many thousands of dollars dedicated to NWTF-supported programs in Oklahoma that benefit untold numbers of sportsmen. But locally, many have also come to anticipate, and rival to win, one of his great guided-hunts at the annual NWTF banquet. This has created opportunities for friendships to flourish among many sectors of our conservation community including benefits to local game wardens and their professional relationships. Beyond giving all a chance to share and witness kids and adults harvest their first buck or tom turkey, it’s also provided Tulsa sportsmen and women a social setting to go beyond just being fellow sportsmen to becoming very good friends – all working together in conservation.

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