Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has accused Gov. Kevin Stitt of “spreading misinformation” in an ongoing dispute over tribal hunting rights in Oklahoma.
Stitt launched a series of social media attacks on Drummond after the Attorney General – a candidate to replace Stitt as Governor – warned state wildlife officials to stop prosecuting tribal members for hunting and fishing in Indian Country.
The scuffle is the latest in an ongoing dispute over tribal fish and game rights in the state. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation announced in October that it would begin ticketing anyone believed to be violating the state’s wildlife laws, regardless of tribal citizenship. The Choctaw, Chickasaw and Cherokee nations filed a federal lawsuit in November challenging the state’s stance on fish and game enforcement in November. Stitt, the Department of Wildlife Conservation and a special prosecutor the governor appointed to handle wildlife cases have been named as defendants.
Drummond’s office said in a statement to The Frontier that the Attorney General believes tribal members don’t need state permits to hunt or fish in Indian Country, but the situation is different for state-owned property.
“On land the state owns, state interests likely outweigh tribal interests, and a state permit would likely be required for anyone hunting there, including tribal citizens,” a spokesperson for Drummond’s office said.
Stitt’s office called on Drummond to clarify the letter he sent to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation in November “to cease enforcement of state wildlife laws against tribal members engaged in hunting and fishing activities on Indian reservations.”
“We’re glad to see the Attorney General has changed his mind and now agrees with what the Governor has been saying: Oklahoma can enforce its own laws on land the state owns, even in Eastern Oklahoma,” a spokesperson for Stitt said in a statement to The Frontier.
We reviewed state, federal and tribal laws, and court records and questioned state officials to fact-check Drummond and Stitt’s recent public statements on hunting laws in the state.
Claim: Drummond and tribal leaders think bear hunting laws should be enforced based on race.
Source: “It’s illegal to bear bait on state property in Oklahoma. Lawless Drummond and tribal bosses think that law should be enforced based on your race,” Stitt said in a Nov. 24 post on X.
Fact check: Mostly false
Tribal citizenship is not a racial identity but a political status. Federally recognized tribes are sovereign nations and can determine their own requirements for citizenship. Requirements for citizenship vary between tribes. Some tribes do have a minimum blood quantum requirement, but others use lineage from an ancestor who was listed on tribal rolls or other qualifying factors.
Oklahoma tribes have their own wildlife regulations that govern hunting and fishing on their reservations, including some that do not allow for bear hunting or specifically ban baiting — the practice of luring bears with food for hunting.
The Chickasaw and Muscogee Nations do not have legal bear hunting seasons and Muscogee wildlife code forbids bear baiting on tribal property. Cherokee citizens wishing to hunt bear have to register with the Choctaw Nation and agree to follow Choctaw rules that also forbid baiting in wildlife management areas or public lands.
-Brianna Bailey
Claim: Tribal members historically have been allowed to hunt and fish within their reservations under state and federal law.
Source: Drummond made this claim in a Nov. 21 press release.
Fact check: True
Early treaties between the United States and American Indian tribes often contained provisions guaranteeing the hunting and fishing rights of the tribe, usually in exchange for the tribe ceding other lands. Even before the 2020 McGirt U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirmed that the Muscogee Nation’s reservation was never disestablished by Congress, tribes mostly held the power to regulate hunting and fishing activities on their own lands within their reservation’s boundaries. Many Oklahoma tribes have their own hunting rules that mostly mirror state and federal requirements.
-Clifton Adcock
Claim: The state attorney general believes a state law banning “spotlighting” for hunting purposes shouldn’t apply to tribal members.
Source: “Spotlighting is ok as long as you’re a tribal member. Well, at least according to Gentner Drummond,” Stitt said in a nov. 22 post on X.
Fact check: False
Both the Choctaw and Muscogee tribes’ hunting regulations specifically prohibit spotlighting deer and other game animals, while the Chickasaw and Cherokee tribes’ hunting regulations incorporate Oklahoma’s existing state wildlife laws, which prohibits spotlighting, into their own code of laws. A spokeswoman for Drummond’s office said in an emailed statement that Drummond believes everyone should follow the law, whether on tribal land or private property. She also said that if wildlife enforcement officers believe a crime was committed by a tribal member on tribal land, they should refer the case and partner with the tribe “as they did previously.”
“The laws have not changed, nor has our commitment to upholding them on both tribal lands and private property alike,” the spokeswoman said in the statement.
-Ari Fife
Claim: It’s unlawful for the state to pursue criminal charges against tribal members for hunting and fishing in Indian Country without permits.
Source: “These enforcement actions are not merely ill-advised—they are unlawful. They expose individual ODWC officers to personal liability, Drummond said in his Nov. 13 letter to Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation Director Wade Free.
Fact check: Mixed
Oklahoma’s power to cite tribal citizens for hunting and fishing without state licenses is in dispute. The Chickasaw, Choctaw and Cherokee nations claim in their pending lawsuit that the state can’t enforce state fish and game laws, which can include criminal penalties, against tribal citizens in Indian Country.The tribes argue that the state’s ticketing of tribal citizens violates federal law and that the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court’s McGirt decision backs them up. That ruling found that Oklahoma doesn’t have the authority to prosecute tribal citizens for serious crimes on reservation land. But state officials say a recent Oklahoma Supreme Court decision, Stroble v. Oklahoma Tax Commission, supports their authority to ticket tribal citizens. The state court ruling found that Oklahoma still has the authority to tax tribal citizens on Indian land.
“Every license dollar funds the conservation programs that benefit hunters, anglers, and wildlife alike, so it is critical that every user contributes to this funding model that has made Oklahoma a top ten hunting and fishing destination,” the Department of Wildlife Conservation said in a statement.
The tribes have asked a federal judge to order the state to stop enforcing wildlife laws against tribal citizens while their lawsuit is ongoing. The state has until Friday to file a response in court.
– Brianna Bailey
Rating system:
True: A claim that is backed up by factual evidence
Mostly true: A claim that is mostly true but also contains some inaccurate details
Mixed: A claim that contains a combination of accurate and inaccurate or unproven information
True but misleading: A claim that is factually true but omits critical details or context
Mostly false: A claim that is mostly false but also contains some accurate details
False: A claim that has no basis in fact
This article was originally published by The Frontier. You can see the original story here.