OLAP property may offer just the right spot for you to land a great hunt, or help someone else do it. (Nick Spears/RPS)
One perceived barrier for why people fall out of hunting is that they don't have a place to go. The Oklahoma Land Access Program can help. In 2016 the Oklahoma Land Access Program (OLAP) was created. The program partners the Wildlife Department with landowners to provide hunting and fishing access to some of the 97 percent of privately owned land in Oklahoma. Through this program, the Wildlife Department leases land from private landowners for public hunting. Most of the properties are archery and shotshell only and follow rules very similar to Department WMAs. Since OLAP’s inception, the program has acquired over 94,000 acres with over 80 different landowners participating.
While the Wildlife Department offers public hunting on WMAs, one thing that makes the OLAP program such a game changer for hunters is the opportunity to hunt on potentially untouched and/or never before hunted ground. These lands are fluid and can enroll into the program at any time (or drop out), so there’s typically always new property to hunt.
There's a few ways to view these properties, but the best way is through the Explorer App from ArcGIS. This app can be found in the app stores for both Iphone and Android. There are several perks to using this app. You can: view aerials of the properties in any map type you can imagine; obtain turn-by-turn guidance directly to the property; draw markups of points of special interest such as rubs, scrapes, tracks, roost trees, etc; get real time updates on property closures and enrollments.
The other way to view OLAP maps is through The Wildlife Department’s website at https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/lands-and-minerals/olap/maps. You can also use this link to obtain PDF printable maps. This is a good option for the less computer savvy folks or if you're going somewhere that you think cell service will be poor.
To speak to the OLAP Biologist, Jeff Tibbits, call (405) 535-7382 or email jeff.tibbits@odwc.ok.gov.
Introducing someone new to the the sport
Why is it important to share our hunting traditions with someone new? For starters our population of hunters is declining across much of the country, and that spells potential danger for conservation. If you didn’t know, hunters are the sole funders for conservation in the U.S. First, wildlife agencies are funded primarily by the sale of hunting and fishing licenses. Plus, tax dollars are acquired from manufacturers by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from the sale of sporting equipment and are then distributed to states to be put back into conservation via our wildlife agencies and conservation organizations.
To put it simply, hunters equal conservation, and conservation equals active wildlife agencies and conservation organizations
I’m not great at math, but take hunters out of that equation, and that equals trouble.
Thankfully, Oklahoma’s hunting traditions are still strong. But how can OLAP help you introduce someone new to the sport? As previously mentioned, the availability of land is one of the main perceived barriers keeping people from hunting. With OLAP opening up more lands across the state, it’s more likely you’ll have a place near you to go.
Just Ask.
Research shows that many people have an interest in hunting, but would just want to be asked to go. It can be intimidating as a novice to start hunting from scratch, and asking an experienced hunter to take you can be even more daunting. Ask someone new if they’d like to tag along, you might just have an OLAP property down the road! Sign up for the OLAP newsletter, to see the newest lands opened for hunting.
- Kasie Harriet is the National Wild Turkey Federation R3 Coordinator for the ODWC. She can be reached at (918) 629-4991 or kharriet@nwtf.net.