The Muscogee Nation filed a federal lawsuit arguing its authority to regulate hunting and fishing activity of its tribal citizens in its reservation, free from state interference. The tribe is suing Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation Director Wade Free and special prosecutor Russell Cochran.
The Muscogee Nation is attempting to put an end to game wardens ticketing citizens of the Five Tribes for hunting on reservation land without a state license and to stop Cochran from prosecuting them for these citations.
The Five Tribes already have a reciprocal agreement to use their own tribal licenses to hunt and fish on all land inside their respective reservation boundaries. But ODWC officials expressed concern over the agreement, and the department has since offered clarification about its enforcement policy in light of two court decisions involving jurisdiction in Indian Country: Stroble v. Oklahoma Tax Commission and Stitt v. Tulsa.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond and Gov. Kevin Stitt have also been at odds over the issue.
Drummond has vowed to protect tribal and hunting and fishing rights, dismissing any cases involving tribal members hunting or fishing on Indian land without state licenses.
"There is no dispute that the tribal nations have jurisdiction to enforce their codes over all Indians within their jurisdiction, nor is there any dispute that proceedings within such jurisdictions would be secure regardless of any further revision or clarification of the law," Drummond said in a letter sent to ODWC Director Wade Free in November.
Stitt, on the other hand, appointed Cochran, a special prosecutor, to oversee the cases Drummond declined to take up, arguing state and federal court rulings say Indians who commit non-major crimes in Oklahoma can be prosecuted by the state.
The lawsuit filed on Jan. 5 by the Muscogee Nation references multiple tribal citizens who are now left in limbo, unsure of whose advice to follow.
Tribal and state officials' disagreement leaves Indigenous citizens in a 'state of uncertainty'
The Muscogee Nation's filings include an account from an enrolled Muscogee Nation citizen, Trey Downum, who has hunted for as long as he could remember. His ability to hunt has accounted for a substantial portion of his family's meals and helped him teach his children to learn how to respect living beings.
Following the 2020 McGirt ruling, which reaffirmed the Muscogee reservation, Downum decided not to purchase a state hunting and fishing license for his daughter. Before McGirt, he bought his other two children licenses, but did not think it was necessary for his youngest child.
"Understanding that our Reservation boundaries had been reaffirmed, and that our treaty right to hunt and fish within our own Reservation would be protected, we decided we did not need to purchase a state license for her," Downum said.
But he began to second-guess this choice after learning about ODWC's decision to cite tribal members hunting without state licenses outside of trust lands. Downum said he sought insight from a game warden he knew.
"The state game warden informed me that for all harvests of game except those taking place on Nation restricted or trust property, he would write me a ticket if I proceeded without a state-issued license or tags," Downum said. "...Given the conflicting messages from the Nation and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, I am left in a state of uncertainty as to which government's laws I am governed by."
A month after his conversation with the game warden, he chose to report a deer killed inside the Muscogee Nation reservation to the state, not his tribe. He said he felt ashamed of this decision, but he wanted to avoid legal consequences.
The filings also include an anecdote from Jordan Pettigrew, an enrolled member of the Muscogee Nation, who was told by a state game warden that a deer her son killed needed to be registered with the state of Oklahoma, not the tribe.
"I had seen posts on social media from Governor Stitt stating that everyone should have to pay the State to hunt and fish—including Indians on their own reservations," Pettigrew said. "That felt like a slap in the face, given what I had learned about our treaty rights."
The Muscogee Nation's lawsuit is similar to one jointly filed in mid-November by the three members of the Five Tribes: Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations. The defendants in that lawsuit — ODWC officials, Stitt and Cochran — have since formally requested the court to dismiss the case.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
