Oklahoma Captive Hunting Statutes and Regulations

No Ban: Mammals permitted

Statute

Oklahoma law specifies that "no person may propagate or hold in captivity any wildlife or domesticated animals hunted for sport for commercial hunting area purposes without having procured a license for such from the Director." 29 O.S.A. §4-106A.

Licenses shall be classified as "big game, upland game, or a combination of big game and upland game." Id. at §4-106A.

A big game license is required for "legally acquired exotic ungulates, domesticated animals so designated by the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission, exotic swine, and legally acquired whitetail and mule deer, turkey and other species of big game lawfully taken..." Id. at §4-106A1.

Operations of running pens, including those who use coyotes obtained from wild stock in such pens, are exempt from this license requirement. Id. at §4-106E.

Before obtaining such a license, the applicant must demonstrate, among other things, that "such wildlife or domesticated animals hunted for sport (on the commercial hunting area) will be or have been secured from a source other than the wild stock in this state..." Id. at §4-106B1.

Within a commercial hunting area, any commercial propagator, or any person such propagator may permit under such conditions that he may impose, may, subject to neither season nor bag limit, "hunt with or without dogs, shoot, shoot at, kill, use, sell, give away, transport or ship by public or private conveyance any dead or live propagated wildlife or domesticated animals hunted for sport..." Id. at §5-101A. 

Regulation

Oklahoma regulations specify that "no person may propagate or hold in captivity any wildlife or domesticated animals hunted for sport for commercial hunting area purposes without having procured a Commercial Hunting Area license for such from the Director." O.A.C. §800:25-13-3(a).

Such areas "shall have year round open season and bag limit on the harvest of any legally acquired wildlife or domestic animal harvested for sport." Id. at §800:25-13-3(c).

If wildlife, other than birds, are to be hunted for sport then the Commercial Hunting Area must be enclosed by, at a minimum, a "six foot welded or woven wire or cyclone fence and must be fenced in a way to prevent animals from escaping and be capable of retaining animals within the specified area, or other similar or suitable approved fence." Id. at §800:25-13-6(2).

The regulations also define the tagging requirements for the different species killed on commercial hunting areas. Id. at §800:25-13-9. Additionally, no person may kill or injure any cat or bear in captivity or released from captivity that can grow to a weight of 50 pounds or more. §800:25-27-2.

A license is also required before any person may "breed, possess, or raise native wildlife, except fish, amphibians, aquatic reptiles, aquatic invertebrates or exotic livestock, for commercial purposes..." Id. at §4-107A.

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