During its regular meeting on Dec. 8 in Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission approved the entire slate of proposed regulation changes as recommended by Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation Chief of Fisheries Ken Cunningham and Chief of Wildlife Bill Dinkines.

Along with several new rules, some of the changes are simple housekeeping matters or already in effect as emergency rules. The approved rule changes include: – Removing the 14inch minimum length limit on spotted bass at Blue River Public Fishing and Hunting Area to better align with statewide rivers and streams black bass regulations.

– Adjusting the 18inch minimum limit on walleye, sauger and saugeye to the statewide minimum size limit of 14 inches for Shell Lake and Bluestem Lake. – Updating the list of restricted exotic aquatic species to match the Federal Injurious Wildlife list.

– Establishing rules on when and how a UAV (drone) can lawfully be used in scouting for and recovering downed wildlife.

– Allowing daily waterfowl blinds only (no season-long blinds) on United States Army Corps of Engineers or Bureau of Reclamation areas (already in effect as an emergency rule).

– Establishing hunting seasons and dates, camping and other regulations for the new Herron Family Wildlife Management Area (already in effect as an emergency rule).

– Requiring nonresidents to indicate their intention to access any wildlife management area for any activities by checking-in to an online system (already in effect as an emergency rule).

Currently, these new rule changes do not affect Sequoyah County or the nearby region.

Commis s i on e r s considered all public comments on the rule change proposals before voting. The changes will become effective later this year upon legislative and gubernatorial action, and they will be reflected in the annual 2026-27 Oklahoma Fishing and Hunting Regulations to be published around August.