Oklahoma Station - SCI Supports and Contributes Funds Locally & Nationally

The future of hunting is up to each one of us. It is our financial donations, our efforts in the political arena, and our ability to educate the uninformed public of the important role hunting plays in the welfare of the animal population and their habitat. Our activities and energy must focus on 3 areas - Conservation, Education, and Governmental affairs.

We, the members of SCI, are the last best chance that wildlife has to survive in a healthy habitat, and we have to preserve our right to hunt.

Oklahoma Station Chapter, SCI is a 501 c (3) Charitable Status Organization

Protect the Freedom to Hunt

FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO PROTECT OUR FREEDOM TO HUNT & WILDLIFE CONSERVATION PRORAMS - Thirty percent (30%) of net monies raised by the Oklahoma Station Chapter support programs that provide for full-time staff lobbyists & biologists in Washington, DC. Sci is the only hunting organization that has full-time lobbyists & biologists working to provide sound scientific information to influence legislation and regulations that affect hunting both at the federal and state levels. 70% of funds raised by the Oklahoma Station Chapter are used in Oklahoma for hunting-education, wildlife-conservation and humanitarian-services programs.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO OTHER CHAPTERS FIGHTING ANTI HUNTING REFERENDUMS IN THEIR STATES.  2008 support to Alaska Chapter to defeat a wolf referendum that would decimate ungulates (DEFEATED!).

Conservation

OKLAHOMA HABITAT DONOR PROGRAM -

  • Financial support for the Hackberry Flats Wetlands project, Frederick, OK.
  • Financial support for a “Quality Deer Management” program in Lincoln County, OK.


RESTORATION OF RUFFED GROUSE & PRAIRIE CHICKEN - Financial support towards restoration of ruffed grouse and Greater Prairie Chicken habitat in Oklahoma. 2009 support for Audubon Society/OSC conservation project to protect the threatened Lesser Prairie Chicken in Northwest Oklahoma in conjunction with the Lesser Prairie Chicken festival.

INTRODUCED EIGHT (8) ELK INTO THE EXISTING HERD IN SE. OKLAHOMA - Chapter financed the purchase, transportation and release of 5 mature bred cow elk and 2 mature bulls plus radio-collar transmitters for monitoring purposes. These 8 elk will improve the gene pool in the existing elk herd in SE Oklahoma which is in cooperation with the Timberline Elk Ranch, Cushing, Oklahoma, and the ODWC.

2005 AIR BOAT (18 X 8’), 502 CU. INCH CHEVROLET ENGINE 502 HP RATING WAS PURCHASED FOR OKLAHOMA DEPT OF WILDLIFE CONSERVATION USE. Over the past several years, the ODWC has worked to develop comprehensive lake-level plans supporting Japanese millet-seeding programs on Oklahoma Corps of Engineers lakes. Most of these areas are inaccessible to conventional boats due to very shallow water depths and are quite extensive in size, ranging from just a few acres to several hundred. The airboat offers a much higher degree of safety and durability, in addition to increased accessibility to the seeding areas, essential to ensuring the program’s continued success.

ODWC Contributions – Since the foundation of the Oklahoma Station Chapter of SCI, over $ 250,000 has been funded for various Wildlife Department programs either through direct funding or purchase of equipment for ODWC use.

Education

SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR YOUTH EDUCATION & OUTDOOR PROGRAMS – Archery in the Schools program ($ 9,500 in 2008), Last Frontier Council - Boy Scouts of America; Eddy Eagle Gun Safety program; Make a Wish Foundation, Youth Hunter Education Challenge, & the 4H Youth Shooting Team.

OKLAHOMA DEPT OF WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COLORING BOOKS - We purchased 65,000 wildlife conservation coloring books for school children.

APPRENTICE HUNTER PROGRAM -An annual youth essay writing contest that focuses on America’s hunting heritage; co-sponsored by the Okla. Dept of Wildlife Conservation. Two students in the 11-14 age category win scholarships to attend a weeklong program at the YO Ranch in Mountain Home, Texas. One boy and one girl, 15-17, each win a guided pronghorn antelope hunt in New Mexico and presentation of their mounts at the Annual OSC Awards Banquet & Charity Fundraiser.

THE AMERICAN WILDERNESS LEADERSHIP SCHOOL - Each year, our Chapter and the Okla. Dept. of Wildlife Conservation sponsor two Oklahoma educators for an 8-day experience at SCI’s Granite Ranch near Jackson, Wyoming, in fields of wildlife ecology, firearm safety and shooting sports, camping, white-water rafting, stream ecology, natural resource management with a base knowledge from which to evaluate conservation efforts. They bring this training back to their classrooms to educate thousands of Oklahoma youth on the value of hunting as a wildlife management tool.

STEP PROGRAM – Okla.  Dept of Wildlife Conservation’s Shotgun Training Education Program (“STEP”)OSC-SCI supported this program by originally purchasing a custom built 26-foot long gooseneck equipment trailer. OSC purchased two additional trailers in 2008. These trailers carry the program’s portable trap machines, firearms, ammunition, safety and gun maintenance equipment.  In the past 10 years, 100,000 persons in the state of Oklahoma (65% are youth under the age of 18) have participated in STEP, leaning the importance of hunting as a conservation and management tool and improving their shooting skills to ensure the humane harvesting of wildlife.

OKLAHOMA WILDLIFE EXPO – Our Chapter supports the ODWC - Wildlife Expo with significant funding and with workers. This is the biggest and the most successful comprehensive hands-on outdoor education experience and recreation event in State history. Approximately 45,000 attend annually. In 2008, OSC featured “Predators of Oklahoma” with a game for thousands of youth to identify the animals and win a prize for successfully doing so (all eventually won).

WILDLIFE HERITAGE CENTER MUSEUM, ANTLERS, OK. – Our Chapter contributed to the building of the museum/learning center in SE Oklahoma. The operation is a joint agreement of the Okla. Dept of Commerce, Okla. Tourism and Recreation Dept and the Okla. Dept of Wildlife. The facility will be utilized as a regional tourism attraction while at the same time serving as a wildlife and natural resource conservation public education center.

SAFARI IN A BOX - Safari in a Box is a K-12 education kit designed to provide exciting, hands-on learning. It gives teachers and others who work with young people resources and ideas to introduce youth to important concepts of habitat, wildlife management and impacts resulting from human and wildlife interactions. Initial SIB placement was in memory of OSC member David Rocker.

"SCI SAVES CSI” - 2009 support of OSU's "Insect Adventure", a project which teaches basic conservation principles to over 300,000 individuals in Oklahoma each year (and also contributes to the conservation of the endangered American burying beetle, a species valuable in Crime Scene Analysis).

Humanitarian Services

SAFARI-CARE – On numerous occasions, OSC members have traveled internationally and carried medical, educational and relief supplies to villages in need of support.

SPORTSMEN AGAINST HUNGER – OSC originally funded 100% of operating expenses for the program in excess of $200,000 annual budget. OSC also managed the program State-wide for over 10 years. OSC continues to financially support this program annually, and in 2009 we supported this program with a $ 2,000 contribution to ODWC.

SENSORY SAFARI DAY - A hands-on adventure for sightless and sight-impaired children and adults. Members loan their animal mounts for these people to see for the first time, through their fingertips, animals from around the world. The event is co-sponsored by the Okla. Dept. Wildlife Conservation, Oklahoma Station Chapter - SCI and the H&H Gun Range.

VETERANS’ HUNTS – OSC organized Mid-East-Conflict veterans’ hunts in conjuction with Jay Barczak of Wild Game Outfitters-Duchess Creek Ranch, Porum, OK, and in conjunction with other supporters. In 2009, three veterans were drawn from public nominations for guided elk and deer hunts complete with all accommodations. In 2010, OSC and Mankazana Safaris will present a Purple-Heart veteran the hunt of a lifetime. OSC supports our troops who protect our freedoms!