To Chief Gary Batton and Assistant Chief Jack Austin Jr. The sponsorship by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma for Black Bear Hunts is a shame, against the entire Choctaw Tribe. The World is Watching! On October 1st, 2023, the Ouachita forest floor, (pronounced Washita) in SE Oklahoma, which consists of 3 1/2 million acres of land, will be stained with the blood of our Black Bears. These Bears do not belong to you, to destroy. These Bears belong to all the citizens-from everywhere, that love them. And want them to live. You call your Choctaw Wildlife Department-the Wildlife Conservation Department. Killing the Bears is not Conservation. And there is no justification for their killing. You don’t even know, how many Bears are in Oklahoma, or how many are on the Choctaw Reservation. Some say 1300, some say 2200. In the 1920’s, because of Greed and lust for killing, every Bear was killed to extinction throughout all of Oklahoma and Arkansas. In the 1970’s , Canada brought Bears back into Arkansas and they have slowly migrated back into Oklahoma. We are blessed to have Bears again. But you have started promoting killing of them, all over again. The Indian law of the land, is to coexist. To hold sacred all that the Creator has made. Sponsored Trophy Hunting brings shame,  is a bloodstain against all the Choctaws.  The Indian is expected to be a model of honor and lead by example their ancestral ways. Choctaws were not Trophy Hunters. They were known as great hunters for food to sustain life. But they often said prayers of forgiveness, to the spirit of the animal, needed for survival. What right do you have, to use Tribal funds that belong to the Choctaw people to sponsor Black Bear killing workshops. Workshops that teach how and where to find Bears to kill? How to build bait barrel stations and what kind of foods to bait with. To intentionally bring the Bears in from the deep woods, to kill. So many more people want the Bears protected. Than the small few that want to see them destroyed. What is your justification for a hunt? It isn’t that there are too many Bears. The females only breed every 2 years. And if the area food supply isn’t available in abundance, for enough weight gain by denning time, she can not carry a pregnancy. They regulate their own population. This is a scientific fact- Embryonic Diapause. Such a unique design gifted by nature. No man is needed to regulate their population. Our Bears live in a 3 1/2 Million acre forest. There are no large cities located in this Bear country. Only a few towns at a far distances in between. There is plenty of room for the Bears to live and be very seldom seen. We ask you to  stop this barbaric assault scheduled to reign down upon the Black Bears. There is no place in a civilized society for acceptance of Sports Trophy killing. Do not bring shame upon the Choctaws nor the Indians of other Tribes. Money spent at Choctaw casinos, should not be used in promoting killing of the Black Bears. The World is watching! Stop This Choctaw Nation Black Bear-Sports Hunt!
Signing and sharing! Because the Black Bears belong to all of us! 

Chief Gary Batton and Assistant Chief Jack Austin

Mailing address

The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

P. O Box 1210 Durant, Oklahoma 74702-1210

E-Mail

GaryBatton@ChoctawNation.com

JackAustin@ChoctawNation.com

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