Debate over the treatment of native fish like gar, buffalo, and drum is growing with the approach of an Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation public comment period deadline on Dec. 8
Referred to as “trash fish” for generations, gar, buffalo, drum, and others are most commonly targeted by bowfi shers who enjoy minimal regulation and no bag limits. But times are changing for these species, also sometimes called “rough fish,” but now more commonly lumped together as “native non-game fishes” with greater awareness of their ecological value.
Department proposals to limit bowfishing have angered bowfishers and raised debate over ethics, the status of the fish species, and trust in the department.
The proposed rules force two key questions. Should bowfishers continue to be allowed to shoot native nongame fishes without any bag limits or be limited to a 10fish daily aggregate limit, and should so-called “shoot and release,” something legal in only eight states, continue to be allowed here?
Other new rules specifically define bowfishing equipment and better define fish disposal rules. The proposed limits do not apply to invasive, non-native carp.
Bowfishers say the cut from unlimited take to 10 fish a day is extreme, unfounded, and will cripple guide services and other local businesses that specialize in bowfishing equipment and supplies. Wildlife Department senior fisheries biologist Jason Schooley said regulations are necessary for management, which includes ongoing research.
“We, as an agency, are committed to native non-game fish conservation. Our job is to manage fisheries, and this fishery is yet to be managed, so the time is now,” he said.
A bow fishing community outcry that claimed the department lacked facts killed similar proposals in 2020. The Wildlife Department returned this time with published papers on shoot-and-release fish mortality and a survey of Oklahoma’s bowfishers’ about their success rates and other factors.
The mortality study reports that more than 50% of fish hit in non-vital areas and 96% that survived initial hits in the viscera, spine, or head were dead within five days.
In the bowfisher survey, 86% said they trust the Wildlife Department to manage the fishery. Asked about regulations, 70% said regulations would not impact their participation, 23% said they might go less often, and 6% said they would quit.
Schooley said that at least 87% of bowfishers reported that they typically do not kill more than ten fish in an outing.
Anglers speaking up People like Jake Miller, an avid fly fisherman and conservation chair for the Tulsa area chapter of Trout Unlimited, are new to the bow fishing regulation debate but no less passionate. He said he targets Arkansas River striped bass as his favored catch but also occasionally enjoys catching and releasing a giant gar.
He often speaks of watching tournament anglers who wade into throngs of spawning gar in shallow river stretches to kill gar, click photos, and toss them aside.
Miller said it is a natural wonder when gar gather to spawn by the hundreds. Dozens of males may surround a single large female. “It’s Oklahoma’s version of an Alaska salmon run,” he said.
“Every day that tournament was running, several guys would come in and immediately kill all the big females,” he said.
Miller and others like him plan to comment to the Wildlife Department that while bowfishing is a great sport, unfettered take and wonton waste are hard to justify biologically or ethically. He said he believes that lack of regulation opens the door to abuse with a perception that the fish have no value.
He raised the example of a case in the summer of 2021 when a group posted to Facebook a video as they tallied over 1,000 dead gars killed in one night at the Red River. Ultimately, the bowfishers were fined not for the excessive take but for improper disposal of the carcasses.
Bowfishing misunderstood Kyle Mather said people just don’t understand. He helps oversee bowfishing tournaments as the Oklahoma state representative for the Bowfishing Association of America, a non-profit that started as a tournament series but has, by necessity, evolved into a nationwide bowfishing advocacy group.
He said that while it is growing in popularity, bowfi shing is also under attack.
Mather speaks of constantly seeing people’s eyes opened by an unexpected bowfi shing thrill connecting them to the water and fishes with a historical tie as old as stickand- string. The kills are not “wonton” and provide a service by removing what he said he believes is a small portion of more-than-plentiful native fish populations that have few natural predators.
He said customized lighted boats and other equipment are expensive, and people won’t want to go to that expense to shoot just a few fish per outing. The rules will put guides out of business, he said.
“People don’t understand bow fishing until they experience it, and then they’re hooked,” Mather said.
Schooley emphasized the department encourages bow fishing and is not trying to villainize people who love the activity. Still, Mather and national BAA President Pete Gregoire said they were not swayed by Schooley when they met with department officials about the proposed regulations.
“They still don’t have any real data, any good science to back this up,” Gregoire said.
He discounted the department’s recent studies as skewed and said they have no population data trends to cite.
The conservation debate Schooley said regulation and research go hand-in-hand, and as biologists in Oklahoma and nationwide look more closely at the fish, the more they learn about their value and vulnerability. For example, he said that the freshwater drum is a host that supports the reproduction of 24 different freshwater mussel species, some of which are imperiled.
“The current non-regulatory framework around bow fishing prevents an adequate assessment of the take impacts of the sport,” he said. “Meanwhile, the sport continues to expand, and population studies are ongoing.”
Bowfishers are conservationists like any other anglers, and they would be the first to report population issues and would be side-by-side with department biologists if they had any solid data, Gregoire said.
“These populations are not in jeopardy, and the limit they came up with is purely arbitrary. They need to put good studies in place and figure things out. Then, if there is a defined need for restrictions, we will listen.”
Public comment is open on the bowfishing proposals and other new hunting and fishing rules through Dec. 8 online at wildlifedepartment.com. A public hearing is set for 7 p.m. on Dec. 7 at the department headquarters in Oklahoma City, 1801 N. Lincoln Blvd.
The Oklahoma Ecology Project is a nonprofit dedicated to in-depth reporting on Oklahoma’s conservation and environmental issues. Learn more at okecology.org
