2023 Oklahoma Statutes
Title 29. Game and Fish
§29-5-301. Limitation on predator control devices - Procedures for use.
A. No person may set or use at any time any poison, cyanide coyote getter, or other similar device, using cyanide gas or other poisonous gas as the lethal agent, for the purpose of killing predators, except in accordance with the following conditions and procedures:
1. Signs of a size and character and with wording to be determined by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry indicating the presence of cyanide coyote getters or other similar device using cyanide gas or other poisonous gas as the lethal agent, shall be posted on all properties where the coyote getters are set to the right and left of all entrances from public roads and highways and from adjacent lands.
2. Such devices shall not be set from April 1 to September 30 of each calendar year; provided, that any devices set or used within a commercial hunting area by a person holding a big game or big game and upland game combination license pursuant to Section 4-106 of this title or a licensed farmed cervidae facility by a person holding a farmed cervidae facility license pursuant to the Oklahoma Farmed Cervidae Act may be set or used at any time of the year.
3. All signs as required by this article shall be in place twenty-four (24) hours before the devices are set and shall be properly maintained in place during the permission period herein provided.
4. A game warden may issue a permit for the setting of such devices and such permit must be obtained prior to the setting of such devices. Each permit shall be made in triplicate, the original to be retained by the landowner concerned, one copy retained by the game warden and the other copy mailed immediately to the Department for its permanent record.
5. In applying for a permit, the landowner shall state the number of devices to be set and the approximate location to the nearest forty (40) acres.
6. Written permission permits required by this section shall cover a period not exceeding six (6) months; provided, however, that the permits shall be subject to renewal for a like period of time.
7. All signs required by this section shall be removed at the end of the permission period, unless the permit is renewed prior to the expiration date thereof.
8. No predator control devices shall be on any property without the written permission of the record owner or lessee thereof.
B. Predatory control conducted by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry or the Department of Wildlife Conservation shall be exempt from the provisions of paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 of subsection A of this section.
C. The Director of the Department of Wildlife Conservation may issue depredation permits to landowners for control of any nuisance wildlife.
D. Any person convicted of violating the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine not less than Fifty Dollars ($50.00), or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than thirty (30) days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
Added by Laws 1974, c. 17, § 5-301, emerg. eff. April 8, 1974. Amended by Laws 1991, c. 182, § 34, eff. Sept. 1, 1991; Laws 1992, c. 149, § 4, emerg. eff. April 30, 1992; Laws 2021, c. 550, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2021; Laws 2022, c. 298, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2022.
