Gage Hartley, Tecumseh, took this 152-pound, 12-point buck during a special youth hunt Nov. 8. He harvested a 110-pound doe the day before. Provided Photo

This flock of wild turkeys was spotted in a field just off MacArthur Monday afternoon. They appear to be enjoying their freedom after surviving the Thanksgiving season. They may need to watch their backs because the Christmas holiday is fast approaching. Ed Blochowiak Staff Photographer

Chapter members and guests gathered Nov. 20 at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Powwow Grounds to celebrate the annual banquet and auction of the Shawnee Ducks Unlimited chapter.
A live and silent auction was held to raise money for DU’s continued conservation efforts, and all were treated to a barbecue meal catered by Van’s Pig Stand.

He’s a long way from where he was born and grew up, but getting him to return there other than to visit, would be difficult to do.
Nels Rodefeld, along with wife Sarah, have been in Oklahoma for 14 years. They reside near Remus in southern Pottawatomie County, where they have about 260 acres. Rodefeld is the chief of the Information and Education Division for Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
His wife is employed with the state Department of Commerce, where she works with Community Action agencies across Oklahoma to ensure they are staying within program guidelines.
The couple, who met on a blind date and went fishing the first time they met, also operate the Back 40 Retreat, which Rodefeld describes as “a small getaway.” He said “we started that recently, and we have a lot of people from the local and area communities who have taken advantage of it, especially when they have some family-related gathering like reunions, weddings, get togethers and the like. People are coming for anywhere from a weekend, to a few days to a week, for whatever reason brings them to this area.”
In addition to their day jobs and operating the retreat, he and his wife also have 15 to 20 mother cows and some small calves.

Another stride was made toward reopening Tecumseh’s gun range as city council members selected the five members of a firing range committee group this week.
The group will be responsible for developing policies and procedures for the range’s safe operation, and council members will approve these at a later meeting.

With deer season already somewhat starting and  gun season just around the corner, food safety is always something you should keep in mind.

Wildlife nationwide have a long list of humans to thank for their ideal habitat, and on that list is Shawnee resident Eric Held.
Held, a native of St. Louis, Mo., is employed by Ducks Unlimited as their regional engineer for the Southern Great Plains. He works from an office in Shawnee that is tied to DU’s Southern Regional Office in Jackson, Miss.
His job: Oversee the organization’s conservation and wildlife habitat restoration projects for the Southern Great Plains.

Paden resident Alex Holman is much like many young Oklahoma men — he enjoys the thrill of a good hunting trip.
Over the years, the soon-to-be ordained minister has accumulated trophies ranging from whitetail bucks to a large bull elk, and a bison bull that tipped the scales at 1,800 pounds.
What separates Holman from most hunters, however, is his affliction of cerebral palsy. He uses a wheelchair or canes for mobility, but doesn’t let that stop him from bellying up to the blind like any other sportsman.

If you’re a hunter, and you have the sudden urge to bag a variety of upland game birds, you need not go farther than Tecumseh.
Dave Martin, a native of New York, owns and operates Quail Ridge Hunting. The business encompasses about 500 acres southwest of Tecumseh, and visitors can hunt quail, pheasant and chukar, as well as shoot sporting clays.

Progress continues on reopening Tecumseh’s firing range, which has been closed since early summer.
Tecumseh City Council members agreed this week to form a firing range committee group to act as oversight for the range. Mayor John Collier said it is his feeling that if a range is present, a group needs to be in place to make sure all policies and standards are enforced.
Collier made an emergency decision in June to close the range, located south of Tecumseh Lake, when it was pointed out to the council that civilian discharge of firearms within city limits violated city ordinance.

If people ask you where Oklahomans go to duck hunt, tell them “Right in their own back yards.”
Scott Manley, Ph.D., Ducks Unlimited’s director of conservation programs in the South Central Flyway, lives in Mississippi. He frequently makes trips to Oklahoma, especially in January, to cash in on the Sooner State’s abundance of waterfowl.
“Oklahoma is the United States’ best-kept duck-hunting secret,” said Manley, whose area of operations includes Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and New Mexico.
The Central Flyway is one of four major migration routes for ducks and geese. The birds use these routes when traveling from their breeding grounds in the north to their wintering grounds in the south. Oklahoma sits smack in the middle of the Central Flyway.
“What a great state to be a waterfowler in,” said Mike O’Meilla, program and research supervisor for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC).