Page 2 - SeptOct2019

Iwill retire this fall after almost 30 years as an employee of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. Yes, in some ways, it seems like only yesterday. As I reflect on my career, there are a few things that will remain special to me for the remainder of my days. First, as I’ve heard seemingly countless ODWC retirees say before me, ODWC is a family. It really is. Not only are these people co-workers, they are close friends. We feel each others’ happiness, disappointment, joy and pain. Second is my love for all things outdoors. Not only did I have the priv- ilege of working for the best agency in Oklahoma government, I actually got paid to do what I love. I grew up in the Oklahoma Panhandle and grad- uated from Guymon High School. My father and grandfather instilled in me a deep-rooted love for hunting, fishing and the outdoors. We hunted and fished for almost everything: ringnecks from the stubble f ields, ducks f rom the irrigation tailwa- ter pits and playas, trout from Colorado, 37 years straight fishing the Canton Walleye Rodeo, deer hunting on Persim- mon Creek. And, oh yeah, quail hunting – my favorite. We always had bird dogs. There is just something magical about watching a well-trained pointing dog do what they do. The adrenaline rush of the covey flush. The challenge of trying to focus on a single target out of a brown-gray blur of winged explosion. My favorite meal has always been fried quail and biscuits and gravy! I attended Oklahoma State University and Panhandle State University for a short time after high school then quit to go to work in the oilfield, as my father did before me. I ran a construction com- pany my dad owned. My favorite part of the job: guiding business customers on quail hunts. Money was good during the “boom” but not so good after the “bust.” I went back to school at Southwestern at Weatherford for a while, commuting from Vici and pumping oil and gas wells when I got home from school. I then decided to attend OSU again and study wildlife ecology. As fate would have it, as I was finishing my bachelor’s degree, the Grand National Quail Foundation decided to fund a research project to study quail. I was asked if I was interested. Oh yeah! Just as I was finishing my master’s degree, ODWC solicited candidates for a new position: upland game bird biologist. Again, oh yeah! I was hired as the “quail guy” in 1990. Try as I might, I could not control the weather. We did conduct some outstanding, cut- ting-edge science studying quail on the new Packsaddle Wildlife Management Area. We learned a lot about the bird by using tiny radio transmitters. We f itted more quail with radios than any other study ever. The first round of research lasted 10 years. We learned quail have multiple mates – gypsy hens that leave the male incubating and go mate with another male. Our quail can travel long distances and on rare occasion moved well over 50 miles. I also provided technical assistance to private landowners wanting to improve upland habitat on their properties. That was very satisfying. Then I was offered the job as Assistant Chief of the Wild- life Division and in 1999 was promoted to Chief of the Wildlife Division. I have seen a lot of changes in the past 30 years, including a 16-day modern rif le deer season, huntable turkey populations in all 77 counties, and a black bear season in 12 counties, just to name a few. In Oklahoma, we have access to about 1.3 million acres open for public hunting. Even with that, our hunters tell us in sur- veys that they need more places to hunt. I am very proud that I was involved in the purchase of 100,000 acres now available for public hunting. I will miss working for the hunters of Oklahoma. But I think I’m leaving it a better place than I found it. Now I will have time for more hunting and fishing with my kids and grandkids! Alan Peoples, Chief of Wildlife Panoramas