The Muscogee Nation has filed a lawsuit against Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) Director Wade Free and special prosecutor Russ Cochran, challenging the state’s authority to prosecute tribal citizens for hunting and fishing activities on the Creek Reservation.
In the lawsuit, the Nation seeks to halt the exercise of criminal jurisdiction over citizens of the Five Tribes who hunt and fish within the boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Reservation, asserting that such authority rests exclusively with tribal governments under federal law.
“The Creek Reservation is a federally protected Indian reservation and hence constitutes Indian Country under federal law,” the lawsuit states. “The Nation enjoys the authority to regulate hunting and fishing by Indians within its reservation as an ‘aspect of tribal sovereignty.’” The Muscogee Nation argues that it has exclusive authority to regulate hunting and fishing by Native citizens within its reservation, citing the Five Tribe Reciprocity Agreement as governing such activities among tribal members. That agreement allows citizens of the Five Tribes to hunt and fish on each other’s reservations in accordance with tribal regulations.
The lawsuit follows a series of similar legal actions filed by other tribal nations. In November 2025, the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Cherokee Nations jointly filed a lawsuit against Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, special prosecutor Russ Cochran and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, challenging state enforcement actions involving tribal citizens.
At the time, Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton emphasized the cultural and sovereign importance of hunting and fishing to tribal nations.
“The Choctaw Nation will defend its rights and those of its members against the Governor’s unlawful prosecution, as hunting and fishing are deeply rooted in our sovereignty and the traditions of the Choctaw people long before this state was founded,” Batton said.
That lawsuit argued that Gov. Stitt lacks the authority to direct such enforcement actions and that his “directives to ODWC violate tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction,” citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 Mc-Girt decision as key legal precedent affirming reservation status and tribal authority.
The Muscogee Nation’s lawsuit also follows actions taken by the Inter-Tribal Council (ITC) in October 2025. During its meeting, the ITC voted to affirm the rights of tribal nations to regulate and manage hunting and fishing on their own lands.
“Tribal law is clear: each Nation has a sovereign right to regulate and manage these neutral resources,” the ITC said in a statement. “Importantly, this means no other entity, including the State of Oklahoma, has the right to prosecute our members or members of other federally recognized Tribes for hunting or fishing on Tribal land.”
In addition to the hunting and fishing resolution, the ITC approved 11 other resolutions during the October meeting. The council is scheduled to hold its next meeting Jan. 7-9.
The legal dispute has also drawn attention from Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond. In November, Drummond advised ODWC to repeal its policy directing the pursuit of criminal charges against tribal citizens hunting and fishing on tribal land.
Drummond sent a letter to ODWC Director Wade Free warning against continued enforcement actions, calling them unlawful and counterproductive.
“These enforcement actions are not merely ill-advised – they are unlawful,” Drummond wrote. “They expose individual ODWC officers to personal liability. They waste limited law enforcement and prosecutorial resources on cases that cannot succeed. And they inflict significant harm on the State’s government-to-government relationships with the Five Tribes – relationships that took years to rebuild and that benefit all Oklahomans.”
Last month, Drummond further reinforced his position by issuing a binding opinion stating that federal law prohibits the state judicial system from prosecuting tribal citizens who hunt and fish on their own reservations.
The Muscogee Nation’s lawsuit adds to the growing legal and political conflict between tribal governments and the State of Oklahoma over jurisdiction, sovereignty and the interpretation of federal law following the McGirt ruling. As similar cases move forward, the outcome could have significant implications for how hunting and fishing regulations are enforced across eastern Oklahoma.
