A service of the Oklahoma Wildlife Department

Arbuckle: January 12. Elevation normal, water 47 and stained to muddy. Bass slow. Crappie fair on spoons in mid-lake area. White bass fair on white spoons at 34-56 ft. off drop-offs. Cold rainy weather has hampered fishing. Report submitted by Jack Melton.

Broken Bow: January 11. Elevation above normal, water 56. Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass good on crankbaits, jigs and spoons around points and standing timber. Blue and flathead catfish fair on cut bait, live bait and sunfish in the main lake, around points and shelfs. Report submitted by Dru Polk, game warden stationed in McCurtain County.

Eufaula: January 11. Elevation above normal, water murky. Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass fair on Alabama rigs, crankbaits, hair jigs and plastic baits around brush structure, main lake and standing timber. Crappie good on jigs, minnows, small lures and tube jigs around brush structure, dam, docks and standing timber. Blue, channel and flathead catfish good on cut bait, hot dogs, shad and sunfish below the dam, along channels, dam, flats, main lake and river channel. Report submitted by Jake Bersche, game warden stationed in McIntosh County.

Hugo: January 11. Elevation above normal, water 50 and murky. Lake elevation continues to be above normal with gate openings at Hugo Dam expected to continue. Blue and channel catfish fair on cut bait, dough bait, live bait and shad below the dam, main lake and river channel. Crappie good on minnows and jigs below the dam, around brush structure, channels, main lake, river channel and standing timber. Crappie fishing below the dam remains good. Report submitted by Andrew Potter, game warden stationed in Choctaw County.

Konawa: January 10. Elevation normal, water 45 and murky. Largemouth bass fair on Alabama rigs, crankbaits and plastic baits in the main lake, around points, river channel and weed beds. Striped bass hybrids and white bass slow on Alabama rigs, crankbaits and live shad in coves, main lake and river channel. Channel catfish slow on chicken liver and cut bait in coves, creek channels and weed beds. Report submitted by Garret Harley, game warden stationed in Seminole County.

Lower Mountain Fork: January 11. Elevation normal, water cloudy. Trout good on caddis flies, small lures and tube jigs along shallows and spillway. Report submitted by Mark Hannah, game warden stationed in McCurtain County.

Lower Mountain Fork: January 10. Stocked approximately 1,800 rainbow trout on January 10. Report submitted by April Drake, secretary at the southeast region office.

McGee Creek: January 11. Elevation 4 ft. above normal, water 51. Largemouth and spotted bass fair on flukes, jerk baits and plastic baits along flats, points and standing timber. Channel catfish slow on chicken liver, dough bait and stinkbait along creek channels and inlet. Report submitted by Jay Harvey, game warden stationed in Atoka County.

Pine Creek: January 11. Elevation above normal, water murky. Largemouth bass good on plastic baits and spoons in the main lake and around points. Crappie slow on jigs and spoons around brush structure. Channel catfish fair on chicken liver, cut bait and stinkbait in the main lake. Report submitted by Mark Hannah, game warden stationed in McCurtain County.

Robbers Cave: January 10. Stocked approximately 340 rainbow trout on January 10. Report submitted by April Drake, secretary at the southeast region office.

Robert S. Kerr: January 11. Elevation above normal, water 45 and muddy. Blue catfish good on shad along flats and around points. Crappie slow on minnows and jigs along creek channels. Report submitted by Jeremy Bersche, game warden stationed in Sequoyah County.

Sardis: January 15. Elevation above normal, water 53. Largemouth and spotted bass slow on bill baits, jigs, plastic baits and spinnerbaits around brush structure, points, rocks, shorelines and tailwater. Blue and channel catfish fair on cut bait and shad along channels and main lake. Report submitted by Dane Polk, game warden stationed in Pushmataha County.

Texoma: January 16. Elevation above normal, water 46 and muddy. Lake levels are high and water is muddy, striped bass are still biting via dead sticking method on flukes rigged as a single or Alabama rig. Use electronics to locate active schools of fish and suspend baits at appropriate depths. Striped bass good on Alabama rigs, flukes and live shad in the main lake. Blue catfish fair on cut bait and shad below the dam, along the dam, discharge, main lake and river mouth. Juglines are productive for blue cat on the main lake , below dam blue cats are biting shad/ cut bait. Crappie are slow below docks with the muddy water use dark colored jigs for best results. Crappie slow on jigs, live bait and tube jigs around brush structure and docks. Adding scent to crappie jigs seem to help. Report submitted by Trey Hale, game warden stationed in Bryan County.

Wister: January 11. Elevation above normal, water cloudy. Largemouth and spotted bass fair on bill baits, crankbaits, plastic baits and spinnerbaits around brush structure, channels and standing timber. Blue, channel and flathead catfish fair on chicken liver, cut bait, shad and stinkbait along channels, main lake and standing timber. Crappie fair on minnows, jigs and tube jigs below the dam, around brush structure and standing timber. Report submitted by Thomas Gillham, game warden stationed in LeFlore County.

By Meredyth Jones, DVM, MS, DACVIM (LA), Oklahoma State University, Veterinary Clinic Services

(STILLWATER, Oklahoma) — The cold of winter doesn’t stop all the external parasites that can torment livestock. While flies and ticks are mainly warm-weather pests, we still have lice to contend with in the winter.

Lice are wingless insects that live on the skin of various species, including horses, cattle, sheep, goats and, of course, humans. Lice are spread by direct contact between animals but are species specific. In other words, lice cannot be transmitted across species. Lice on cattle cannot affect a horse, sheep or goat and vice versa. And the best news: lice that affect livestock cannot infest humans.

There are two main families of lice — biting (or chewing) and sucking lice.

Biting lice feed on skin and skin secretions, while sucking lice have a long, piercing mouthpiece that allows them to draw and feed on blood.

Lice infestations cause intense itching. Livestock can spend a tremendous amount of time rubbing and licking in an effort to alleviate their discomfort. They can spend so much time doing this that it affects their feed intake, feed efficiency, weight gain and growth, which can result in a significant financial hit for the enterprise. Further, because of their ability to drain blood, sucking lice can cause severe anemia and devastate young calves.

Lice thrive in winter. Their survival and transmission is enhanced by long-hair coats and huddling behavior.

The first indications of lice infestations in livestock are excessive rubbing (on things such as fence posts and buildings) and licking. Remember that healthy cattle naturally groom daily, licking their sides and upsweeping the hair.

Lice, however, will induce rubbing and licking to the point of removing hair and damaging the skin beneath. The extreme grooming can produce hairballs, which can cause obstructions in the stomach and intestines of infested animals.

Patchy hair loss typically starts on the neck and back, extending down the sides of the body and legs. Animals should be examined along the topline to look for the lice or their eggs, which are most easily seen on black hair.

Veterinarians do the Scotch tape test, where they stick a piece of tape onto the animal to pick up any lice that are present. Examining the lice on that tape under a microscope shows the mouthpiece and identifies the offending lice as biting or sucking. Classifying the lice found helps guide treatment.

The animal itself serves as the only source of food for lice, and a louse cannot survive off the animal for more than a day or so. Therefore, the primary focus for control of these parasites is the animal rather than the environment.

Caveats to this include situations where cattle may be sharing tack or bedding, as happens with exhibition animals. Moving a halter from one animal to another or placing an animal in a stall just vacated by another animal are examples of how transmission occurs aside from animal-to-animal contact.

Products to control lice include dusts, sprays, pour-ons and charges for back rubbers. Consider the number of animals, the facilities they’re in, labor available to apply the solution and the cost when selecting the treatment.

No treatment kills the eggs, so a repeat treatment is necessary once the eggs have hatched. This second treatment, two to three weeks after the first, helps break the life cycle and stops future generations from coming. All animals in the group need to be treated, regardless of how many are showing signs of infestation. Be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions for product use and follow all withdrawal times.

Some injectable and pour-on dewormers, like ivermecin and its cousins doramectin and moxidectin, also kill lice. In the wintertime, worm control is not a high priority because the conditions are not right for transmission. Treatment with dewormers when transmission is low encourages the development of drug-resistant worms.

In addition, injectable products only kill sucking lice — biting lice do not ingest blood, which contains the drug.

Several years ago, I was called to look at a group of stocker calves that were losing their hair and scratching constantly. (The accompanying photo is one of those calves.)

This group had been given an injectable dewormer with activity against sucking lice and yet they were showing clear signs of lice.

We ran a few through the chute and did the Scotch tape test. When we looked under the microscope, they were all biting lice. Because the anti-lice medication was in the blood, it wasn’t getting to the lice.

We recommended that all the calves be put through the chute and poured with an insecticide. The problem cleared. For all these reasons, I generally recommend wintertime lice control using pure insecticide products applied topically in some fashion, saving your dewormers (and their associated cost) for timely use in the spring and fall.

Veterinary Viewpoints is provided by the faculty of the OSU Veterinary Medical Hospital. Certified by the American Animal Hospital Association, the hospital is open to the public providing routine and specialized care for all species and 24-hour emergency care, 365 days a year. For more information, visit www.cvhs.okstate.edu or call (405) 744-7000.

OSU’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences is the only veterinary college in Oklahoma and one of only 30 veterinary colleges in the United States. The center’s Boren Veterinary Medical Hospital is open to the public and provides routine and specialized care for small and large animals. The Hospital offers 24-hour emergency care and is certified by the American Animal Hospital Association. For more information, visit www.cvhs.okstate.edu or call (405) 744-7000.

Oklahoma State University is a modern land-grant university that prepares students for success. OSU has more than 36,000 students across its five-campus system and more than 25,000 on its combined Stillwater and Tulsa campuses, with students from all 50 states and around 120 nations. Established in 1890, Oklahoma State has graduated more than 260,000 students who have been serving Oklahoma and the world for 125 years.

A service of the Oklahoma Wildlife Department

Arbuckle: January 5. Elevation 3 1/2 ft. above normal, water 50 and stained. All fishing slow. White bass and crappie being caught on spoons at 35-45 ft. along mid-lake drop-offs. Channel catfish fair on juglines. Report submitted by Jack Melton.

Broken Bow: January 4. Elevation above normal, water 51 and cloudy. Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass good on crankbaits, jigs and spoons around brush structure and points. Blue catfish fair on cut bait and live bait in the main lake. Report submitted by Dru Polk, game warden stationed in McCurtain County.                      

Eufaula: January 4. Elevation above normal, water murky. Blue catfish good on cut bait, shad and river channels. Crappie fair on jigs and tube jigs around brush structure, docks and main lake. Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass fair on crankbaits, jigs, plastic baits, sassy shad and slabs. Report submitted by Jake Bersche, game warden stationed in McIntosh County.

Hugo: January 4. Elevation above normal, water 50 and murky. Flooded conditions continue on the lake and Kiamichi River. Blue and channel catfish fair on cut bait, dough bait, live bait and shad below the dam, in the main lake and river channel. Crappie fair on minnows and jigs below the dam, in the main lake, river channel and standing timber. Crappie and cat fishing good-fair at certain times throughout the day below Hugo Dam. Report submitted by Andrew Potter, game warden stationed in Choctaw County.

Konawa: January 3. Elevation normal, water 44 and clear. Largemouth bass good on Alabama rigs, crankbaits and plastic baits in the main lake, around points, river channel and weed beds. Striped bass hybrids and white bass fair on Alabama rigs, crankbaits and live shad in coves, main lake and river channel. Channel catfish slow on chicken liver, cut bait and stinkbait in coves, along creek channels and riprap. Report submitted by Garret Harley, game warden stationed in Seminole County.

Lower Mountain Fork: January 4. Elevation above normal, water clear to cloudy. Trout good on caddis flies and tube jigs below the dam, along shallows and spillway. Report submitted by Mark Hannah, game warden stationed in McCurtain County.

McGee Creek: January 5. Elevation above normal, water 51. Largemouth and spotted bass slow on crankbaits, jigs and lipless baits along creek channels, flats and points. Crappie slow on minnows along channels, river channel and standing timber. Report submitted by Jay Harvey, game warden stationed in Atoka County.

Pine Creek: January 4. Elevation above normal, water murky. Largemouth bass good on plastic baits and spoons in the main lake and around points. Crappie fair on jigs and spoons around brush structure and channels. Channel catfish good on chicken liver in the main lake. Report submitted by Mark Hannah, game warden stationed in McCurtain County.

Robert S. Kerr: January 4. Elevation normal, water murky. Blue and channel catfish fair on cut bait, shad and stinkbait along inlet, river channel and river mouth. Crappie slow on minnows and jigs along inlet, main lake and standing timber. Report submitted by Allen Couch, game warden stationed in Haskell County.

Sardis: January 4. Elevation above normal, water 52. Largemouth and spotted bass slow on bill baits, crankbaits and spinnerbaits around brush structure, points, shorelines and standing timber. Report submitted by Dane Polk, game warden stationed in Pushmataha County.

Texoma: January 4. Elevation above normal, water 46 and muddy. Striped bass good on flukes and live shad in the main lake. Lake levels have increased with recent rains, but striper fishing is still good across most of the lake. Larger fish seemed to be concentrated on the west end of the lake. Live Bait fishing is producing fish, but dead sticking is the easiest method. Chartreuse and pink are hot colors right now with watercolor. Use electronics to find concentrations of fish and drop bait to marked fish.  Blue catfish good on cut bait, live bait and shad below the dam, main lake, river channel and river mouth. Jugline fishing for blues has good right now using gizzard shad and other cut baits. Crappie slow on hair jigs, jigs and live bait around docks. Crappie have slowed with muddy water, but bite is still happening in evenings after water has warmed. Report submitted by Trey Hale, game warden stationed in Bryan County.

Wister: January 4. Elevation above normal, water cloudy. Largemouth bass slow on crankbaits, plastic baits and spinnerbaits along channels, points and standing timber. Blue catfish slow along channels, main lake and standing timber. Crappie slow on minnows and jigs around brush structure, channels, points and standing timber. Report submitted by Thomas Gillham, game warden stationed in LeFlore County.

A service of the Oklahoma Wildlife Department

The latest updated Oklahoma Wildlife Management Area Atlas is now available from the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. This page-by-page guide to Oklahoma’s public hunting lands and Department public fishing lakes features topographical maps of almost every Department-managed public use area in the state.

Since the atlas was first published in the 1970s, it has become an indispensable resource for anyone wanting to explore Oklahoma's outdoors. In fact, a Department-managed area can be found within about an hour's drive of anywhere in the state.

The maps in the 100-plus pages of this fifth-edition atlas depict special features for each WMA or public fishing area (PFA), providing details such as roads, parking areas, designated campsites, food plots, ponds, wetland development units, non-ambulatory zones and more. Sportsmen and sportswomen can find acreage and contact information for each area along with driving directions.

Since the previous edition was published three years ago, many areas have had border changes or land additions, making this latest atlas a must-have for the state’s hunters, anglers and others as they visit more than 1.4 million acres of Department-managed public lands. New maps include Arbuckle Springs WMA, Lake Watonga PFA and Lake Raymond Gary PFA.

The Oklahoma Wildlife Management Area Atlas is priced at $25, which includes a complimentary one-year subscription to Outdoor Oklahoma magazine, the official magazine of the Oklahoma Wildlife Department. The full-color, award-winning magazine provides information related to hunting, fishing, wildlife watching and conservation in Oklahoma. Readers get a first look at the Department’s annual Big Game Report, get insider tips on fishing from the magazine’s annual Anglers’ Guide, and get to read a range of articles and news about the outdoors in Oklahoma. Stunning photography and more can be found in each bimonthly issue.

Updated atlases are sold at several Wildlife Department offices statewide, including the headquarters, 1801 N. Lincoln in Oklahoma City, and the Jenks office, 300 S. Aquarium Drive. To order by phone, call (405) 521-3856. To order by mail, send a check for $25 along with an Outdoor Store order form from www.wildlifedepartment.com to Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, P.O. Box 53465, Oklahoma City, OK 73152. (If ordering by mail, be sure to specify the address to which your atlas and magazine should be mailed).