OK: Hackberry Flat WMA to host family outdoor day

Hackberry Flat Wildlife Management Area in southwest Oklahoma
serves as an outdoor destination every day of the week, but each
year it also opens for a special day in the outdoors designed to
bring Oklahomans closer to nature and increase interest in wildlife
and conservation.

The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and Friends of
Hackberry Flat are hosting Hackberry Flat Day Saturday, May 14 from
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Hackberry Flat Center located near
Frederick. The event is designed for the entire family, and events
include everything from wildlife tours to shotgun shooting.

Though the official event starts at 9 a.m., the day gets an early
morning start at 6:30 a.m. with a birding tour for intermediate and
advanced birdwatchers. Birding tours for beginners are offered at
9:30 a.m. and again at 1 p.m. Wetland hayrides into the wildlife
management area start at 9 a.m. and continue on the hour until the
last hayride at 2 p.m. Archery and shotgun shooting will be
available, as will a number of other activities, such as learning
the tricks of catching crayfish – also known as crawdads – with the
Oklahoma Conservation Commission, getting close-up views of
Oklahoma sport fish in an aquarium, viewing wetland wildlife in a
wetland classroom, playing the “Who Eats Who in the Prairie” game
presented by the Oklahoma Wildlife and Prairie Heritage Alliance,
and trying out the hands-on activities provided by Quartz Mountain
Nature Park.

An interactive exhibit about bats in Oklahoma will be presented by
Alabaster Caverns State Park, and a range of items made from bison
parts will be furnished by the Washita Battlefield National
Historic Site. Back by popular demand, families will have the
opportunity to build a bird house to take home and place on their
property. The Friends of Hackberry Flat and Frederick FFA members
will offer the bird house make-n-take programs at 9:30 a.m., 11
a.m. and 1 p.m. to the first 10 families at each of the
programs.

The Friends of Hackberry Flat will have the official Hackberry Flat
t-shirts for sale inside the Center, and new this year, the First
Christian Church Youth Group will have a concession set-up to sell
hot dogs, chips and drinks to visitors as they raise funds to help
with their mission and projects.

Participants of the Hackberry Flat Day activities are exempt from
hunting or fishing license requirements and Wildlife Conservation
Passport requirements.

All activities will begin at the Hackberry Flat Center, a facility
that provides wetland classroom experiences for school groups,
programs on wildlife and wildlife-related activities as well as
meeting facilities for resource-oriented programs, workshops and
meetings. Directions to Hackberry Flat can be found at
www.wildlifedepartment.com/hackberry_flat.htm . For more
information, call the Frederick Chamber of Commerce at (580)
335-2126 or Melynda Hickman, wildlife diversity biologist for the
Wildlife Department, (405) 990-4977.