— ZEB — Muskogee hunter Virgil Woodworth knows the hills of western Cherokee County well. He knows where dogs can sniff out squirrels. He knows where a rope swing crosses a cool creek. He knows to wear socks in the tall, chigger-infested grasses.

“I probably had a foot track on all parts of this area at some time in my life,” he said as his pickup rumbled through what is now the Cherokee Wildlife Management Area. “My dad was a rabbit hunter and a squirrel hunter. I tagged along with him. I’ve been hunting here for 50 years. There are a lot of deer, rabbits, squirrels, bobcats and coyotes. There’s snakes, and they transported elk here.”

 Woodworth and other hunters, horseback riders and outdoor people say their ability to enjoy this area is threatened by the Oklahoma National Guard’s intention to regain Camp Gruber land in Cherokee County. The land was transferred from military use to use as a game preserve and hunting area several years ago. Woodworth said 2010 may be the last year people can hunt in the 31,000-acre Cherokee WMA.

“There are only few public places where people can hunt,” Woodworth said. “Public hunting in Cookson Wildlife Management Areas are by drawing only.”

Officials with the Oklahoma National Guard and Oklahoma Department of Wildlife confirmed plans to expand Camp Gruber, but add that no agreement has been set and that hunters’ fears are premature.

“We are in discussion with the Guard and trying to put together an agreement,” said Craig Endicott, northeast regional director, wildlife with the Wildlife Department. “They are trying to get the Cherokee County portion of their camp back.”

Endicott said a six-member committee is working on the document called a memorandum of understanding. He said nothing has been finalized.

“Nothing is going to happen for the Cherokee County side for another year,” he said. “Are there going to be changes? Yes. It’s all going to be Camp Gruber, but there will be hunting on the Cherokee County side.”

 Lt. Col. Billy Robinson with the Oklahoma National Guard said the Guard will allow hunting in most of the Cherokee County side after the memorandum of agreement goes into effect.

“Right now, they’re bringing all the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife issues to the table and we’re bringing the military issues to the table.”

Allowable days of hunting will remain the same, Robinson said. “We will stop all training on those dates.”

Robinson said he could not go into detail on what will go into the agreement.

“When military training is not being conducted, people will have open access,” he said. “The decisions will be made on an area-by-area basis. If we are training in one area, surrounding areas will still be open to bird watching, horseback riding, RV-ing.”

Still, just more than one-fourth of the Cherokee Wildlife Management Area could be off-limits to non-military. Robinson said the Guard is seeking permission to close off 8,132 acres in what he called the “dead center” of the management area. He said Gruber needs the area to fire mortar shells.  

“Now we must go to Fort Sill near Lawton or Fort Chaffee near Fort Smith to train if we do mortars,” he said. “The only thing we can do now is sub-caliber training.”

He said opening the 8,132 acres would “improve our capability to allow all the National Guard to train at the center.”

Robinson showed the oval-shaped area on a map of the management area. He said the Guard is discussing ways to close the area off — with a fence or with signs.

He said the 2010-11 hunting season “will not be impacted one bit.”

“And most likely, the 2011-2012 seasons will not be impacted,” he said. “We still have to do an environmental assessment. It could be two or three years before we can take possession of it.”

Woodworth said he worries that public access to the Cherokee County side would be as restricted as access to the camp’s public areas in Muskogee County.

He said the Cherokee County side, which has primitive camping areas, also is popular with tent campers.

“About 300 or 400 campers and motor homes will be here in October during deer season,” he said. “Probably a lot of these campers don’t realize what will take place.”

A 2002 memorandum of understanding between the Guard and the Wildlife Commission opened all but 11,000 acres of Camp Gruber’s Muskogee side to hunting and other public uses during four hunting seasons: Deer rifle hunting, deer primitive firearms, the last 21 days in December and nine days in April for spring turkey hunting. The agreement also required a briefing on what to do with unexploded ordnance. At the time of the agreement, the Guard indicated that areas would be open for public recreation when not used for military training.

“Which is most of the time,” said Joe Cookson of Fort Gibson. He said he ridden horses in the Cherokee WMA “for years and years.”

He said the Muskogee County side is open only when the military is not training there.

Cookson said National Guard troops can do their additional training at Fort Sill.

Also, people who do not hunt need access to the area at times when there is no hunting, he said.

“Who would want to go in there with a horse during hunting season,” he said.

“The only time you can fish on the Muskogee side is during hunting season,” Woodworth said.

Robinson said people still will be able to ride horses in the Cherokee area.

“There is a good possibility of reopening the Muskogee side to horseback riding,” he said. “There are going to be gained days and there are going to be lost days.”

Reach Cathy Spaulding at 684-2928 or cspaulding@muskogeephoenix.com.