Big Creek (Oologah WMA)

public land records

Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.

AREA RULE (https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/regs/public-hunting-areas-special-regulations, read 2026-08-16): ODWC Special Regulations heading "Oologah WMA" (county: Nowata, Rogers) -- Additional Restrictions, verbatim: "The portion of Oologah WMA known as Goose Island is restricted to shotguns with pellets and archery only. Hunter and angler camping is allowed in designated areas." LEGAL BASIS -- ODWC Department-Managed Area Rules, https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/regs/department-managed-area-rules, read 2026-08-16, verbatim: "Camping is limited to a maximum of 16 consecutive days, and for no more than 21 days total in any 30-day period on the same WMA. Camping on these areas is limited to two days longer than the period the camper (hunter) is authorized to hunt. Leaving a campsite unattended for a period longer than 48 hours is prohibited. Unattended camp items will be removed. Quiet hours are enforced from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. All dogs or other pets must be kept on a leash or otherwise confined while in camping areas." FIRE -- same page, verbatim: "Fires shall be confined to those areas designated for camping and shall be contained in fireplaces, fire rings, grills, or other facilities designed for this purpose. Fires shall not be left unattended and must be completely extinguished prior to departure." ODWC does not publish a statewide seasonal fire ban on this page; Oklahoma county burn bans are issued separately and are not reflected here. Also verbatim from that page: "Public lands not specifically listed as open are closed." Read the area's own regulation before you go. THIS IS NOT A FEE-FREE PLACE TO ENTER -- fee=0 on this row means ODWC publishes NO per-night camping charge, not that access is free. ODWC's license fee table (https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/licensing/regs/license-fees, read 2026-08-16) states verbatim that an "Annual Wildlife Conservation Passport" is "Required of all persons 18 or older who enter Department owned lands, regardless of residency, unless exempt" at $46 for residents and $239 for nonresidents, and a "3-Day Wildlife Conservation Passport" at $26 / $51. A separate $100 / $200 "Land Access Permit" is "Required for residents ages 18 to 63, and nonresidents of any age, including lifetime license holders to access certain ODWC managed properties." ODWC's fee table says "unless exempt" but does not list the exemptions on that page, so we do not state who is exempt. Treat this as: budget for a permit, and check odwc before you drive. ODWC camp type: "Primitive". Restroom per ODWC: Yes. Showers per ODWC: No. Picnic area per ODWC: Yes. Grills per ODWC: No. ODWC site counts: 10 tent, 5 RV. WATER: ODWC's layer carries no drinking-water field for camping areas and this row claims none. Do not treat any lake, creek or pond near these sites as potable. COORDINATE PROVENANCE: latitude and longitude are ODWC's own, from its public ArcGIS service https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/server/rest/services/PublicWILMA/WILMAFeatures/MapServer/4 (layer 4, 'Camping Areas'), queried 2026-08-16 with where=1=1 outSR=4326. Every ingested point carries OPENTOPUBL='Yes' in that layer. No geocoding was used. Nearest town: Nowata ~5.7 mi. 'Nearest town' is STRAIGHT-LINE distance to the nearest OpenStreetMap place=city/town/village and is NOT a driving distance -- on a Corps lake shoreline or in the Ouachitas the road in is routinely two or three times longer. Ingest 2026-08-16. STATUS=pending: this is a lead for review, not published. --- NIGHT-SHIFT REVIEW 2026-08-18 (reviewer=nightshift-verified) --- RE-FETCHED THIS FIRE, all four sources this row cites: (1) https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/server/rest/services/PublicWILMA/WILMAFeatures/MapServer/4 queried live 2026-08-18 (where=1=1, outSR=4326): 299 features returned. OBJECTID 76 is STILL PRESENT, SITENAME "Big Creek", WMANAME "Oologah Wildlife Management Area", CAMPTYPE "Primitive", OPENTOPUBL="Yes". Its geometry is 0.0000 mi from the latitude/longitude stored on this row -- unchanged. Across all 278 Oklahoma odwc_camp rows in the DB, zero had vanished from the layer, zero had moved more than 0.02 mi, and zero had flipped OPENTOPUBL away from 'Yes'. (2) https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/regs/public-hunting-areas-special-regulations re-read live 2026-08-18. NOTE FOR FUTURE FIRES: this page is PAGINATED (13 pages, ?page=0..12); a single fetch of the bare URL returns only ~9 of the 111 areas. All 13 pages were pulled. Heading "Oologah WMA" is still present; its Additional Restrictions read verbatim: "The portion of Oologah WMA known as Goose Island is restricted to shotguns with pellets and archery only. Hunter and angler camping is allowed in designated areas." (3) https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/regs/department-managed-area-rules re-read live 2026-08-18: the 16-day rule is UNCHANGED, verbatim -- "Camping is limited to a maximum of 16 consecutive days, and for no more than 21 days total in any 30-day period on the same WMA." The fire rule and "Public lands not specifically listed as open are closed." are also unchanged. (4) https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/licensing/regs/license-fees re-read live 2026-08-18: Annual Wildlife Conservation Passport still $46 ($239 nonresident), 3-Day still $26 ($51), Land Access Permit still $100 ($200) -- all UNCHANGED, and the passport is still described verbatim as "Required of all persons 18 or older who enter Department owned lands, regardless of residency, unless exempt". NEW SECOND SOURCE read this fire (it was NOT cited on this row before): the area's own ODWC page, https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/wma/northeast/oologah-wma, read 2026-08-18. Its "Camping/Facilities" section reads verbatim: "Primitive camping is allowed is designated areas and the Corps of Engineers operates campsites around Oologah Lake both lodging and restaurants are available in Nowata, Oologah and Claremore. The Oologah Corps of Engineers can be reached at (918) 443-2250. The Oologah Chamber of Commerce can be reached at (918) 443-2790. The Claremore Chamber of Commerce can be reached at (918) 625-4726." DUPLICATE CHECK (coordinates, not names): compared against all 36 currently-published Oklahoma camps. Nearest published Oklahoma camp is "Dispersed camp #2 — Le Flore County, OK", 136.61 mi away -- far outside any plausible same-site radius, so this is NOT a duplicate of anything we already show. VERDICT: APPROVED. The row still says exactly what ODWC's own live data says. This is ODWC's own point, in ODWC's own 'Camping Areas' layer, flagged open to the public, on an area whose published rule permits camping in designated areas, and the area's own ODWC page independently confirms primitive camping is offered. Nothing on this row was found to overstate the sources. Not visited; no field check was made. COUNT CROSS-CHECK PASSES: the live layer carries exactly 6 Oologah WMA points and the Oologah WMA page confirms "Primitive camping is allowed is designated areas" (the grammar is ODWC's, quoted as published). Oologah carries no seasonal non-hunting closure.

US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.

On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.