Since 1975, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation's Cy Curtis Awards Program has recognized deer hunters who harvest a trophy buck in Oklahoma. Soon, hunters who bag a trophy elk, black bear or pronghorn antelope in Oklahoma also will be able to collect a Cy Curtis Award.

Jerry Shaw, regional supervisor for the Wildlife Department, outlined future changes to the Cy Curtis Awards Program during the May 5 meeting of the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission in Oklahoma City.

 "If you would've asked me when I started 20 years ago if we would ever be putting black bears in our Cy Curtis book, I would have said no. But here we are!" Shaw said, alluding to the many successes of the Department's wildlife management programs over the past several decades.

For decades, only those hunters who harvested a whitetail or mule deer buck that met the minimum score for antler size were eligible for a Cy Curtis Award. Details about the deer, the hunter and the location of harvest are then added to the Cy Curtis record book, published annually by the Wildlife Department.

The Cy Curtis program is similar to national recognition programs operated by the Boone and Crockett and the Pope and Young organizations. Shaw said the minimum scores that will qualify for the Cy Curtis record book will generally fall between the scores required by Pope and Young and those required by Boone and Crockett. He said this will allow more hunters to be recognized for Oklahoma animals that might not qualify for the national record books.

Cy Curtis entries will still be required to be scored by an official scorer employed by the Wildlife Department, or a certified scorer for either the Boone and Crockett or Pope and Young organizations. The Cy Curtis record book will become an online searchable database later this year, enabling hunters to have ready access to trophy harvest data.