Austin Morton, Chairman

For as long as I can remember I have spent as much time as possible outside.  I come from a family of woodsmen. I was born and raised in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and completed my bachelors degree at the University of Oklahoma.  My business has afforded me the opportunity to travel all over our nation and enjoy our public lands and waters.  After all of my travels, I had a strong desire to get back to my roots and settled my family in the Tulsa area. 
As soon as I was able, my father would tow me along in his fishing boat or up a tree to enjoy all that Oklahoma has to offer.  My life has been truly blessed with amazing experiences I’ve had in the woods and on the water.  Now, a father of four, I feel an obligation to preserve these same opportunities for our future generations.  Oklahoma has so much to offer, but we must protect what was given to us.  This means it is essential focus on continued access, conservation, and overall stewardship of our public places.  For all these reasons that I am honored to be on the board of BHA Oklahoma and will do my best to protect our wild places.

Kevin Osborn, Vice Chair

I am a 3rd generation native of NE Oklahoma. I grew up with a love for traveling, nature, and the outdoors. My focus, as the chapter social media manager, is to highlight the organizations volunteer efforts and the adventures of members and other Oklahomans in the outdoors. While I grew up with a passion for the outdoors, I did not start hunting until I was in my 30’s after an invite from a friend. After a few seasons and the loss of private land access, I turned to public land for hunting opportunities. The importance of public lands access for those like me as well as future generations, is of great importance. Protecting those lands and waters, and adding even more access, is a keystone for me. As a father of three, I know the efforts we make today can leave a lasting benefit.

Basheer Dawud, Treasurer 

I was born in Eugene, Oregon and raised in the Pacific Northwest. I grew up camping and enjoying the outdoors. When my family moved to eastern Washington, the family trips stopped, but my passion for adventure and the outdoors did not. After receiving my hunter’s certification at the age of ten, I looked for opportunities to hunt, but I only got a few chances that were unsuccessful. Plenty of time was spent camping, hiking, and fishing for trout and walleye though! I moved to Hawai’i when I was seventeen for my last year of high school, leaving my family in Washington. Working various jobs, I got to explore the islands and enjoy the great hikes and camping opportunities. I spent a good amount of time teaching martial arts, scuba diving, and fishing from shore. I spent fifteen years of my adult life in Hawai’i before my friends bribed me to move to Oklahoma. Once I got here, I couldn’t wait to hunt deer and get some venison in the freezer. Reading books, watching shows, listening to podcasts, and searching theInternet led me to learning about our conservation model and the great work done by Theodore Roosevelt and many other sportsmen. I got my first deer here in Oklahoma, and I just got my first turkey with the help of our Oklahoma BHA Chapter. I love the outdoors and being able to hunt, fish, and forage. I will continue to learn and I want to ensure that our public lands stay available for all of those in the womb of time.

Stephen Smith, Secretary

Being passionate for the outdoors and the vast opportunities to hunt, fish, camp and many other recreational endeavors has been a lifelong passion, instilled by my father who began taking me with him on outdoor adventures as soon as I was physically able. Those experiences made me become very passionate about engaging in outdoor recreation, especially hunting and fishing. That passion grew into a deep appreciation of nature and wildlife that eventually led me to a career in natural resources management.

As a graduate of Oklahoma State University in 1997 with a BS in Natural Resources Ecology and Management and a major in Forest Management, my career in forestry and wildland fire management began right after graduation becoming a permanent employee with the U.S. Forest Service in Colorado.  Over the past two decades my career has been shared with both the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in Colorado, Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.  Since 2016 I have served as the National Fuels Management Fire Planner and Program Analyst for the BIA and function as a National lead for utilization of fire and mechanical treatments to mitigate wildfire hazard potential, wildfire severity, as well as, manage and protect natural resources and Tribal cultural values across the entire United States. I chose to become an active member of BHA to join the efforts to promote and ensure that these passions for outdoor pursuits and unhampered access to public lands remains a viable option for generations to come.

Ben Haff, Policy Chair

Originally from Oklahoma, I've lived here most of my life. I'm an avid hunter and angler. I do my best to work a little when I'm not setting the hook or letting an arrow fly.  

I've worked as a conservation professional since graduating Oklahoma State University in 2005 with a degree in Wildlife Ecology.  I've also spent a little time working in the outdoor industry in sales, marketing, and communications.

I'm a sucker for a good volunteer cause if it involves public lands, hunting, fishing, or any aspect of education related to these topics.

I currently serve as the Policy Chair for the OK Chapter of BHA.  My background working with different conservation groups and state agencies has armed me with a wealth of experience navigating the legislative process in OK.

Robert Land, Board of Directors

I grew up in SW Missouri fishing mostly at Table Rock Lake and Roaring River State Park which I still run to every chance I get. Camping, hiking and small game was just about all I knew until I bought a bow second hand when I was 16 and I fell in love with white tail. I took about a 10 year break from hunting while in the Marines, that's were camping and hiking took on a whole new meaning. I moved to Oklahoma in 2011 after meeting my wife. I eased back into hunting the first few years, Primarily enjoying rifle season and camping a few weekends here and there. It wasn't until I bought another bow that my love for the outdoors started to come back. Teaching my Nephews and my Daughters about the world around them has fueled that passion even more.

Brock Stuber, Board of Directors

I was born and raised in central Oklahoma on a small farm. Hunting and fishing were a huge part of my childhood and my family enjoyed many meals concentrated on wild game. As a kid, I always wanted to be a mountain man. To this day my dream of being a mountain man still exists and my wife and I do all we can to live as much off the land as we can. Each day I continue to develop a deep love for nature and have learned that the conservation of wildlife and habitats were just as important as the hunt. I still have a deep connection to the earth and that is why I have such a passion for the outdoors. I didn’t hunt on public lands until later in my life when Iran into access issues. My father-in-law invited me to hunt on public land and after that first hunt I was hooked. I take pride in hunting these areas and I love the challenge. Our wild places mean a lot to me and when I am dead and gone I want to know that I did my part to keep them wild. 

Josh Karum, Board of Directors

I was born in Illinois but moved to Oklahoma at the tender age of 6. I almost immediately started fishing, hiking, and camping every chance that I had. Usually accompanied by my brother and a few buddies from the neighborhood. We were extremely fortunate to have access to hundreds of acres of private land within bike riding range so to us it was the Wild West. We continued to grow our network of permission given outdoor activities all through high school by bartering manual labor and a handshake. Unfortunately, things started changing as we grew older, urban sprawl and other folks started trespassing and really exploiting all our honey holes so eventually we no longer had the free access. For the next 10 years or so I only sporadically enjoyed some outdoorrecreation. The notion of public land that anyone could enjoy was unknown to me for quite a while and I feel like many people I kind of fell away from the outdoors.

Fortunately, about the time my first son was born I had a co-worker who really reached out to bring me back into the fold. Over the last 14 or so years I have jumped back in with both feet! My two boys and I enjoy pursuing big game, upland, waterfowl, archery, predators, and most of all turkeys. We always seem to be planning our next big adventure and enjoy the access we have. Oklahoma only has about 3% public land so we really cherish what we have. Over the years I have been fortunate enough to experience our nations public lands in Washington, Missouri, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Montana to name a few.I look forward to many more opportunities and am beyond excited to what the future looks like for BHA at a local level as well as nationally.

Click here to contact the Oklahoma chapter board.