How does Oklahoma rank?
Whitetail Deer
Its the only state I have ever hunted and have seen a ton of high scoring animals taken out of here but on a national scale I never hear much love for the state. What do you think?
IVE NEVER HUNTED IN OKLAHOMA BUT I HEAR THE STATE HAS SOME TREMENDOUS DEER. I HAVE JUST RECENTLY RELOCATED TO SOUTH CAROLINA FROM MICHIGAN AND GET THE HANG OF THINGS HERE.GETTING TO YOUR QUESTION I WOULD HAVE TO RANK OKLAHOMA PRETTY CLOSE TO THE SAME AS MICHIGAN HUNTING, IT JUST ISNT HUNTING WITHOUT SOME SNOW ON THE GROUND.
Never got to hunt with snow on the ground. A little ice covering everything but no snow. Always wanted to though. I would guess maybe one reason that you don't hear a lot about the deer in Oklahoma is because they are smaller bodied deer as opposed to northern deer. But its understandable when you think about it. With the heat we have down here they wouldn't be able to have the big bodies of the north.
Don't your license plates say it all "Oklahoma is OK"...
One of my Co-workers is from OK, I don't get the whole Sooner's thing, I guess there is nothing besides College Football if you are from there?
As for WT hunting and perhaps Turkeys too, you are pretty lucky.
Deer, Oklahoma? Nope....
;-)
Wish I could hunt there, but no such luck. OK regs (at least last time I checked) state that your home state has to offer OTC Deer Licenses in order to buy a Deer license there. Not a bad rule actually, but sucks when you're a CO resident.
its a sleeper state, theres some good deer huntin in Ok.
All the slammers moved to Kansas. You need to hunt there.
I've traveled to Ok. several times Bowhunting Hogs. On one occassion it was during Gun Deer season & when I took a hog to the locker was MORE THAN IMPRESSED with some of the Bucks hanging there. I'm born & raised in N.W. Ill. & now live in N.E. Iowa so I've been in big deer country all my life. yes, they have some great Deer.
Still Learnin',
Haven't you learned by now?? Don't give away good... er... Oklahoma is terrible!!!
Oklahoma does have some good deer in certain areas, but the current and past regulations have kept it from producing a lot of quality deer. I may be a little off one my dates here, but I believe that up until two years ago a resident could harvest three bucks, maybe four? The doe to buck ratio in some parts of the state is as high as 20:1, mainly because of the prior regs IMO. Oklahoma allows gun hunting during the rut which also contributes to the lack of quality IMO.
I hunted NE Oklahoma at least 15 different times last year, and had three trail cams out, on a great looking piece of ground(500 acres on the Verdigris). I saw only one buck over 120", and had only one pic of a buck about the same size, saw nothing mature.
I know that there are some big bucks that have been taken in this state, but nothing like in the one above it, or the one below it, and IMO it's the regs to blame.
I don't know that the regs are to blame just for the simple fact that some hunters, gun or bow, will only kill a buck no matter the antler size. I do believe that the majority of hunters are at least slightly selective of the deer they harvest but it is that smaller percentage that creates the overall result in my opinion. As far as being a non resident, I have never seen anything about OTC rules in our regs but I don't exactly pay attention to non resident stuff in the regs.
That's part of my point, because they were allowed so many bucks, immature bucks were more frequently taken and still are. Some may hold out for a mature buck, but lots of times only after having taken at least one immature buck. It's just too liberal to produce any quantity of quality animals.
Not trying to start any fights, again this is just my opinion!
Sito, I'm with you and understand what you mean. I have always noticed the amount of does compared to bucks. I'm willing to bet on an evening or morning drive through the woods I'll see at least 20 deer and maybe 5 of them will be a buck. Not scientific by any means but something definately needs to be done and I've noticed that all over the state. At the current time, you are allowed 2 bucks and 4 does. Dropping it from 3 to 2 bucks raised a big stink when they did that a couple of years ago. But here's my thing, anyone that truly cares about big bucks will take a doe or two, or at least should. And for those that just hunt for meat, there are tons of does for the taking. I could definately go for a 1 buck and 5 doe (or more) rule.
I am not seeing that NR regulation any more, maybe they changed it. I was looking to hunt OK a couple years ago and it was definately there. I was not a CO resident at the time, but members of my group were, that killed the trip.
Oklahoma's not all bad. 2 from last year. 160 5/8, and 147.
Oklahoma's not all bad. 2 from last year. 160 5/8, and 147.
Oklahoma ranks dead last in the nation for whitetail bucks. Florida produces more P&Y class whitetail than OK. Hawaii has more P&Y entries.
All OK has are yearling bucks and does. Millions of does. They are everywhere. The bucks don't even have to troll during the rut to find one.
Genetically the OK deer herd can't really produce more than a 120 class deer. And the nutrition of the plants still haven't recovered from the dust bowl years. I think all the Okies that moved in the 30s took the good deer with them.
Those bucks that JDH shows are really from Kansas - most likely central Kansas. In fact I would be willing to say that all deer over 120 in OK are probably trucked in by other states wildlife departments as a favor to the OK wildlife department in order to sell licenses.
Now Kansas and Missouri and Texas -- they have deer. Please don't waste your time trying to hunt Oklahoma. You will just be disappointed.
But come on by and watch our Sooners. Where Kansas and Missouri and Texas have the deer, Oklahoma has the football.
~Troy
Sito hit on the right answer. Any state where hunters are allowed more than one buck allows hunters to shoot the first thing that comes by with horns. The only reason Kansas has some decent bucks is because a hunter knows that when they pulls the trigger his hunt is over for the year. There are several reasons bucks have big racks but the most important is age.
Yea Troy's probably right, these two just got lost, maybe hitchhiked, but i only got one pic on, i'll try to get the other.
JDH -- thanks for taking the good natured ribbing. Those are great deer. Congrats.
~Troy
Well Troy, you were pretty close to being right, both these deer came about 9 miles south of the Kansas line. So they could have been transplants.
Have a great seasom Jimmie
"The only reason Kansas has some decent bucks is because a hunter knows that when they pulls the trigger his hunt is over for the year. There are several reasons bucks have big racks but the most important is age. "
OH REALLY...Then simply explain why a state like Wisconsin , who gives away more buck tags then any state, and two for just buying a gun and archery tag.....RANKS #1 IN both P&y (40 YEARS AND RUNNING) AND B&C bucks taken!!!!!rotflmao
You guys are a hoot!!!
Deer in Oklahoma? I thought those were goats. KS has the big boys. OK needs a one buck per year reg and an antler restriction. Moving rifle season in to mid to late December wouldn't hurt either.
Little bitty dear that never get hunted on the week ends ou or osu are playing football.
After the BYU game I don't think they rank very high
We have no deer and we don't even have football this season.
Lewis, that was a low blow! LOL. I'm a Tulsa Golden Hurricane fan so I enjoyed the joke.
KanSASBowNTR is absolutely correct. Our buck to doe ratio is way out of whack and it's tough to find a mature deer. You ought to see the meat locker at the local butcher come opening day of gun season. Nothing but forken horns, spikes and small six points. "If it's brown, it's down" is the new license plate motto.
Half the state is in a funk since the BYU game. The best cure is to go shoot one of our little bitty deer. There have been a lot of let downs with our foot ball teams we have not had a national championship team in years. The only theropy is shoot a tiny deer and grill it up.
Oklahoma has no deer and GO POKES!
In all reality if you want a big buck body wise in Oklahoma you have to hunt out west. Although there are some pretty good bucks throughout the state I usually see lots of 1 1/2 year olds at the check station. Don't know why a grown man wants to shoot a 4 point with milk on his lips but I guess it is so he can get home to watch football and feel like he had a successful season. I have killed two that scored over 140 but it isn't like they are hiding behind every tree like in Kansas.
only two things come from oklahoma..........steers and bucks. what did you think i was gonna say? geesh, you never hunted with snow on the ground????!!!!! good grief, we hardly get a few days when there ain't no snow on the ground
technology ruined the deer hunting in oklahoma. when i was growing up we had the three buck limit and i think three does. what we didn't have were bows that shot over 220fps or muzzleloaders that were good for more than 50 yrds. and don't even get me started on cross RIFLEs
The main reason why WI can have a deer managment plan as it does and still produce the number of heads is simple. There is more quality habitat that is deep,steep,and thick enough to hide a whitetail buck long enough to reach 4.5 years old. This fact combined with a much larger deer populaton than KS turns WI into a deer factory.
Now if WI would implement more strict standards (not reccomending it just talkin)ie; move firearm season out of rut, single buck harvest, etc. they would be so are on top of any other state it would be insane.
Bill in MI
Hey JOe, remember when it was Primitive Firearms Season? LOL I second what Joe said...
I agree with Joe and Toehead. Wildlife commission approves any new gadget that comes along even when the opinion of most hunter that they should not. There is no real attempt by the goverment/ODWC here to produce quality deer. I have been hunting here for decades and it is real disappointment to me to what we do have and what we could have.
So, technology, not hunter choices, have ruined deer hunting in OK? Has technology made hunters that much more successful? All of the statistics that I find show hunting success has pretty much stayed the same.
Isn't the buck to doe ratio really out of whack in OK? Maybe a little education could go a long way.
Having been hunting whitetails in OK for over 40 years I can say this.
The population is bigger than it was when I was much younger.
The quality is about what you would expect with a 2 week rifle season that sits right on top of the peak rut activity and a front loaded rifle season hit about the beginning of the seeking phase or near abouts.
With a 2 buck limit, there really is no state aimed QDM in place.
There are some nice deer killed each year but if you really want to know P&Y wise OK ranks near the bottom.
Like Troy said, the majority of our bucks killed each year, and I mean like @+95% is 1 1/2 old bucks.
I hunt other states each year for my big bucks and I have access to some really nice OK land that is heavily QDM managed.
I have hunted deer for over thirty years---seen and harvested my fair share. When I go hunting---I hunt Kansas. Oklahoma isn't even in the same league as Kansas. Don't get me wrong---they have a tremendous number of Deer---just no big deer to speak of. I hunt in Kansas and see at least a dozen trophy deer every time I go out. I am one of those selective hunters---I don't live that far North of Oklahome either. Glad I live in Kansas!!!!!
Sounds like one hell of a place.
