Oklahoma.....

Any guys in here from Oklahoma or hunted there? I can be in Rita Blanca SWA within about 2 hours from where I live and there is a nice long archery season for a reasonable price for a buck and doe for a NR

Hey I hunt in Oklahoma all the time although not way up in the panhandle. That SWA is not contiguous and is checker boarded, sections and sub sections. I don't think there are many deer around there so I would definitely take a drive down there first.

If you are looking for Mulies you will be hard pressed to find a confirmed resident populations especially on public land. If you are interested in whitetail, Oklahoma has a fair draw hunt system.

I can make recommendations if that interests you.

Deer interest me in general...lol

The Oklahoma websight doesn't say anything about a draw system...it looks like you can buy tags and go hunt your happy butt off. The SWA does look goofy on their map, all cut up into blocks with different numbers and stuff. On the big Rand McNally it's a large National Grassland like the Comanchee we have here in CO.

I don't mind a further drive. Rita Blanca interested me because it's close and seems like similar ground that I'm already used to hunting on.

What is their draw like and odds and stuff? I'll take whatever info you'd be willing to give

Thanks a bunch

ok...I found "controlled hunts" on the websight that seem to be a drawing process. But, are all hunts drawing hunts or just the super dooper awesome hunting areas....? I only saw a handful of archery hunts on the list that had specific dates, but in another part of the websight it says archery is from October till the end of January. Plus it says you need a 'hunting license' to get into the draw, but the archery license says you don't need a different hunting license.

This is a pain in the bahookey

They call them "Controlled Hunts" is Oklahoma:
http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/controlhunt.htm
They run a hybrid pref point system. Basically you gain a pref point every year for each species you apply for and when you apply you throw your name in the hat once for that year + 1x as many pref points you have. There is no difference in Resident and Non Resident draw odds or tags. For a non resident you have to either have to buy a year tag($150) or a 5 day ($?) to enter the draw in April. Cost is $5 to enter as many hunts as you want. If you get drawn you can then buy the tags required for that species. My father in law owns about 1000 acres + his family owns another 1000 so I buy year long tags every year and have quite a bit of country to hunt. Plus I don't catch any flack from the wife since I hunt at her folks.

You can draw for Elk, Antelope, Deer, Turkey, and Quail.

The Elk are in the Wichita Mountains Federal Game Refuge and is highly sought after. This is a once in a lifetime tag.
Antelope is up in the panhandle and I believe that SWA is where they run one of those hunts. These are highly sought after as well.
There are "A LOT" of Deer hunts...a couple really good ones, a bunch that are middle of the road and some crappy ones. The Wichita Mountains deer hunt is the best rifle hunt and if you hunt with a Long Bow you need to apply at the McAlester AAP. There are some B&C bucks pulled out of these spots each year.
Oklahoma is "filthy" with Turkey especially the Rios in the western part of the state. There are also a lot of Easterns in the eastern part of the state. I also think there are some Merriam’s in the panhandle or more hilly regions.

The eco-regions in Oklahoma are very diverse from Swamps(SE) to Sand Dunes(W) and everything in between.

I have drawn 2 hunts since I have been applying. A ML Deer hunt in Eastern OK. It was really hot and dry and there were no bucks killed that year. I drew a turkey hunt at Sandy Sanders WMA near Erick. It was a 2.5 day hunt and we studied maps and talked to folks (Very similar to western OYOA hunts). We set up camp and started hunting at noon. We killed our birds by 3:30 and left with a couple really nice Rios.

Recommendations:
If you put in, go ahead and apply for the Antelope and Elk hunts. Odds are long but just roll the dice as it does not cost you anything more. You can put in for a cow Elk tag and have a much better chance to draw but remember it is a Once in a lifetime.
For Deer put in for the Wichita Mountains or McAlester(long bow only) as first choice and then pick your poison from there. I highly recommend Sandy Sanders too. When we Turkey hunted there the place was covered in deer sign. We didn't see any deer but we only hunted a few hours. It is very hilly open country with draws and creeks. For western style hunters this is good spot as it lends to spot/stalk and glassing. Plus the biologist that lives there said he gets sporadic Mulies. Canton WMA is right by where I hunt and has consistently a high percentage of bucks killed. I can give you detailed info for this area. If all you want is meat most any hunt will be good but if you focus on trophies the above area are better.
For Turkey just pick somewhere. If you are not experienced I can give you pointers which will work pretty much anywhere. Also note that Easterns are a little tougher to hunt...not because they are smarter birds, but because they get more pressure and as such tend not to be as vocal and willing to come to calls. Turkey Hunting is a blast!!!! Also you can find hunts on private for around $500 which includes 2 toms in the spring. I like to hunt as early in the season as I can as the Big Toms get locked down on hens the later you get.

Hope this helps

Danny

JohnCushman said:

ok...I found "controlled hunts" on the websight that seem to be a drawing process. But, are all hunts drawing hunts or just the super dooper awesome hunting areas....? I only saw a handful of archery hunts on the list that had specific dates, but in another part of the websight it says archery is from October till the end of January. Plus it says you need a 'hunting license' to get into the draw, but the archery license says you don't need a different hunting license.

This is a pain in the bahookey

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Not all "Controlled Hunts" are Super Dooper (see my last post). Some of the areas hosting Controlled hunts also allow regular public hunting. Canton is the only one I know off the top of my head.

Yeah there are only a few archery hunts and they generally suck. You've got to be careful when thinking about whitetail hunting. As a general rule, attacking whitetail in OK and most places east of the rockies is not a glassing/spot&stalk endeavuor. Most whitetail reside in thick river/creek bottoms and ag areas which is relatively flat. Food source hunting is the best approach unless you have the time to pattern deer and their travel corridors. Most hunts outside the rut (Mid Nov-Early Dec) will generally mean a low buck percentage kill and almost no mature bucks.

Check out the Results from 2008
http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/controlhuntresults.htm

I make spreadsheets every year so I can focus on areas with high percentage buck kill ratios. I also cross check this with dates to check rut correlation. Send me your email and I'll send them to you.

As for deer tags here is the scoop:
OK has 3 seasons (Archery, ML and Any Weapon(Rifle)) you have the option to buy each one and to get a buck and doe tag for each season...thus 6 deer/year if you bought a buck/doe combo for each of the 3 seasons.
Archery runs from Oct-Mid Jan and this tag is good even during ML and rifle season but you better not have a ML or GUN if all you have is an archery tag
ML runs a couple weeks in late Oct. You can hunt with a bow or ML with this tag.
Rifle runs 19 days around Thanksgiving and is by far the most popular and in OK Thanksgiving is called "Deer Season". This hunt is generally right around the rut in most parts of OK. You can hunt with any weapon if you have this tag and the archery tag runs concurrent with this. Although you better not be caught with a rifle if all you have is the archery tag. Get the gist?

Oklahoma is a lot like Texas as most of the state is private. Public land is realtively small and will be crowded, especially during the rut. However there are still folks with good hunting land in OK that can be leased for nothing or very little if you are a smooth talker.

Hope this helps. I wish I could help you out more on the public hunting scene but I don't do much of that.

If you are interested in high success, low pressure and fun hunting look into Feral hog in Texas and Oklahoma. It's a blast, the meat is good and there are a lot of hogs! Heck most ranchers and farmers will almost kiss you to come irradicate them! Plus you can hunt them 365 days a year and even at night.

I keep forgetting to tell you the Odds of the draw hunts. The only way to get the Odds from last year is to subscribe to Oklahoma Outdoor. The Odds come out in the Jan/Feb magazine which I just happen to have in front of me.

From What I can tell these will be the "Worst Case Odds" as they are issued based on total # of applicants. Remember you get you name in the hat for this year plus the number of Pref point you have.

Here are some of the hunts I recommended: (permits/applicants)
Canton WMA (150/1797)
Sandy Sanders (10/903)
Wichita Mtns (35/7325)
McAlester there are 6 week long hunts which range from 17% to 6% chance of being drawn.
Antelope buck (50/4577)
Antelope doe (150/1067)
Bull Elk run about 1 in 500
Cow Elk run about 1 in 10
Turkey hunt has about a 2% chance at any of the spots.

I'm on an extended visit here in OK. North of OKC

Ovis said:

I'm on an extended visit here in OK. North of OKC

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Are you trolling for a date?

Match.com me if interested....

Thanks so much for the help and input. I'd definitely be interested in hog hunting!! We're starting to get them here in CO, but alot of people that have them on private land have figured out that people will pay to kill them, so finding them on public land is a little difficult....but that should change soon with as much as they breed...lol

I talked to 3 different people in the Oklahoma DOW. The last one being a wildlife biologist in the NW area. All the people I talked to were friendly and helpful and it was a genuiniely fun experience. They also said...PLEASE come kill our hogs!!! LOL

It's nice to have such friendly people to deal with when calling as an out of stater

JohnCushman said:

I talked to 3 different people in the Oklahoma DOW. The last one being a wildlife biologist in the NW area. All the people I talked to were friendly and helpful and it was a genuiniely fun experience. They also said...PLEASE come kill our hogs!!! LOL

It's nice to have such friendly people to deal with when calling as an out of stater

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I have had that same kind of an experience w/ the OK DOW...

Good information here. I'll refer back to this page in a few weeks when I start applying for hunts here in OK. I'm still pretty new to controlled hunts. Last year was the first time I applied and was drawn out for the McAlester hunt as part of a group. I've been looking at last years results to try to find some higher success areas to apply for this year. Of course the elk and antelope are on the list.

I plan on giving archery antelope on Rita Blanca a shot thus year but don't have very high hopes.

Does anybody know how corner crossing goes over up there? As was mentioned before it's very checker-boarded up there.

I still haven't made it down there to hunt deer. I've hunted turkeys and got 2 rios near Canton with a buddy of mine. Now he's moved and his family has some property in the SE corner of the state with turkeys and hogs and deer and some waterfowl, so I'm thinking a more concerted effort needs to be made to hunt down there

I wish I could find a good spot to hunt hogs. It would be a good way to supplement the venison when it starts running low. Everybody complains about them but then people want to charge you to hunt them. Can't see paying to hunt a wild hog.

No doubt. I go to a ranch about once a year with friends to bowhunt hogs, but they charge. It's not much of a hunt, but it's more to spend time with friends and share a campfire with guys you only see once in a while

Sounds like a good time.

drthornton said:

Hey I hunt in Oklahoma all the time although not way up in the panhandle. That SWA is not contiguous and is checker boarded, sections and sub sections. I don't think there are many deer around there so I would definitely take a drive down there first.

If you are looking for Mulies you will be hard pressed to find a confirmed resident populations especially on public land. If you are interested in whitetail, Oklahoma has a fair draw hunt system.

I can make recommendations if that interests you.

Click to expand...

There used to be some mulies over at the Packsaddle WMA when I was a kid.

There is also a few pieces of public land that are archery only, seems like one was near Enid.

As far as the hog hunting on public land might try the corps of engineers property that surrounds most lakes and rivers. I know there are hogs around lake Texoma and I assume others in the Eastern part of the state.

As far as the best public land hunting try the huge pieces of logging company property in the SE corner of the state. They have everything from turkeys to bears and plenty of opportunity.

This is great info, thanks! If I would’ve read this a year ago, it would’ve saved me a lot of time. I enjoyed the studying in the meantime though.