I know this is a Texas Forum but I am looking for some information on deer hunting in Oklahoma. I was up at Beaver's Bend fishing a while back and a man was telling me that you only had to get a liscense and that there was bunches of public/paper land that you could hunt on. Is this true? Anyway, if anyone knows of some leases or anything about hunting there please advise.

I couldn't tell you where to go. All I remember from when I lived there was that it is a very short season. Like 10 days or something like that.

What all do you need to know about OK hunting? I cannot afford TX lease prices, so I hunt OK every year.

Rifle season starts the weekend before Thanksgiving and runs for 14 days. You just missed Muzzleloader season, which is 9 days and ends the last weekend of Oct.. Bow season runs from Oct 1 through Dec 31.

I can tell you a little about Oklahoma hunting. They set up their tags by the method meaning you buy a bow tag, rifle tag, blackpowder tag etc. I bought a tag last year and you can buy a buck and doe combo for rifle season which runs about three weeks and it will set you back around 250.00 plus the small game license which is 140.00 a year or the 5 day which runs about 40.00. I hunt Southern Oklahoma and they are a ton of WMA land around Marietta and Thackerville Oklahoma. I hunt private land but I have seen some big deer come out of the WMA's if you do your scouting and hope the locals dont shoot you.

Well I have hunted Oklahoma for over 20 years and his statements are some what true. I have had a Lifetime License since I was 16, so I haven't had to mess with licenses or tags since then, but this is how I understand it.
A nonresident can purchase one combination hunting/deer license for $251. But that license in only good for one season (archery, muzzleloader or gun); you decided when you purchase. So if you will only be hunting in gun season you only pay the $251, but if you want to hunt archery and muzzleloader it is an additional $51 for each season. Unlike Texas, Oklahoma deer tags are for pacific seasons like Perchjerker said. Each set of tags give you one buck and one antlerless tag. So if you buy all three season tags you could harvest six deer (3 bucks and 3 antlerless). Also Oklahoma’s regulations are not set up by counties like TX, it is by zones. See the OK website at www.wildlifedepartment.com to see a state map to see what zone you would be hunting in (I hunt in Zone 4 in southern Muskogee County). That will tell you when each season starts and what days it is legal to harvest an antlerless deer (unlike TX there are only certain days you can harvest a doe). Actually the gun season is 16 days long (which is new for the second year from 2003 forward the season was only 9 days long). It starts on the 19th and runs to Dec 4th.

If you have any further questions feel free to contact me.

Unlike TX, OK licenses follows a calendar year. So if you bought a NR license in Feburary it would be good until Dec. This is mainly for the hunt drawings. If you use a recurve at all, i would suggest entering the McAlester Army Ammo plant hunt. They pull some monsters out of there annually.

On a side note, if choose to hunt public land be very careful there are a lot of idiots that come out of the woodworks for rifle season b/c of the short date.




http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/hunting.htm

I've been hunting in OK for about 18 years now, so I can offer my .02 cents. Like they say, there are a lot of opportunities to hunt on public land. We've been hunting on the Three Rivers WMA since BEFORE it was Three Rivers WMA (used to be mostly Weyerhauser land). The non resident land use fee is $25.00 to access Three Rivers and Honobia WMA.
From my experience, your best bet at a good buck are in muzzleloading season, but you have to scout around before season. And like somebody else said, there's a lot of idiots out there, especially if you are close to Highway 259. Oh, and don't forget the dog runners (even though it's illegal!!). My best advice would be not to P.O. the locals!!
On the positive side, I just got back from muzzleloading season, I shot a buck and a doe and my buddy shot an 11 pt buck that dressed at 162 lbs--all the deer are in good shape, even though the acorn crop is poor and it's the driest it's been in 84 years.

I have family in eastern Oklahoma,Stigler area,and there does seem to be miles and miles of unposted land in the southeastern part of the state.Its all rugged and mountainous but beautiful country.Apparently all you do is find a place to park,get out and start hunting.

Swampthing,

Do you know the Beach, Cox, or Cason family from Stigler?

Hey Sig1921,
Do you know the Yost family?

Anyone hunt the area around Lake Texoma/Tishmingo WMA? Have never been and was thinking about it once the Texas season closes.

Swampthang, please tell me I am misunderstanding your post. From reading it, it appears you think it is legal to trespass on private property just because you don't see a posted sign? That would earn you a view from the back of the Sheriff’s car. OK law is you must have written permission from the landowner on your person.

HR,

My family is from Tish, but i have never hunted it. We used to go out there and watch the deer come to the fields at night from the roads. Tish is better known for Ducks and Geese. Up until the late 80's they would average about 5-6 million greater canadians, but the flyway shifted and they only host about a fraction of that now. I went up there for a family thing last fall and could not stop counting all the birds.

No Sig,dont know them,my brother and nephews live way back in the San Bois mountains between Lequire and Red Oak,south of Stigler and I visit them occasionally.And Okiebug I'm not advocating trespassing by any means,I hate trespassers as much as the next guy.I was just assuming that if the timber companies who own all those mountanous areas dont spray paint thier "color band" here and there,its not posted and they dont mind you hunting on it.Thats the way it was years ago in east Texas before the timber companies got wise and realized they could make a whole lot of money leasing thier land to hunt clubs.I'm by no means an expert on hunting in OK though.

I have been hunting in Oklahoma for 38 years. Some years we hunted public land and some years we hunted private land. There are a number of differences in hunting in Oklahoma vs. Texas.

The public land can be very frustrating. For example, one year I had a great treestand up about 200 yards from a remote road. Opening morning, I had two hunters within 50 yards on each side. One smoked and other used the bathroom each time he left the area.

Another year, we hunted National Forest land. My cousin came upon a marijuna drying shed so we had to leave the area.

Although I live in Texas, I have not hunted much in state. Most of my family still lives in Oklahoma so I hunt there. What I sense though is that a hunter in Oklahoma who either owns land or leases land will have more problems with trespassers than Texas Hunters will. I know in Southeastern Oklahoma, it is a problem.

Last thing. I think there are generally more deer in Texas per acre than they are deer per acre in Oklahoma. There is more hunting pressure on the public land that I ever care to experience again.

Just my experience.