Well our hunt at McAlester was this past weekend. Me and my dad weren't able to get a shot off but it was a great experience and I learned a lot. I will be putting in for this hunt every year going forward.

This place is 47,000 acres and there were 230 hunters hunting this weekend. When we checked out Sunday there will 20 deer taken which goes right along with the overall success rate of 10% Keep in mind you are only hunting with a stick and a string basically haha.

We got there about 8am Thursday where they gave us a quick briefing and went through our vehicles to make sure we didn't have any restricted items (bullets, matches, lighters, guns, etc.) Once we cleared the checkpoint we drove in to the campgrounds to get all checked in. We instantly started seeing deer as soon as we drove through the gates. Saw 3 or 4 different groups just in the mile stretch of road to the campground. Got all checked in and sat around drinking coffee and chatting with other hunters.

The big meeting started around 10am which went over all the ground rules and what we could shoot. Next they broke us out by section where we assigned drivers and pinned out parking spot on the map. We broke for lunch around 11:30 and had to be back by 1pm so we could go scout our spots and hang our stands.

We walked around for about 2 hours and found 2 promising areas so we grabbed the stands from the truck and got them hung.

We got to start hunting Friday. We met at the campground at 5am and got our trucks lined up so we could follow our escorts out to our spots. We were truck #2 so we got out to our spend with plenty of time to get a nice nap in before walking to our stands. It rained ALL day Friday so I set up my pop up blind by where I hung my stand. It finally stopped raining about 5pm so I took the blind down and crawled up in my stand the rest of the afternoon.

Saturday I sat in the stand from daylight to 11am. The discharge old ammunition on certain days at 11 and you know when they do it. It'll shake the ground! Me and dad met at the truck and listened to the OU game and took a good nap. We got back out in the woods around 2pm.

All I had seen from my area was one tom turkey so Sunday morning I set up the blind across a creek from my dad where he had been seeing deer. We hunted til 11am then it was time to take down our stands and get out. I never saw any deer while hunting but I saw plenty driving in and out of our spot and also saw several bucks. My dad saw 11 does and an 8-pt from his stand but was never able to get a shot at one.

It was a great few days and I can't wait to get drawn in again. I feel like I learned a lot of stuff that will help me out for next time. I'll definitely be more prepared knowing what I know now.