Oklahoma Preference (Bonus) Points

[OKHunter84]

Wichita bull #1 (not walk in), Gruber #2 and Cookson #3. My friend is now 0-30 with the same choices.

Doesn't Cookson only have one tag? I'm not sure on Gruber.

 

[Honyock]

Cookson and Gruber have only one tag. There's only one non-walk-in bull hunt in the Wichitas. We put in for all of the bull tags that are available that are not in the walk-in area. There's a reason we don't put in for the walk-in hunts. We're beginning to think that we have been blacklisted on the elk draw. I've killed five elk in Oklahoma (private land) and he's killed a few more. The Wildlife Department assures us that we are not blacklisted but 0-29 and 0-30 is ridiculous. If we had put in for Colorado sheep tags, we would have already got a tag on points.

 

[OKHunter84]

Cookson and Gruber have only one tag. There's only one non-walk-in bull hunt in the Wichitas. We put in for all of the bull tags that are available that are not in the walk-in area. There's a reason we don't put in for the walk-in hunts. We're beginning to think that we have been blacklisted on the elk draw. I've killed five elk in Oklahoma (private land) and he's killed a few more. The Wildlife Department assures us that we are not blacklisted but 0-29 and 0-30 is ridiculous. If we had put in for Colorado sheep tags, we would have already got a tag on points.

There's a whole bunch of either sex elk tags for the walk in. I think it was 10 per hunt and there was five or six last year when I went with my wife. I drew it in '22.

If I was you and you didn't want to do the walk in then do all Wichita mountains regular tags.

 

[Honyock]

There's a whole bunch of either sex elk tags for the walk in. I think it was 10 per hunt and there was five or six last year when I went with my wife. I drew it in '22.

If I was you and you didn't want to do the walk in then do all Wichita mountains regular tags.

We had a lease for quite a few years around Saddle Mountain north of the refuge and we killed quite a few elk there. It wasn't unusual to see 50-60 head of elk on a 40 acre wheat field. My hunting lease is south of Carnegie and there are elk a mile south of us. Haven't made it to our place but they will. Every year they move further and further north. I'll probably kill an elk on my lease before I draw a tag in the controlled hunts.

 

[OKHunter84]

We had a lease for quite a few years around Saddle Mountain north of the refuge and we killed quite a few elk there. It wasn't unusual to see 50-60 head of elk on a 40 acre wheat field. My hunting lease is south of Carnegie and there are elk a mile south of us. Haven't made it to our place but they will. Every year they move further and further north. I'll probably kill an elk on my lease before I draw a tag in the controlled hunts.

It is frustrating that there's guys in state like yourself that can't draw and you see a lot of out of staters when you're there on a hunt. Last I saw there wasn't a quota for in state vs out of state. Since we have so little opportunity for elk in Oklahoma, I feel like we should follow suit with the western states and only give a certain amount to NR.

I hope you draw next year man.

 

[CarterHunt]

Struck out on elk but I did draw a whitetail hunt at the Beaver River WMA - McFarland Unit. Hoping it's a fun time.

 

[TCUHunter34]

Struck out on elk but I did draw a whitetail hunt at the Beaver River WMA - McFarland Unit. Hoping it's a fun time.

I’ve always been interested in this one. Good luck!

 

[Slickhill]

I would guess that a part of the reason for no nonres/res split in tags for the Wichitas has to do with it being a federal wildlife refuge. Since it’s fed land and administered by the feds and paid for with Fed tax dollars as opposed to say national forest where the state game department still takes care of the wildlife.
And if you’ve hunted it yes there were OKDW guys there helping out. They’re volunteering as part of a state/federal cooperative agreement type deal.
Just my theory.

PS I didn’t draw either. I’ll just hunt CO and the slickhills north of the refuge like I usually do.

 

[OKHunter84]

I would guess that a part of the reason for no nonres/res split in tags for the Wichitas has to do with it being a federal wildlife refuge. Since it’s fed land and administered by the feds and paid for with Fed tax dollars as opposed to say national forest where the state game department still takes care of the wildlife.
And if you’ve hunted it yes there were OKDW guys there helping out. They’re volunteering as part of a state/federal cooperative agreement type deal.
Just my theory.

PS I didn’t draw either. I’ll just hunt CO and the slickhills north of the refuge like I usually do.

You might be right. That doesn't seem to matter in other states when you're hunting on other federally managed BLM or national forests.

 

[Okie-hunter]

I would guess that a part of the reason for no nonres/res split in tags for the Wichitas has to do with it being a federal wildlife refuge. Since it’s fed land and administered by the feds and paid for with Fed tax dollars as opposed to say national forest where the state game department still takes care of the wildlife.
And if you’ve hunted it yes there were OKDW guys there helping out. They’re volunteering as part of a state/federal cooperative agreement type deal.
Just my theory.

PS I didn’t draw either. I’ll just hunt CO and the slickhills north of the refuge like I usually do.

There’s no res/nonres split on deer hunts occurring on state owned WMAs either.

 

[Slickhill]

There’s no res/nonres split on deer hunts occurring on state owned WMAs either.

Well you got me there. I don’t know why they don’t split it up.
Wouldn’t hurt my feelings if they went KS 1990’s style and made everything closed to nonres that weren’t landowners. I lost out on a bunch of places I used to hunt after the Texans showed up waiving money around and started the lease cancer. Thank goodness I have places that I don’t have to worry about it.

Sucks being in everyone else’s backup state for when they can’t draw or can’t afford to hunt elsewhere. They publicize how easy and cheap it is and then we’re covered up with people and now have guys wanting to be a one buck state and all kinds of other stuff.

Time marches on.