One-buck proposal for the combined muzzleloader and gun seasons

[rlt7272]

Why is it more satisfying to shoot a small young buck than it is a doe?

Sometimes its all about what you have available. Limited doe days in SE Oklahoma open up the need to shoot a small buck or risk going without. After the first day I had to pass on any doe so if I had seen a small buck I would have taken it versus bringing home no meat.

 

[AllOut]

There is no shame in not killing a deer, tag soup ain't that bad.
If it's deer meat you want let me know I give tons away.
Heck I'm in my stand right now looking at a doe I just shot wondering who I should give it to.

 

[ByrdC130]

Guess the definition of a quality deer herd can be summed up in numbers. To some it's seeing large numbers of deer, reguardless of antler size. To others it's the number of the antler score. Meat hunter vs Big Rack hunter, and I'll say that TV hunting shows have a lot to do with this.

I do find it weird that someone will shoot a young buck and pass on any doe, guess that's just the mentality left over from years back when shooting a doe was considered taboo, or just goofyness or their right to shoot whatever was in front of them. But if you are going to restrict the buck harvest, then up the allowed number and days available to shoot does. If you hunt public lands, you're over a barrel as so few of them allow does to be harvested and now you want to restrict the number of bucks as well? So does anyone have a solution to the quandrary that a meat hunter will face during gun/ml season by less bucks per season?

 

[AllOut]

I'm all for unlimited doe, Florida does it and it seems to work fine for them.
Even on public land I dont see why it would be an issue. If not unlimited then just do it like we do out west, 2 doe for ML and 2 for rifle with doe being allowed the entire season.

 

[dennishoddy]

you boys west of I-35 or close to the Red River might as well be Texas at that point. You'll be fighting them for land with dollar bills. Texas manages deer solely to sell them.

With the quality of the deer that Oklahoma has shown in the last 5 years, the end of private land hunting could happen in my lifetime unless you have more money than most make on this forum. There are already Tx outfitters in SE Ok, and all over the panhandle leasing up huge blocks of land to sell hunts. Ok has already been nominated as one of the three or four states that could produce the next world record buck.
Go take a real close look at Tx or Pike county Ill, and see how easy it is for the common hunter to go deer hunting. If you wan't Ok to go that way, so be it. I don't think you'll enjoy the results.

 

[AllOut]

They don't call us the Dark Horse for no reason...
I do know that the going rate for a lease in places like Pike Co is around $25 per acre and can go as high as $50!!!
But finding reasonable places to hunt there is still possible. Besides I wouldn't worry about us ending up that way any times soon. Look at Kansas, there prices are comparable to ours and the hunting is 10x better.

 

[dennishoddy]

Besides I wouldn't worry about us ending up that way any times soon.

Why start the ball rolling that direction? It never rolls the other way. I think of my grandkids.

 

[AllOut]

The ball has been rolling that direction for a while now.
This is kind of off the wall, but if you happen to watch the Monster Buck videos... If you pay attention to the 2010 and 2011 videos, the two biggest bucks killed on those videos came from Oklahoma. Trust me, I didnt like seeing that!

It doesn't matter if the state forces us to manage for big bucks or not. The older generation is slowing fading out and my generation and younger (the kids brought up on hunting videos) are getting away from "meat hunting" "brown it's down" mentality and all want and hold out for big bucks. It's the new fad it cool it whatever, but it's going to happen and your grandkids will be part of it. So will my son who is 4 and will already look at a small young buck and say "no daddy he is to small" LOL

 

[Parks 788]

I say keep the current limits and add point restrictions, say 3 on one side. Also would like to see out of state license go way up. Resident license should include all tags as well.

Just my 2¢

So, non resident hunters are part of the problem with the issue at hand? Please explain. If OK had Iowa or Kansas quality bucks then the $250+ wouldn't be so hard to swallow to hunt in OK as a non resident.

 

[dennishoddy]

So, non resident hunters are part of the problem with the issue at hand? Please explain. If OK had Iowa or Kansas quality bucks then the $250+ wouldn't be so hard to swallow to hunt in OK as a non resident.

I'm blessed, as well as others in this thread with areas that allow us to take just about any deer, and numbers of deer that we want. Its easy to get spoiled, and hold ourselves on a pedestal.

My concern is the folks that may hunt public or marginal private ground for two or three years, and the only thing they can get is a fork horn and never see a doe. Good for them. Trust me, In my tour around a NC Ok area this week, seeing the blinds with nothing but 2" high grass around them made me sympathetic to someone needing some protien

Kids coming into the sport, don't need restrictions for antlers. New hunters, that have only access to public that is heavily hunted don't need restrictions.
I agree with the doe before a buck, but on the last day of MZ or gun season, they can take anything. Kind of a reverse retro thing?