There are limited days and areas in Ok to bag does with rifles...

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AlongCameJones

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... (if you are an adult) on lands open to the public to hunt deer. This includes WMA and OLAP properties. Which of those precious few areas are your favorite places to take one or more legal female deer with a rifle especially in southern Oklahoma?
 

AlongCameJones

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I have seen two WMA's listed in SW Ok so far that allow rifles for the first nine days of gun season, either sex, and 14 days in late December for the holiday antlerless gun season. How GOOD they are actually to hunt, I don't know. There are OLAP properties too but most if not all them maybe shotgun/muzzle-loader/archery only. Ok is probably not the most DEER RIFLE-friendly state. I personally don't know any rural landowners so I feel I have to try to make the most of what public-access lands have to offer. Same for doves too.

My first objective as a new Ok hunter hopeful, is to seek out and scout lands that are doable for me and my style of hunting. The hunting really begins on Google. I like that Where to Hunt page at ODWC. It's kinda like a gold prospector staking a claim.

How does a HUNTER get the privilege to hunt a DMAP property?
https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/lands-and-minerals/landowner-programs/dmap
 
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retrieverman

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If you’re exclusively a gun hunter, it would definitely be advantageous to you to invest in a muzzleloader. Muzzleloaders are relatively inexpensive and not really complicated, so my recommendation is to start now like you’re doing looking for a place and begin a search for a muzzleloader and components. Another advantage to muzzleloader hunting is that you’re able to start hunting earlier and allows for more days of hunting, and like you said, it opens up more places too.:thumb:
 

AlongCameJones

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Muzzle-loaders can be quite dangerous, I've read. Thanks anyway for the suggestion, retrieverman. I will have to spend some time going down the WMA list and the OLAP list to single out the gun/doe/rifle lands then scout those places out over the summer. As a veteran I may have hunting privileges on Fort Sill too. I plan on checking into that also. Why is Oklahoma so restrictive on rifles anyway? Too many hunting "accidents"? To many dammfool people who are beered or boozed up in the field? I have a Mossy 500 12 ga. pump shotgun. Some areas (OLAPs) I've noticed allow shotguns for deer but not rifles. Do I need a slug barrel and a mounted scope for shotgunning deer? Is there a good rear-peep iron sights setup for a slug barrel? What is the maximum effective range for taking a deer with a slug-gun setup? I only have a 28" field barrel (feathered game) and a short home-security barrel. Both with bead sights. I've only hunted deer (Colombian blacktail, muley cousin) in rural northern CA with a rifle. I have my grandfather's two beautiful walnut stocked hunting rifles: A Savage 1899 in .300 Savage and a Husky in .308. I'm just so romanticized by hunting with gramp's guns. Gramps was born in 1908 and came from a more rifle-friendly era. He passed away in 1980. If push comes to shove, I would rather adapt my versatile pump scattergun to woods deer than jump into muzzle-loaders or archery. I don't fancy anything but a modern scoped rifle for an open field or plains. Archery, muzzle-loaders, lever jobs (gramp's Savage rifle with iron sights) and slug-guns seem well adapted to forested cover because of their relative short ranges. Gramp's Husqvarna Model 3000 Crown Grade (made in Sweden) bolt gun with Leupold scope is a great longer-range plains rifle. My slug-gun would give me more deer opportunity too. Among my scoped bolt gun, lever gun and shotgun, I have a number of game hunting possibilities covered. I also have a newer Ruger American Ranch bolt-action rifle (carbine size), 5.56 NATO, with Bushnell scope for varmints should any gopher opportunity arise in Ok. I have a Smith .357 as a sidearm, but no, I don't care to go handgunning for deer.
 
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okhunter

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Not sure by what you mean by “deer rifle friendly”. There are plenty of deer to be hunted with a rifle, tags can be bought over the counter for residents and non residents. Lots of good public land opportunities all over the state.
That’s why so many people come here to hunt.
FWIW almost any public lands will have plenty of doe to hunt. They are everywhere.
 

Okie4570

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