Controlled hunts

[Oklahunter3]

I’ve heard a couple guys jokingly say they’d trade the elk tag for a deer tag if they could take one of the monsters they saw

I need some coordinates!!!

 

[hunter966]

I’ve hunted that one before. The other gentleman was right about binos, but I would add a great set of broken-in boots as well. It’s a great hunt and a neat experience. Send me a message and I’ll give you a few other tips.

Watch out for the buffalo, those a-holes can make you think you’re in a stampede. We hunted the Wichita Mtns. maybe 10-11 years ago and the buffalo were feeling good.

 

[Okie4570]

Solid 30 years and no elk drawing yet. I don’t think you can get worse than the system OKDW uses for these drawings.

In my personal opinion these hunts should only be eligible to current OK residents. As bad as the youth hunt at Little River was conducted last year we should have petitioned for a guaranteed draw.

As great as the DoW is in this state this system misses the mark.

I agree but it's a Federal refuge so I'm sure it will always be open to NR.

 

[Dorkus]

Watch out for the buffalo, those a-holes can make you think you’re in a stampede. We hunted the Wichita Mtns. maybe 10-11 years ago and the buffalo were feeling good.

They dropped me off on my elk hunt in 2006 in the middle of a road way in the back of the refuge. I went to stand next to a “bush” to wait for the sun to come up so I could get oriented. I get about ten feet away and the “bush” took off running.

Scared the crap out of me and luckily I didn’t get a horn in my stomach.

 

[Okie4570]

They dropped me off on my elk hunt in 2006 in the middle of a road way in the back of the refuge. I went to stand next to a “bush” to wait for the sun to come up so I could get oriented. I get about ten feet away and the “bush” took off running.

Scared the crap out of me and luckily I didn’t get a horn in my stomach.

The only reason my dad killed the buck that he shot in 86' there was because a herd had him cut-off from where he needed to walk along the edge of a ridge. He had to divert another direction and saw a tree in what little moonlight there was and went and sit by it instead. Hour later he pulled the trigger lol.

 

[PBramble]

got Lexington again. Every year that I put in.

 

[AER244]

I struck out in every category again, but congratulations and good luck to all who drew a tag! A Wichita mountain buck hunt is right behind a Wichita mountain bull hunt for me. That’s just a really neat place and I’d love to go hunt it for something.

How many of you apply for the controlled youth hunts for your kids? Do they draw more/less often? I’ll look at the published draw odds, but I figured I’d ask for real world experience too. My kids aren’t eligible by age for a few more years, so it’s preference points only for now but I was curious.

 

[Oklahomahunter]

I struck out in every category again, but congratulations and good luck to all who drew a tag! A Wichita mountain buck hunt is right behind a Wichita mountain bull hunt for me. That’s just a really neat place and I’d love to go hunt it for something.

How many of you apply for the controlled youth hunts for your kids? Do they draw more/less often? I’ll look at the published draw odds, but I figured I’d ask for real world experience too. My kids aren’t eligible by age for a few more years, so it’s preference points only for now but I was curious.

I took my son who drew out at Little River last year. No one that was running that hunt had ever set foot on the property before. We were instructed to go into town and ask people that lived around the area for pointers, or ask someone that may have been hunting in the room. Absolutely piss poor thing to do to the kids that were there to hunt. We drove over 4 hours to get there. We saw some deer, and he got a shot at a doe, but the management of the situation was bad from the start.

I’ve heard some great things about other hunts. I’d like to think this was an odd situation. Still rubbed me the wrong way.

 

[dennishoddy]

Solid 30 years and no elk drawing yet. I don’t think you can get worse than the system OKDW uses for these drawings.

In my personal opinion these hunts should only be eligible to current OK residents. As bad as the youth hunt at Little River was conducted last year we should have petitioned for a guaranteed draw.

As great as the DoW is in this state this system misses the mark.

If it were a true preference point draw, my 31 points would be a winner, which they were not.
It's a draw system, not preference system. My 31 got into the draw randomly for a chance to win.
Like pulling straws. Seems I always pull the shortest one, but that's the rules of the game we have to live with.

 

[TedKennedy]

I struck out in every category again, but congratulations and good luck to all who drew a tag! A Wichita mountain buck hunt is right behind a Wichita mountain bull hunt for me. That’s just a really neat place and I’d love to go hunt it for something.

How many of you apply for the controlled youth hunts for your kids? Do they draw more/less often? I’ll look at the published draw odds, but I figured I’d ask for real world experience too. My kids aren’t eligible by age for a few more years, so it’s preference points only for now but I was curious.

It's been well over a decade since my boys were eligible for youth hunts. They did have much better odds of getting drawn, and they drew at Tenkiller COE, and Sequoyah NWR. My youngest got drawn at Tishomingo one year, it and the others were well-managed, great experiences for kids. My stepson got drawn at Okmulgee over twenty years ago - the game wardens had a huge crock of duck gumbo simmering for dads and kids!

@Oklahomahunter - I hate things went that way for y'all, and frankly, I'm quite surprised. Every single youth hunt I've been involved in (and that's probably 6-8) were fantastic.