How to hunt Public Land in OK

[WacosSon]

Hello All,

I have been reading alot on this forum and it is full of some great info. Another question. I haven't been able to find any local hunting buddies so I may venture out for rifle season solo this year. What do ya'll think about dressing a dear after harvest in a WMA. What's the best way to carry the meat back to the truck if I'm far out in the woods? Also, how should I go about disposing of the carcas and guts? Dig a hole for the guts?

Have you taken your course yet? It'll cover alot of that. Bass Pro offers courses - $20 and if you pass you get the money back on a gift card. Totally worth it.


I never leave a deer caracass...too easy to truck out. I field dress em to make them lighter, then drag em out with a rope. Hang em at home and skin them, then take them to the processor. It's not like an elk where you have to packout meat because its so big. Take the whole thing with you.

 

[garret01]

Haven't taken the course yet. I think there is one coming up in September pretty soon though. I'm getting really close to just giving up. Seems like it's impossible to find a hunting buddy. Too many wusses in this world. I'm still going to the class though, just in case I get a wild hair come deer rifle season.

 

[tulsanewb]

Yes Corps of Engineers
Most Corp owned water (lakes/rivers) have walk in public hunting areas around them.
Take Kaw Lake for example or the Verigris River/Navigational Channel, most/all the land on the river within so close to the water is considered public and open for hunting (bow/shotgun pellets only). Lots of good areas especially if you have a boat. Just because u can hunt on the edge of the river doesn't mean you have land access to it though. Some areas are unacessable by land without going through private property which you would have to get land owner permission to do. But you can always boat in...
Some areas open up to larger tracts than just thin strip u get on the edge of the river, sometimes these areas have parking areas or ways of walking the dike (sometimes miles) to get to. But it's doable and some of these places are great hunting and have been favorite bow hunting areas for me since I was younger.

I actually posted about boat accessible areas in a thread I started before finding this. I have been perusing maps for locations where a boat would be useful but am not sure if what I am finding is right. Does anyone happen to know offhand some WMAs to look at with boat-only hunting access areas?

 

[Droberts]

http://www.swt.usace.army.mil/recreat/huntingmaps.cfm

 

[zcruse]

How do you keep from getting two guys sitting right across from each other and never knowing it..? How do you prevent a guy from dragging his kill through your spot on the way to his truck?

Does this make sense?

I've been hunting OK wma's for about 10 years now, most of them hunting all seasons and to date I've only had one instance where someone I didn't know passed by my stand while I was in it and it wasn't any problem. The man was taking his little boy out for what had to have been his first or second hunt and they went down the timber about 3-400 yds from me and stayed for most of the morning. That being said during the middle of the day we usually venture out and try to find the camps in the surrounding fields and meet the people we will be hunting around. We've built many good friendships that way and also whenever anyone in any of the hunting parties gets into a jam (ie help setting up stands, looking for downed animals, road trouble...) we try to help each other out.

 

[Garand]

Haven't taken the course yet. I think there is one coming up in September pretty soon though. I'm getting really close to just giving up. Seems like it's impossible to find a hunting buddy. Too many wusses in this world. I'm still going to the class though, just in case I get a wild hair come deer rifle season.

Dont give up because you cant find hunting buddies. Hunting alone is great! I have much better luck when I move at my own pace. Plus if I feel like sitting down and taking a nap I can, and often do :-)

 

[WacosSon]

Dont give up because you cant find hunting buddies. Hunting alone is great! I have much better luck when I move at my own pace. Plus if I feel like sitting down and taking a nap I can, and often do :-)

Agreed! While hunting with a buddy is fun, hunting alone can be one of the most refreshing activities around. There's nothing like being in the deer woods at 0-dark:30 alone. Its a quiet you can feel in your soul.

As long as people know where you're going and when, and you are more careful than you need to be, hunting alone is perfectly normal. I'm not sure how much time you've spent in the woods, but a survival skills class might come in handy if you do plan on hunting alone. Although, to be honest, short of some of our WMA's, most of them are less than 2 miles deep surrounding bodies of water. The chances of being lost and in severe danger are much slimmer than if you were going 20 miles back into the bush. Don't give up though. Take your class, put in the leg time out in the woods and get yourself hooked. Hunting buddies are much easier to come by when you've got some experience under your belt anyway.

 

[tulsanewb]

http://www.swt.usace.army.mil/recreat/huntingmaps.cfm

Thanks, that is very helpful!

Is there much of an advantage in any of the boat-only areas? I'm a first time hunter and wanting to have as little pressure/other hunters as possible without dropping a large amount of money on a lease when I'm not even sure I'll end up actually hunting.

 

[garret01]

Is camping allowed within the WMA's?

 

[Garand]

Is camping allowed within the WMA's?

Some, look at the Regs, its specified by area