Whitetail Deer Management in Oklahoma........

[AllOut]

^^^^^ I don't think it had much if any affect dropping to a two buck limit.
I honestly don't see dropping it to one making a huge difference either, but maybe a little is all we need.
Reasons...
The vast majority of OK hunters are rifle hunters only. So they only get one buck anyway. The next higher percentage of hunters use ML and rifle. So again dropping it down to two didn't affect them at all. It really only hurt the guys who hunt all three (bow, ML and rifle). Which is a very small percentage of people.
Tossing out some number off the top of my head.
There's like 200k registered hunters in OK.
We kill about 100k deer a year. So only about 1/2 of hunters even kill a deer at all.
Only about 1/3 or 30k of those deer are bucks. With about 75% of them being killed with a rifle. Which is already a 1 buck limit state wide.
So even going to a 1 buck limit per year shouldnt have a very drastic affect. Except the fact it migh make guys more selective. I know a lot of guys who will fill a buck tag with the first little young thing with horns they see just to kill a buck. Then say they are hiding off for a big one with their last tag. One buck limit might just do away with a lot of that "gotta hurry and get at least one (any) buck down" mentality.

 

[dennishoddy]

Dennis, you may be able to answer this, if I am on DMAP, do I still have to abide by season limits? I am pretty much on 4000 acres to myself with a high deer density. I don't want anyone else in there shooting, even if it is just does. If I got the property on DMAP, would I only get to shoot 4 or 5, whatever the season limit is? Or if I were given 20 doe tags, would I get to go in there and whack all 20 myself? Is not worth it to me if I have to recruit shooters.

On a DMAP, season limits don't apply to individuals hunting within DMAP boundary's.
If you are required to take 20 does in a season, as part of your agreement, and you don't take all of them, its tough to get approved the following year.
You must follow the methods of harvest for the early bow season, and MZ season. After rifle season is over you can continue to take does with a rifle until the quota has been met.
Lets say you met your quota of does by the end of MZ season. Your area is then closed to doe hunting.
If the biologist says does only and no bucks, the DMAP area is then done for the season.
You could then go down the road 1/2 mile on property not in the DMAP boundary and shoot your season limit of does and bucks.

 

[willystruck]

I've lived in the Grand Lake area for 15 years or so. The population here has grown a huge amount in that time. In the last few years the buck to doe ratio has evened up somewhat. I still see 5 to 8 does to every buck but that is much better than 20 to 1 as it was in the past. Biggest problem at this time seems to be sharing of habitat between deer and humans. Lots of folks hitting deer on the roads, even in town, and lots of complaints of deer chowing down on the expensive landscaping around the big $$ lake homes.
I've also seen more bigger racks on bucks and had a chance to watch a few grow from fawns to adult 6 & 8 points before they became wary enough to stay out of sight during the times I'm around.
I believe that for my area, the 2 buck limit is working and would only like to see an expanded doe limit or incentive to take more does out of the population. I know that other areas of the state have experienced lots of different circumstances that affect the population, therefore a state wide reduction in limits, buck, doe or both would not be in the best interest of the population state wide.

BTW I'm a meat hunter and try to put 2 or 3 in the freezer every year. In the last several years only one was a buck. He was a mistake due to low light conditions amongst other things.

 

[justin_h635]

I am fully against dropping to 1 buck. We have too many deer in most areas, and I feel like in the overall scheme of things management can be thrown out the window because there is too much private land with different hunters of which 90% could care less about management. You can manage your land all you want but it doesn't help if the landowners around you shoot the first buck they see. I have no problem with anyone doing this btw.

There is so much emphasis by a lot of us that we should continue to wait for that 150 to walk out when reality says that it wont.

I also feel like there is a good deal of farceness in management because every State has a different view. If it were that easy, why wouldn't each State adopt the same practices.

My personal management is that if I want to shoot a gross 150, I let smaller bucks pass and realize that I may not be shooting a deer for a few years. I also believe that genetics in an uncontrolled environment is luck. You either have them in your area or you don't. I also feel like everyone thinks they have the answers when few do.

 

[r00s7a]

On a DMAP, season limits don't apply to individuals hunting within DMAP boundary's.
If you are required to take 20 does in a season, as part of your agreement, and you don't take all of them, its tough to get approved the following year.
You must follow the methods of harvest for the early bow season, and MZ season. After rifle season is over you can continue to take does with a rifle until the quota has been met.
Lets say you met your quota of does by the end of MZ season. Your area is then closed to doe hunting.
If the biologist says does only and no bucks, the DMAP area is then done for the season.
You could then go down the road 1/2 mile on property not in the DMAP boundary and shoot your season limit of does and bucks.

Thanks Dennis, that's what I was wanting to hear. Do they suggest timeframes of when to harvest deer, like 50% of does should be harvested before the end of ML season? Or are you just given a certain # of does to harvest at your leisure?

 

[AllOut]

There is so much emphasis by a lot of us that we should continue to wait for that 150 to walk out when reality says that it wont.

I don't disagree with your post.
But don't understand this part...
care to explain what reality is?

 

[justin_h635]

Reality is that most bucks never will have the gentic ability to get there. You can let 10 pt after 8 pt after 8 pt walk and chances are they will never reach trophy class.

 

[AllOut]

Reality is that most bucks never will have the gentic ability to get there. You can let 10 pt after 8 pt after 8 pt walk and chances are they will never reach trophy class.

I don't know where you got that information....
There's 3 parts of the white tail rack growth.
#1 The Most Important and having the biggest affect on size
AGE!
#2 is Nutrition
#3 and having the least to do with it is Genetics.

"Trophy Class" is kinda relative.
As for Oklahoma, anything 135" and above is Cy Curtis and considered trophy by this states record books. The majority of all bucks in this state if let to be 5.5-6.5 years old. Would make that.
A lot if them would easily be at or above that 150" mark.
That's not opinion, that's just Reality.
How many small racked legit 6.5 year old bucks have you ever seen here?

 

[AllOut]

The sad part is, Oklahoma has Very good genetics.
We just don't allow our bucks to reach those ages of maturity before we kill them.

 

[TedKennedy]

It's awesome that some of y'all wait to harvest that "worthy" buck for the wall. You have patience, and obviously know what you're doing.

Not my bag, by a long shot. I've taken three really nice bucks, and countless does, spikes, forhed horns, etc...they all serve one purpose to me - food. My family eats what I put in the freezer, whether it's deer, pig, catfish or anything else I happen to be fortunate enough to catch.

If I somehow become a "trophy hunter", then that's what I'll be. I don't need the OWDC regulating the buck crop as if there weren't enough deer. When we had the strict limits and few does could be taken, it made sense to regulate that way. Today that is hardly the case, and it kinda starts to smell like elitism when "trophy hunters" want to dictate what other folks that don't agree with their management philosophy do.