Deer gun season opens Saturday

With more than 200,000 expected participants, the Deer Gun season is the state’s most popular hunting event in terms of participation. The season kicks off this coming Saturday, Nov. 23 and runs through Dec. 8.

It is also the deer season that boasts the greatest success rate in terms of harvest each year. Firearms accounted for 58.2 percent of all deer harvested in the 2023-24 seasons. That amounted to 72,693 deer, a little off of the previous year’s record harvest for gun hunters that topped 80K.

“Oklahoma’s deer populations enjoyed growing numbers and good habitat conditions across much of the state last year, factors contributing to the record harvest,” said Dallas Barber, big game biologist for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. “But also contributing was the willingness of Oklahoma hunters to help the state’s deer management plan by taking more antlerless deer.”

Habitat continues to be fair across the state. Acorns and other food sources are in good supply. Recent rains have really greened things up, and warmer temps have added a little late season plant growth. Those hunters who take note of deer feeding patterns as the season opener approaches will have an advantage.

The deer breeding season, known as the rut, will peak over the next couple of weeks, which means deer will be more active during daylight hours. The ODWC will put out a rut report later this week, but all indications are that bucks are chasing does across the state.

Fueling deer hunting’s popularity in Oklahoma is a management plan that serves the state’s diverse hunters’ interests by providing region-leading season lengths and bag limits along with a strong education component outlining the benefits of balanced sex ratios and selective buck harvest.

Our hunters have taken the “Hunters in the Know … Take a Doe” message to heart, said Barber. Antlerless harvest made up 44 percent of the total harvest, falling right in line with the statewide management goals that are resulting in healthier populations overall.

It is encouraging that Oklahoma deer hunters continue to act as deer managers by making efforts to manage statewide deer herds through adequate antlerless harvest, and selecting for age instead of antlers when it comes to antlered deer.

So far this season hunters have enjoyed warm weather and good success. Rain put a damper on the second half of muzzloader season, but youth gun and bowhunters have made up for it. The county harvest list looks good.

This coming season, make it a goal to take someone new in order to pass on this great tradition. And remember that every time you release an arrow or squeeze the trigger, you are making a deer herd management decision on the piece of property where you hunt, added Barber.

For complete rules and regulations, consult the current Oklahoma Hunting Guide, or wildlifedepartment.com.