That's crazy. That's definitely not the case today in Oklahoma. What happened to increase their population so much?
It was the same way in Oklahoma during the 60's and much of the 70's even. Guys that I know in Grant County said the only place you'd find deer was occasionally along the river.
"The white-tailed deer is the most popular big game animal in Oklahoma, which is remarkable considering its near extinction at the turn of the century. A brief history of the white-tailed deer in Oklahoma reads as follows: 1870s-deer abundant; 1890s-reckless over-harvest by settlers; 1910s-barely 500 remain and deer seasons close; 1930s-restoration begins; 1980s-stable and abundant statewide herd restored. Thanks to the hard work of generations of conservationists, the deer population has been restored to its former glory."
From the odwc site.
Breeding
Wow I had no idea. Did guys just bird hunt?
Also appreciate any older guys on here. Restoring the herd for future generations is a sign of a good society.
Quail, rabbits, squirrels, ducks, geese, doves, prairie chickens and turkeys. Pheasant are kind of "new" on the scene compared to the rest. That's why shotguns and .22lr ruled for decades. You could kill everything in Oklahoma with them. Eventually shotgun slugs for deer because everyone had a shotgun but not everyone had a centerfire rifle.
Yes, they never saw deer. They went to Colorado to hunt them due to lack of animals in Kansas.
As a kid in the 70’s, we hunted quail and ducks on family land southwest of Jet, and I don’t remember seeing a single deer until the early 80’s. I actually still have the mental picture of this little buck running out the end of a locust grove as the bird dog worked it. After losing the majority of the land we hunted to the OKC Hunting Club in the mid 80’s, I didn’t come up much until my Dad bought a place in 2003. After not seeing any deer as a kid, I was shocked by the number of deer in NW Oklahoma.
I also don’t remember seeing a single turkey in all of the hunts growing up. The first turkeys I saw were on the place I have now in the early 2000’s, and there’s been a steady decline in numbers since then.
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Wasn't a deer hunter yet but after returning from VN and before going to Libya I hunted Kan. hot and heavy every Sat. and Sun. in 75' and 76' for about anything in season which was pretty much pheasants, quail, rabbits and squirrels.....wasn't really looking for them but I don't recall ever seeing a deer so I guess the deer population was pretty low during that period also.
I can't tell you exactly when I started deer hunting ... probably about 1969. I hunted hard for the full nine days the season was open back then. I killed my first deer in 1975. It was bucks only back then, and that was the first legal deer I had ever seen within shooting distance.
What’s interesting is that poor management and over hunting resulted in the same nearly nonexistent deer population in east TX until the mid 80’s too. I saw my first deer in the woods while squirrel hunting with my Grandfather in 1978. My Grandfather used to go to south Texas (Bracketville) to deer hunt in the 60’s and 70’s.
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