It’s that time of year in Oklahoma: deer season

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

The arrows have been flying in Oklahoma for several weeks, but now it’s time to hear the blasting of muzzleloaders.

It’s deer season in Oklahoma, which is the equivalent to Christmas for many state residents.

The primary means of managing game species has long been through sport hunting. Deer hunting provides most of the revenue for all wildlife management in Oklahoma, through license sales and federal excise taxes on manufacturers of sporting arms and ammunition.

“Deer hunting also helps to control the size of the deer population,” said Sue Fairbanks, assistant professor of natural resource ecology and management with Oklahoma State University’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. “Overabundant deer populations can cause damage to the habitat that other wild species depend on and can result in damage to agricultural crops and ornamental landscapes. In addition, deer populations result in increased deer-vehicle collisions and may support larger populations of disease-carrying ticks.”

Archery season began Oct. 1 and runs through Jan. 15, while muzzleloading season just started and continues through Nov. 3. The majority of the harvested deer will come through the gun season, which lasts just two weeks beginning Nov. 23.

According to figures compiled by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, there were nearly 110,000 deer harvested in 2010, with 112,863 and 107,848 in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

Variation in total harvest between years is largely a result of weather. The best deer hunting is in cold, dry and windless weather.

There is a long history of deer hunting in the state, with records going back to 1900, when there was unregulated harvest numbers, which nearly eliminated all deer from the state. In 1917, legislation banned deer harvesting with an estimated population of 500 in the entire state.

Through successful management practices the deer population has been restored.

“Now wildlife managers find themselves in an entirely new situation,” Fairbanks said. “Instead of bringing deer back from the brink of extinction, we now have to learn to manage overabundant deer populations in many areas. And deer harvest is still our primary tool.”

The tradition of deer hunting will no doubt continue in Oklahoma: in fact, it already has.