As the air cools down, the anticipation heats up for thousands of hunters waiting for opening day of deer muzzleloader season on Oct. 24 and fall turkey gun season on Oct. 31. Long-range weather forecasts indicate a cool down in late October, which likely will have the whitetails wandering.
Deer muzzleloader season will last for nine days, closing at sunset Nov. 1. New this year, the season limit has increased to four deer, with only one of those being antlered.
The most recent Big Game Report, published in the September/October issue of Outdoor Oklahoma magazine and also on the Wildlife Department’s website, an estimated 70,090 hunters took part in the 2019 deer muzzleloader season, reporting a total harvest of 16,544 deer, or 15.6 percent of the total 2019-20 Oklahoma deer harvest.
To better manage the deer population, Oklahoma is divided into 10 antlerless hunting zones. Consult the current Oklahoma Hunting and Fishing Regulations Guide to see a map of the zones and the bag limit in each zone. Harvest of antlerless mule deer is prohibited.
Fall turkey gun season opens on Halloween, Oct. 31, and runs through Nov. 20. Hunters using a firearm may take one tom turkey if they haven’t already harvested a turkey for archery season. Gun hunting for fall turkey is closed in 14 eastern Oklahoma counties. See the map and other detail in the current hunting regulations guide.
Some other hunting seasons open during all or a portion of deer muzzleloader season are bear muzzleloader season, Oct. 24-Nov. 1; elk muzzleloader season, Oct. 24-Nov. 1; fall turkey archery season, Oct. 1-Jan. 15; squirrel season, May 15-Jan. 31; and rabbit season, Oct. 1-March 15.
All hunters are reminded that they must wear the minimum required amount of hunter orange clothing during any open big game firearms season. Those and all other regulations such as license requirements, hunting hours, bag limits, field tagging and online E-Check rules are detailed in the Oklahoma Hunting and Fishing Regulations Guide found online at www.wildlifedepartment.com, in the free Go Outdoors Oklahoma mobile app for Apple and Android, or in print at license dealers statewide.