The Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to increase the number of antlerless elk hunting days on private land in Caddo, Comanche and Kiowa counties.
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"We've gone from 8 to 55 days of cow hunting,” said Alan Peoples, head of the wildlife division for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
The extra hunting days only will be east of SH 115 in those counties, or in the Slick Hills elk herd. The Granite Hills elk herd is west of SH 115, and the two herds are managed separately.
The Slick Hills is a more fertile agricultural area. The added hunting days are the result of farmers complaining about the growing Slick Hills herd devouring crops, Peoples said.
"That Slick Hills herd has grown a bunch. It's actually doubled what it was a few years ago,” Peoples said. "It's gotten way to big, and they are really hammering the wheat down there.”
Gun hunting for elk on private land had been limited to four days in October and four days in December.
Now, antlerless elk hunting will be allowed during the 16-day deer gun season in December and the entire month of January.
The bag limit for elk remains one animal of either sex.
In other action Tuesday, the commission approved hunting regulations on the new Cimarron Bluff Wildlife Management Area in Harper County.
Deer and turkey hunting will be limited to controlled hunts where hunters must apply to the state Wildlife Department and be drawn for those hunts.
"If you draw into the Cimarron Bluff WMA, your expections of having a quality deer hunt should be pretty high because the area hasn't been hunted hard for many years and those northern tier counties on the Cimarron River produce big deer,” Peoples said.
Quail hunting on the Cimarron Bluff WMA will close at noon each day. The Cimarron Bluff WMA will not be open during the 2008 spring turkey season, which begins Sunday.
The commission also established the antlerless deer hunting days for the 2008 gun and muzzleloader seasons.
In deer hunting zone one, antlerless hunting will be open Nov. 22 and Dec. 7 during the gun season; in zones two through nine, antlerless deer hunting will be allowed Oct. 25-Nov. 2 for muzzleloader and Nov. 22-Dec. 7 for gun.
In zone 10, antlerless deer hunting will be open Oct. 25-27 and Oct. 31-Nov. 2 for muzzleloader. During gun seasons, the antlerless days in zone 10 will be Nov. 22, 29 and Dec. 7.
The special antlerless deer hunting seasons will be Dec. 19-21 and Dec. 26-28.
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