Oklahoma hunting regulation ????

B

bluedog250

New member
I see a lot of Oklahoma hunters on here so i will see how you read these regulations?

COYOTE
Open year-round, Except it shall be unlawful to hunt, Take or attempt to take coyotes from dark to daylight with the aid of any artifical light and any sight dog.

What would you think this would mean? You can hunt them after dark but you can't use any light? If the moon is really bright some night I could set out and call them up and shoot them? I don't know about other states but our regulations just make my brain hurt trying to figure them out! I have asked this to people and they all have about the same answer, I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT MEANS FOR SURE!
Just wondering if anyone has ever found the right answer or if there even is one?
 
From what I've gathered they passed this law to stop people from running them with dogs, farmers were complaining about cattle being chased or otherwise disturbed.

You can still get permission from your game ranger to hunt them at night but it is shotgun only with #6 shot or smaller and he needs to know where you are going to be. If I can't get hold of the ranger I can call the sherrif's office and let them know but this is just my county check with your ranger first.
 
Hey Tom will they let you use a light or is it dark hunting only. It seems they make it so that you don't want to hunt at night. I always figured they were worried about their deer herd! These stiff regulations really just hurt the honest sportsman not those that are going to poach anyway. I would like to start hunting at night, but it is such a hassle. Just my two cents worth!
Shmee
 
When Mussman.223 asked a game ranger in okmulgee about these regulations, the game warden was kind of skiddish. He said that we could hunt at night, just no artificial light. Technically, on a bright night we could hunt them. But he wasn't very comfortable saying that. I guess they acomplished their goal, it is to big of a pain in the butt for me to hunt at night. Just my opinion though. Later Josh
 
You actually hunted coyotes just by the light of the moon. I have been hunting when there was a full moon, and not needed the light to locate the yote. but when I tried to locate him in the scope there wasn't enough light to pick him up, and see the crosshairs too. Even with a scope light it is difficult!
 
the ODWC is probably the worst wildlife dept around when it comes to writing clear regs.

that part of the side of the county over there by jim-bob's house caint have no deers shot on it kind of crap.
 
Ya odwc can make it tough to figure out what's going on until they issue a citation then you get the picture.

Yes you can use a light and a shotgun with #6 shot or smaller with permission from the ranger in the county your hunting in. As far as using #6 shot on a coyote your wasting your time so if you want to hunt at night do yourself a favor and go to Texas it's night hunting heaven down there.

Jon835- My sister has a couple hundred acres on the east side of 69 highway with Does all over it but only one Doe day per season, on the west side very few Does but 4 Doe days per season. Guess they gotta draw the line somewhere in that book.
 
I think the regs changed this year and the days of hunting with #6 in a shotgun are over. No more hunting coyotes at night unless you are a dog hunter with scent trailing dogs. No greyhounds.
 
Hey guys,

Making me homesick with all this talk about Oklahoma! I haven't got to hunt down there for a long time and would like to try to make it sometime. Will be down for my neice's wedding this summer so maybe I'll post something closer to the date.

Longdraw,
I'm drawing a blank on Coweta, did I blink at the wrong time? I was born in Henryetta and have lots of family in Schulter,Pleasant Valley,Dewar,and Okmulgee. Heard there are some big cats in the Hitchita bottoms and over around Tiger Mountain. Good hunting to all, Nikonut(aka displaced Okie) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
does anyone else think its messed up that we cant use buckshot, but they would rather have us go out and shoot 30 pound animals with dove loads.
And then they try to teach ethics.
 
Glad to see so many okies on here and a few that used to be here!
I am sure glad to see I'm not the only one that thinks the regulations are messed up! I would not mind it nearly as bad if they at least seemed to be in plain english so you could at least know for sure what you could do and not do! It would be easier for them just to tell us NO HUNTING AT NIGHT! I would be fine with that but no hunting with artfitial light and shotgun with #6 shot, Just sounds like I way to make money to me, "OH YOU HAVE ON THE WRONG CAMO, THIS IS SATURDAY YOU CAN'T WEAR MOSSEY OAK ON SATURDAYS, THAT WILL BE A $100.00 FINE THANK YOU!"
Went coyote hunting with a couple of buddies last evening and we figured we would just move to Texas where we could hunt when we wanted to! But then we figured we better not or we would NEVER sleep!
 
If you live in Okieland the best thing you can do is become aquainted with your local ranger, I hunt in 3 different counties pretty regular and have met all 3 rangers, they are hunters just like you and me and are more than willing to explain any of the regulations. The lawyers who write these laws are the ones to blame for being hard to understand, or maybe I'm just too simple minded.

Texas is a nice place to visit but to have to move there? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
One other thing, years ago when we had bird days for quail season- mon wed fri and sat- I think, someone told me that the reason mondays were included was because a bunch of barbers got together and had monday added cause they are off that day. I don't know how true that was but does anybody know how we could approach the board to change the laws on coyote hunting? I'd like to be able to hunt with a rifle but even buckshot in a shotgun and a light would be better than #6 shot. Any ideas?
 
That is one of the things that bother me most about night hunting is the #6 shot you have to use, It may be just that way to discourage people from doing it but it seems to me you would have to be dang close to be effective with #6s, Would you not just wound or mame or at the very least you just made sure they will not come back! If anyone hears of anything that might help change these laws let us know and I'm sure plenty of people will join in to make it better!
 
The regulations used to say that you had to have written permission from your county game warden for every 24 hour period that you hunt. They have since changed that. I live in Seminole county. Several years ago I asked our game warden for written permission. He told me "NO". I showed him the reg's, and he still said "NO". He said, "you can't kill coyotes with #6's", so I'm not giving you permission to hunt in my county at night. I went home and called the ODWC and complained that he was being unfair to me, because I did ask for permission, and he wouldn't give it to me. They told me that the decision was up to each county
warden whether he wanted to give permission or not. I think that they are afraid of getting called out at night by farmers and ranchers that are reporting gunshots, and they don't want to be disturbed. It is unfair that the legitimate hunters should suffer. The thing to do is to circulate a legal petition with signatures of licensed hunters, and deligate a small group of individuals to present it at the annual ODWC regulation change committee meeting.
Good Luck, Alan
 
It seems to me there are several factors probably keeping us from having the oppurtunities to hunt Predators at night the way we would like to. There would be those who would use the freedoms of night hunting to further their endeavors of trespassing and poaching, even more than they do now!(Trespassing very prevalent in my area) Lack of man power to keep everyone legal.(you guys here in oklahoma know how thin game wardens are spread already with no extra money to hire anymore, our state is broke.) In turn these problem could possibly hurt the deer herd due to more poaching( deer hunting is odwc's bread and butter) So it seems to me, until we can help solve some of these problems we will not have the option of night hunting any time soon.
Just a little of my insight.
Shmee
 
I am in on the petition idean Trophyhunter mentioned. I definatley think it is bullcrap that we can not hunt @ night. Trophyhunter & I talked awhile back & agreed that there would be more livestock shot @ night by them not letting us use lights. As far as the farmers calling part is concerned you would think the hunter would let the land owner know they would be hunting & if a neighboring landowner called the warden the warden could easily say if it is not your property its not your problem! We should atleast be able to use lights & buckshot. Just my .02.
 
I wrote Paul Moore of the ODWC a couple of weeks ago asking about the definition of "dark". I also asked if "night vision" binocs, or an un-attached night scope could be used for "target identification" only, stating that I would hate to see a farmers border collie get shot by mistake.

When he (MR. Moore) replied, he skirted the issue about hunting at night without a light, but this is his response:

"Hunters cannot use night scopes or night binoculars to hunt coyotes...they are considered to be artificial lights. But, that said, if you have a permit from the game warden in the county in which you plan to hunt and written landowner permission, you can hunt at night with a shotgun and #6 shot or smaller for coyotes. Contact the State Game Warden in the county where you want to hunt."

Technically, the way the regs are written, if you can see the yote in your scope without any light except the moon, you can take him. But, as someone else posted above, I think each warden will interpret that as he sees fit.
 
Oh man, it sure seems the odwc is not real enthusiatic about addressing this issue. I too in the past have emailed them and received the same response. I wonder why they seem to be so vague on the subject. I would rather them just come out and tell us why they are not to keen on hunting at night, instead of beating around the bush all the time. (Please don't take this as a negative hit, I feel overall the odwc does a great job with the limited resources they have to work with!)

Shmee
 
Nikonut, Coweta is about 20 minutes southeast of Tulsa. Take HWY 51 east from Tulsa through Broken Arrow and you are there. Hope that helps.

I have e-mailed that Paul Moore guy as well, and have gotten that same response. I give up it is to confusing to mess with. I hope one day that the regulations change or become more clear. Later
 


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