Last Weekends McAlester Hunt

[Millertime10]

My draw hunt came and went this past weekend with little luck. It was an awesome experience, with the great oppurtunities, it is just very difficult to find a good spot to hunt with only a 1/2 day to scout and hang stands in an area you have never set foot on. My dad and another buddy in my group shot a doe with the recurve, my brother, another buddy, and I didn't have such luck. I saw a 2 1/2 yr old buck and a few does, all out of range. The biggest deer shot this weekend was a great looking 8 point that grossed 141". We saw a lot of monster bucks going into and out of our hunting area in restricted areas. They know where they are safe. My buddy that shot the doe, also shot at a 160" 10 point and shot just beneath him. It was definately a learning experience for me and if I ever get drawn again I would do a few things a little different. Like I said before, it was a great experience and I wouldn't hesitate to do it all over again.

[Dave Lay]

3 of us went the weekend of the 13th, it was hot and windy but we all saw deer, one in our group killed a 156" and a pig for a quality pass, another passed a 125" 8 pt tryin to kill a doe, then missed her, another one passed a 115" 8 pt, so we all saw deer and had chances to take a buck. We have gotten drawn several times over the last 10 years, and hope to again. It is tough, we get drawn for a diffrent area each time and the 1/2 day to scout forces ya to scout more mid day on hunt days. We also had a great hunt, and hope to get drawn again.

[razorsharptokill]

That hunt is TOUGH to say the least. I really under estimated it or OVER estimated it. Depends on how you look at it. I hunted the 1st weekend. I've never been there and expected deer to just be everywhere. That is definetly not the case. This place hasn't seen fire in decades. It is a jungle in the low areas.  I saw 8 deer in ELEVEN hours the 1st day. It was hot and humid.

On a positive note. There are big bucks there but they are like the holy grail.

[MI_Bowhunter]

I guess I'm not in the "know".  What is the McAlester Hunt?     :confused:

[Lost Arra]

http://www.mcaapcontrolledhunts.com/

There is also a trad shoot in August when they will take you on military buses thru the area and see all the big deer. "Velvet Tour"

[Millertime10]

Originally posted by razorsharptokill:
I saw 8 deer in ELEVEN hours the 1st day. It was hot and humid.

Haha...that is a lot better than my 2nd day. Sat 13 hours on stand and didn't see a single deer. I was set up where 2 trails crossed, over a scrape and rub, and was heavily traveled. Just wasn't my luck on this trip.

[Lost Arra]

This is definitely a hunt that requires a stand that's easily moved. I'm glad I took my Chippewa.

[Dave2old]

Regarding Lost Arra's last comment on needing movable stands -- how about we go another notch up, with no stand at all? I killed my first deer with a bow, age 18, on the first, or one of the very first, McAlister hunts. The place was swarming with deer then, and maybe it's different now since they know they'll be hunted every year. But then, the hunter numbers were way overboard, with deer getting spooked running everywhere all day. Is it not so now? Scouting -- being out there ahead of time, hanging stands, warning them you're coming, etc. -- would have been, and I suspect still is, counterproductive. If I got the chance to do it again today (which I would, for nostalgia and curiosity alone), I'd do what I did way back then -- go light and unemcumbered and play it as it falls. A stand is great in the back-lot 40, where deer have few choices of travel routes and can be  patterned. A stand is a hindrance in a big place like McAlister, with tons of hunters running them around. And a whole lot less fun. Do they still have fallow deer there? (former) Okie Dave

[Millertime10]

Dave, they supposedly still have fallow deer there, but I don't think they are in very big numbers. I didn't hear of anyone seeing one, and haven't heard of anyone seeing one in quite some time.

AS far as the stalking goes, that is just not the way I hunt. When I try to be stealthy, it sounds like a bull in a china cabinet. It just doesn't work that well for me.

I tend to believe they manage the area and the hunters a lot better than they did when you went. I had five people in my truck and we didn't have another hunter, besides the 5 of us, within a mile or 2 of us. I never saw or knew of another hunter even close to the area I was hunting. All the deer that I did see, did not seem alarmed or pushed in any way. I do know one type of area that is good to avoid, green fields. A lot of the hunters will flock to the green fields and they are pressured around those areas. I have heard you can get lucky and come across a secluded food plot that is hidden, and get very lucky with a lot of activity, but it has to be a green field that no one knows about and has little pressure.

So, basically, what I am saying "to each his own". My style and abilities limits me to sitting in a stand all day and you may have a lot better luck still hunting and stalking. Either way, it is as far from a can hunt as it gets. It is a tough and challenging hunt. I tip my cap to anyone that harvests a deer there.

[Lost Arra]

Dave: this hunt has changed a LOT over the years.

My experience was like Millertime. I didn't see a hunter, even the guys in my truck, the whole time I was hunting.

After spending a terrific week chasing elk in the San Juan's, this hunt requires a different mindset. These deer are used to ammo/bomb bunkers and roads so getting as far away from the road as possible was not necessary and I felt a waste of walking time. With the security at that place there are no road hunters cruising around. You park in your designated spot and hunt. We had 74 hunters in about 9,000 acres.

I do think deer can be killed from the ground there. I had two within 50 yards but they came no closer. Then I got busted at 25 yards while sitting on a stool in some of the heavy windfall from the ice storm. But I got the backstraps from sitting in my treestand.  

[BowOkie]

I was down this past weekend. Weather wasn't the greatest but the count came to around 50 deer harvested. I think there were 4 P&Y taken. I seen 2 of them...156in and one just over 160in. I have to add "my story". I noticed it was mentioned that the deer are used to the bomb bunkers,roads, and railroads. I have to say that seems to be the case. The Saturday evening of my hunt, just before dark and just like in the videos, I had an absolute freak walk about 70yd from me on the edge of a field. I never seen where he came from or where he went, he just appeared. I felt like someone had punched me in the gut! He was huge! I was scared to tell anyone. I finally did and I wasn't the only one who had seen a monster. I don't claim to be a "scorer of deer" but reading the books and watching the videos I'd say...180-200in. Seeing that caliber of deer made the weekend! Rumor has it that the deer "Scar" was shot in the leg Sunday morining. That would have made me sick!!!!

[Toklat1]

I drew a permit back in 92-93 on the first weekend. Temps were in the upper 80's, lower 90's all weekend. Miserable hunting conditions and I did not even see any deer however my hunting partner saw 2 does. I've been applying again over the last 2-3 years however no luck, yet! I'll keep trying.