This is the Outdoor Oklahoma Journal, where we're all about helping you pursue and engage in Oklahoma's vibrant outdoor lifestyle. Follow us for great hunting and fishing stories, wildlife features, insider information about unique opportunities, and tangible details on how to go out and be a hunter, angler, and conservationist. The outdoors are always open, so don't miss out!
Prescribed Burning as a Tool Against Ticks?
The benefits of prescribed burning for wildlife have been well documented, especially when managing for white-tailed deer, wild turkey, and bobwhite quail. Even more, prescribed burning continues to be one of the most cost-effective wildlife management tools available to land managers. The question is, can prescribed burning help to control tick infestations too?
Next Year's Hunting Season Dates
How and when Oklahoma's hunting season dates are set can get complicated. But for the most part, hunting seasons are either on the same date or the same weekend every year.
Spillway Screens: Does My Pond Need One?
Much like the grass carp, fish that are more likely to “escape” your pond originate from rivers. Examples of these “jailbreak prone” species include hybrid striped bass, common carp, white crappie, and green sunfish. These fish will go with the flow if you don’t “put them on lockdown”.
2024 Landowner Conservationist of the Year
Farmer-rancher Randy Malson of Roger Mills County was named the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation’s 2024 Landowner Conservationist of the Year.
Wild Double Take: White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows
Tips for identifying two Oklahoma look-alike sparrows, the white-throated and white-crowned sparrows.
Deer Gun License Valid for Holiday Antlerless Deer Season
Holiday antlerless deer gun hunters can harvest up to two more deer with just an annual hunting license and one deer gun license.
Surveyors Study Secretive Salamanders
Less than an inch of rain fell on Oct. 9, 2018, but it was enough to prompt 196 ringed salamanders to emerge from their underground homes and embark on their annual journey.
Free Trapping Workshops Offered
Presented by Wildlife Department biologists, these workshops will cover everything from scouting to putting up the fur. You’ll even have an opportunity to set a few traps and catch some fur of your own! All equipment is provided, and the events are free. Space is limited.
Wintering Birds
When autumn finally releases its hold on winter, Oklahomans have to say goodbye to such things as fall colors and warm weather bird species, including purple martins, scissor-tailed flycatchers, and other avian summer residents. But winter is a time for greetings, and with the brisk north winds comes wintering birds.
Track Surveys Shed Light on Swift Fox
Biologists keep tabs on Oklahoma’s smallest fox, the swift fox, with annual track surveys across the High Plains.