Don’t bother buying an elk tag if you can’t hunt them on Ft Sill. Outside of the Special SW Zone, where I live that’s about 4 1/2 hours from Enid and all private, there’s no elk to speak of. They opened the season statewide a few years ago because there are a few here and there that are likely escapees from some high fence area and there was a grey area around the legality of shooting them. There’s also no elk hunting on public lands. I think in the last 3 or 4 years theres been less than ten killed statewide outside of the above mentioned SW zone. You’d just be throwing your money away.
There’s a taxidermist behind every tree in OK, people live and breath deer hunting here so no worries there. There will be ample opportunities to hunt, we have tons of public land and some of it is really good especially for archery hunters. You don’t have to buy a crossbow if you already have archery gear but it is an option if you want to stack the odds. Buy or bring a muzzleloader, that’s an extra season and usually a good one as the rut is generally kicking off about that time. Rumor is that rifle season is going to be extended next year to 23 days from the 16 we’ve had for a while, no increase in the limit just more time to hunt.
I don’t know how big the deer are in NC but you’ll have no trouble processing one at home in an evening in OK. We had a check station for years and I never checked a deer that weighed over 180 dressed out of hundreds I booked. Average buck will dress out at 125 down here, maybe 140 up north where you’ll be with a monster going 175-190. Antler wise we have some hogs killed every year so the potential for a bruiser is there.
If you get out to the small towns and make some friends or hang around the COOPs you might have a chance at some oldtimer letting you go hunt. Never know unless you ask and as a rule Okies are pretty laid back nice folks.
