I'll be working in medford and will be living in the Blackwell/ Ponca City area. Anyone from this area? How's hunting and fishing? And can you shoot armadillos?

I shoot every armadillo I see on our place. I've killed about a dozen so far this year.

North Central Oklahoma has good hunting. Seems like the closer you get to the Kansas border the bigger the whitetails are. Much of the land is under hunting lease and you will just have to ask around to find a place to hunt. (Pretty much the same story all over the state.)

The area around Blackwell is fairly open country with wheat, corn, and soybeans as the main crops. Shots can be long compared to the dense woodland areas in the SE part of the state. Land along the Chikaskia river and its tributaries hold good numbers of whitetail.

Turkey, pheasant, and small game are plentiful. Several lakes provide fishing opportunities. Your biggest problem will be finding a landowner that does not already have his property leased.

Thank you for the replies. I'll be hunting all small game, Dove, Duck, Geese, Quail, Pheasant, Yotes, and Rabbits. New to the fresh water fishing game, all saltwater my whole life.

They are plentiful out here.

You shouldn't have a hard time finding a place to fish.  Catfish, bass, and panfish are in any of the creeks, rivers, ponds, and lakes.  They are all fun to catch.  Go to the OK dept of Fish and Wildlife to find public places for hunting and fishing in your area.  That's what I did when I moved to OK about 4 years ago.

We used to be overrun with the things, I think our record tally was 13 in one day. The population seems to have dropped off considerably for some reason.

I'm not sure why you'd want to shoot an armadillo, but I don't see why you couldn't.  Most of 'em are squished on the side of the road, but I've seen plenty of live ones.  Depends on where you are.  They're not subtle, so spotting one shouldn't be too tough if there's one around.  If you're ever trying to sleep and it sounds like there's a Mack truck rolling through your back yard with the engine off, it's probably an armadillo digging for bugs.

My maternal grandmother had never seen an armadillo, despite having lived in Oklahoma most of her life.  She came to stay with us for a while and one wandered up into the yard.  I called her out to look at it and she stood outside watching it for 20-30 minutes.  Sadly, she's no longer with us (pancreatic cancer about 10 years ago), but she was able to cross "see an armadillo" off her bucket list, at least.  They can be entertaining critters, especially when cats and/or dogs are involved (kids with sticks will do).  When you poke an armadillo, they tend to jump straight up.  They may or may not also whack you with their tail, which stings a bit even through blue jeans, hence the need for a stick.

I shoot armadillos because they tear the hell out of my yard digging for grubs,
and they dig holes in the pasture that could cause one of our horses to break a leg.
Otherwise I probably would just leave them be.

I was told by many old timers that Oklahoma never had armadillo's back then.  They said that when the oil boom started there were a lot of trucks going down through Texas and Mexico with big oil pipes and then up into Oklahoma.  They said when the pipes were laid out down south the armadillos would use them as shelter, after all they were basically tunnels, and then during shipment the armadillo's would fall out the ends of the pipe during travel or after the pipes were put down on the ground in Oklahoma at the well sites.  Eventually the armadillos colonized the state and have been a menace ever since.  They dig holes that cattle and horses step in and break legs like ground hogs plus they will dig a garden up like crazy.  

Down south in Mexico and south America they eat them but here in Oklahoma we shoot them and use them for helmets.  You'll see them for sale at all the local prepper rallies.

There are lots of things that "aren't in Oklahoma" that live here. I've had people swear up and down that we don't have mountain lions. Try telling that to my mom, she was sitting on the porch smoking one night when a cat got into the hotwire down by the animal pens about 75 yards away. I've never known someone to be in such a hurry to get a door open. We found hair in the barb wire where he made a hasty exit but that was it.

I had a mountain lion walk about 15' away from me while deer hunting one year.  I thought it was a deer walking up the draw and I wanted to see if it was a buck since I hadn't seen one all day.  It was past last legal light so I didn't even have an arrow nocked.  I was standing up against a tree trying to be as quiet as I could listening as it walked closer and closer.  I couldn't see it until it crested the top of the draw but if it's possible to pucker your butt fast enough to affect the atmosphere around you, I did it that night.  The cat walked right by me really slow and low, I literally was thinking this "holy f***, it's a cougar, it's too close...it's going to hear my heart beating (my heart was POUNDING) and attack...oh sh!t what am I going to do...if it see's me what am I going to do...oh sh!t...this is bad...this is bad..." and on and on.  Too close, there was no way I could nock an arrow, my fixed blade knife was in my backpack, didn't have a handgun because it's illegal...I did the only thing I could and slipped an arrow out of the quiver and held it so could maybe stab it into it if it attacked but I pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to survive if it sensed me.  How it didn't, I'll never know but I remember being soooooo pissed at the law for not letting me carry a handgun during bow season.  I still think it's BS that you can't carry a handgun during hunting seasons for personal protection only.

            Where did you come up with that you can't carry a handgun during bow season. Yes you can with a Ccw you just can't hunt with it if you life is endanger you can use it to protect your self protection! Someone lied to you !!!!!

Can I carry a handgun/pistol with me for protection while hunting?


To carry a handgun/pistol while hunting that is not a legal means of take for that season you would need to have a concealed carry license. If you are approached by a game warden or other law enforcement officer you will need to immediately notify them that you are carrying a concealed weapon.

Example: A handgun can be carried with a concealed carry permit while archery deer hunting. The handgun cannot be used to down an archery deer.







From OWD web site

At the time there was no such thing as a CCW, so it was illegal to carry for self protection when hunting (unless it was a legal means of taking of course).

I see