After 25 years of applying, I finally won a permit to hunt pronghorn antelope with a rifle in Oklahoma.
Like the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation conducts an expansive suite of controlled hunts on public state and federal areas to limit hunting pressure on game animals. The hunts are mostly for deer, and a few for turkey. I've won a handful of deer hunting permits, and I won a highly coveted spring turkey permit in 2020 at Crosstimbers WMA, where I killed a monstrous triple-bearded gobbler on the first morning. It was there during that hunt that I wrote the beginning of my new book, "St. Tom's Cathedral, A Turkey Hunter's Quest for is Best."
The ODWC used to offer a few upland bird hunts in its Controlled Hunts Program, such as quail hunts at Packsaddle WMA. I once won a permit for a pheasant hunt at Great Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge.
Without question, the most coveted permits are for the controlled elk hunts at Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, Pushmataha WMA and Cookson WMA.
But the unicorns of the controlled hunts permits are those for antelope. The ODWC awards very few permits to take a few animals from a herd that numbers only about 1,500. Pronghorns inhabit a small slice of Cimarron County near the tip of the Panhandle.
The elk and antelope permits are once-in-a-lifetime. If awarded, you cannot enter the drawing again. Also, if you win an elk or an antelope permit, you are disqualified from winning any other permit for the year. You still accrue points, but you have to wait until next year to hope to draw a deer or turkey permit.
Naturally, most hunters apply for the either-sex antelope permits. Everybody wants to kill a big pronghorn buck, and fewer people want to spend a once-in-a-lifetime shot on a doe.
It's the same with elk. You have better odds of drawing a cow permit, but not many people want to blow a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on a cow. It's a little different with elk, though. You can buy over-the-counter cow tags in Colorado and have a very good chance of a successful hunt. I want to keep the either-sex Oklahoma elk card in the deck. Hunting antelope in other states is a much more involved, much more expensive proposition.
I have applied for an either-sex antelope tag since 1998, when I went to work for the ODWC. I'm older now, and the experience means more to me than the trophy, so this year my third choice for the controlled antelope hunt was for a doe-only rifle permit in Cimarron County.
Last week, an email arrived from the ODWC. Its headline read, "Controlled Hunt Success." Cool! I wonder which deer hunt I won? Wow! What if I finally won a permit for a Four Canyons Preserve Spring Turkey hunt?
A second email said, "Controlled Hunt Unsuccessful." I always go for the bad news first. It was for my elk application.
I opened the successful email. I read it. I read it again. I closed the email and reopened it, thinking it was a mistake. I called the ODWC and reached John Horton in the wildlife management division, one of the few people remaining from my time there. I asked Horton if the email was legitimate. I was suspicious because I got no notices for any of my other applications. That's when he told me about the disqualification process.
Yes, the notice is legitimate, Horton said. Accept my good fortune, he urged. Claim the permit. Own it. Most of all, good luck!
Horton gave me the cell number of the Cimarron County wildlife biologist and the Cimarron County game warden. He also told me about the process that successful applicants usually follow to find access to private land. There are some antelope on the Rita Blanca National Grasslands, Horton said, but most of them inhabit private land, and I'll probably have to pony up a little money to reach them.
Horton and I talked a long time about our lives since I left the ODWC in 2000, about kids and grandkids, ups and downs, wins and losses. He said he plans to retire in two years at age 60. Lucky dog!
He will be in two years, but I'm the lucky dog today. I won an Oklahoma antelope permit. It might be a good day to buy a lottery ticket, too!