Recorded at deer camp
Jeff and Haydn recorded from southeast Oklahoma and expect this report to hold for a couple of weeks unless strange weather or a big rise hits the lake. They'll be hunting much of November.
Seasons
Some nice bucks have been taken around Oklahoma with archery and muzzleloader equipment. Muzzleloader closes this weekend (Jeff believes Sunday is the last day). Then come several weeks of archery, followed by Oklahoma's most popular season, traditional firearm: two full weeks spanning three weekends.
Haydn's buck
Haydn got a pretty good buck a couple of days ago in Oklahoma. It was slow at first, but the cold front got the deer moving. The buck was checking and running does all day, and he had it on three different cameras across about 200 to 300 acres.
Rut timing
By Halloween things usually pick up. On the family's lease near Smithville in southeast Oklahoma, the pre-rut and rut seem to start a little earlier than out west. Northeast Oklahoma around Grand Lake tends to follow the southeast. Owen, Jeff's youngest son, is hunting western Oklahoma and seeing much less activity. On the east side you could see a big buck chasing a doe in broad daylight any day.
Crappie
Crappie are coming off main-lake structure and moving back into coves, where the water is a bit warmer. For Haydn that usually happens around October 15. Look in coves and cuts, suspended or on structure like docks and brush piles. Where the water is muddier, on the north end, more fish will be suspended and roaming. Where it's clear, more will be on structure.
Paddlefish
Sailboat Bridge to Gray's Ranch has been really good. For a while guys were putting in at Twin Bridges and catching them in the river, but Haydn's last trip around Gray's Ranch and the mouth of Wolf Creek did really well.