Hunting And Fishing Are Making A Comeback Across Oklahoma

While hunting and fishing in Oklahoma were on a downward trend for a while, it appears outdoor life is on the uptick across the Sooner State.

In the new Millennium, as technology tightened its grasp on life, more than just our youth moved indoors for recreation. Video games, binge-streaming, compulsive napping, and the like. The trend was to live life as easily as possible.

There used to be a really cool game warden down here in Southwest Oklahoma we used to hang out with during their downtime. They even mentioned how small hunter education classes were getting in the mid-2010s.

When the pandemic happened, something clicked. All of a sudden, when we were told to remain inside, that great American spirit of rebellion grew inside, and we wanted nothing more than to be outdoors doing stuff.

Five years later, kids are riding dirtbikes again. My hometown was full of kids on bicycles and scooters roaming around on the Fourth of July weekend. And more people are fishing across Oklahoma than ever before. Many Oklahoma high schools have lettered fishing teams as a school-sponsored sport.

Hunting is on the upswing again too, according to the most recent stats.

It's wild to think the thing that was supposed to kill all of us inspired everyone to get out and start living again.

The top three years on record are 2020, 2022, and 2024.

While deer populations may be shrinking in some counties across the state, they are booming in others.

Grady, McCurtain, Rogers, and Osage are still seeing a boom, as evidenced by the large number of deer harvested. Over 5,300 last season in Osage.

Sure, there are going to be people who think it's barbaric to hunt adorable critters, and everyone is welcome to have an opinion, but it's simply part of the circle of life. If populations were left unchecked, the deer would suffer far more than dying quickly in the hunt during a determined cull.

That's scientific fact.

If you'd like to get your kids out of the house during what little summer they have left, make it so. Introduce them to something outdoors. Buy that dirtbike. Get the whole family out to fish. Go on a hike. Buy that BB gun or bow, and take a hunter safety course to see if it's something they'd like to do.