McAlester Army Ammunition Plant Deer hunt/ Big Bucks question?

[Kentucky Lake]

Is McAlester Army Ammunition Plant as good as people say it is?


Have any of you been there, or hunted there before?


The Base seems to have a ton of giant Bucks.

[Kentucky Lake]

Have any of you hunted or been to Mcalester Army Ammunition Plant in Oklahoma before?

McAAP Controlled Hunts


Here are some giant Bucks the staff at the base took pictures of in the last few years.

They call these Bucks the top ten most wanted Bucks on base.

http://www.mcaapcontrolledhunts.com/...ocky/Rocky.jpg

http://www.mcaapcontrolledhunts.com/.../Doce/Doce.jpg

http://www.mcaapcontrolledhunts.com/...rake/Drake.jpg

http://www.mcaapcontrolledhunts.com/...loud/cloud.jpg

http://www.mcaapcontrolledhunts.com/...ve/Massive.jpg


http://www.mcaapcontrolledhunts.com/...ns/Special.jpg

http://www.mcaapcontrolledhunts.com/.../Sasquatch.jpg

[Kentucky Lake]

Here are some more giant Bucks from this base.

Most of these pictures were taken by staff that work for the military, they drove around the roads on base and took pictures of these Bucks.

A few of these Bucks have been harvested.



McAAP Controlled Hunts


http://www.mcaapcontrolledhunts.com/...t/Midnight.jpg


I guess this giant Buck got taken by a lucky hunter.

http://www.mcaapcontrolledhunts.com/...pade/Spade.jpg

http://www.mcaapcontrolledhunts.com/...euce/Deuce.jpg

[meatdragger]

No, it's no good. The pictures are from years ago. Don't waste your time.

[OkieDon]

Is McAlester Army Ammunition Plant as good as people say it is?


Have any of you been there, or hunted there before?


The Base seems to have a ton of giant Bucks.

Obviously you've received bad info. The place is a desert!

And those pics, well, you should know those are either Photoshopped or taken in Illinois and Texas. Doh

Hate to break the news to you this way, but this is something us Okies made up years ago to play tricks on out of staters...didn't think anyone fell for it any longer.... Rofl

[OkieDon]

Okay...sorry about that...I couldn't hold a straight face for long...

I've been drawn 5 times over the years. The last time was in 1998. I don't put in for it any longer since they've combined our hunt choices. In the past, we has an Archery, Muzzleloading and Modern Gun choices on our Deer Hunts. Now we only have a Deer Hunt category to choose from and all the hunts with different weapons are thrown into that category.

I've seen some Monsters on the place. The best advice I could give you is to practice with your recurve or Longbow and practice more! The best time to get drawn is the last week of Oct or the Nov hunts. The rut will be kicking in at that time and you can sit back and watch the circus if you've chose a good place to hunt.

Stay in the area that you drew. They take this very serious and if you're caught outside your area, you'll be removed immediately and more than likely banned from future hunts.

I was a smoker back when I was drawn in those 5 times. Needless to say, they don't allow any fire making devices into the hunting areas. I tried snuff and chewing tobacco, but nothing satisfied my cravings, so I learned how to sneak cigs into the place. If you do, just be aware of the consequences if you get caught.

This is a very dry season here this year. I suspect there'll be little to no mast crop. I always tried to find funnels due to the limited scouting time there was.

Listen to the White hats, they know their stuff (but as with all hunters, some of 'em are full of it...if you know what I mean...lol) I would camp at the campgrounds rather than staying in McAlester or Savanna. Lots of people to start up conversation with plus you can find out a lot about your hunting area by asking. This is info you can't get sitting in a motel in town!

[meatdragger]

OkieDon is dead on. Here is a little reality check for you. Are there monster bucks there? Yes but there are many areas not open to hunting and often times the big bucks they photograph or the ones you see are in areas where there is no hunting. They aren't stupid. They know where people hunt and people don't hunt. It is traditional archery tackle only. Recurve or long bow, no sights which makes for a tough hunt. There are alot of misses at McAlester. It can be a great place to see lots of deer and some big ones if you hit it at the right time but that doesn't translate into great hunting. The vast majority of people come home empty handed. With less than 10% of hunters successful on bucks, it has some of the lowest success rates of the Oklahoma controlled hunts program. It is an experience that is worth the trip though. That said, you could kill the biggest deer of your life.... but you probably won't

[Kentucky Lake]

It sounds like there are still some good Bucks on the base, It could probably produce a State Record.

Oklahoma has started to produce some really big Bucks over the last few years.



I hunt a lot at Fort Campbell, along the Kentucky/Tennessee border


Here is a giant Buck taken by a Bow hunter last year from Fort Campbell
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...3843540116.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...3844503184.jpg


They also took a 220 inch 34 pointer from Fort Campbell a few years ago.







They take some giants from Fort Campbell also, but the hunting can be tough depending on where you go.

[meatdragger]

Only 13 of the 108 bucks shot last year qualified for Pope and Young. The biggest one killed was shot by the son of the man who runs the hunts. One thing you should know is the pictures of those giant bucks on their website are from the past 30 years or so. It isn't like all of those bucks are walking around right now. And as I stated in an earlier post, some of those deer are like park deer. They are basically semi tame and hang around in areas close to people where hunting is not allowed. That's why they get so big. It is a neat experience though. Come hunt and see what it's like but be realistic. The vast majority of the people who hunt there each year don't kill anything.

[Ranger09]

Thumbs UpIt is an AWESOME HUNT. Hunted it for years before it was made longbow only. I personally have 2 rocks on the entrance road on Murphy's Meadow campground from 2 pope and young bucks 1st 1 killed in '81 which was a 167lb 15pt which scored 157 2/8 with 4 and 7/8 deductions. almost a perfect set of bones. Then in '85 I shot an awesome buck which scored 149 3/8 and tipped the scales at 171..both of these bucks were killed in the month of November. And have killed several nice bucks thru the years leading up to the longbow only. As far as I am concerned since it longbow only now I believe this leads to more wounded deer than deer harvested. Dont get me wrong I have seen some amazing longbow shooters thru my time on the range but I have seen some really bad 1's too. Guess you could say that about compound too but with just alil added equipment like sights and a release and with limited time on the range even a starter can place an arrow where it needs to be if the fever doesn't overtake him or her. If you drew for the hunt you will not be dissapointed from the number of deer seen and the oppurtunity to harvest a really nice deer..GOOD LUCK..Hands ClappingThumbs UpHands Clapping