Oklahoma Wildlife officials looking at changing deer season dates

Changing the rules for Oklahoma hunters. News on Six anchor Terry Hood says deer hunting in Oklahoma draws more than 160,000 people every year. <br><br>Now state officials are setting their sights on

Tuesday, January 14th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Changing the rules for Oklahoma hunters. News on Six anchor Terry Hood says deer hunting in Oklahoma draws more than 160,000 people every year.

Now state officials are setting their sights on extending the deer season by nine days. Department of Wildlife game warden, Kelly Roberson, "Some hunters thatâ€™s all they have is the weekends to hunt and if you get a bad weekend weather-wise then they donâ€™t get much opportunity then we extend out more days for more opportunity to hunt."

Right now, hunting season runs from the Saturday before Thanksgiving to the Sunday after. If the changes were approved, the season would run into the following week. Hunting is not just a sport in Oklahoma its big business.

The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife estimates hunters rack up about $300-million in state revenue every year. And if the season is extended, there could be even more. "There's a lot of money it costs to go hunting and fishing and the more days you allow it the more opportunities the more spending of money."

State wildlife officials are also hoping to reign in the deer population.
"Deer are very adaptable extremely adaptable to man's ways and they've done very well in this state."

That is why in addition to extra days, state officials are also looking at a special three-day hunting season for kids.