Oak Creek Ranch has been hunted by only family members and a few friends of the family for many years as we have nurtured the deer herds and flocks of wild turkeys on the ranch .
With our herds and flocks now well established, we are offering a hunting lease to a select group of hunters who are interested in leasing hunting rights by the acre on an annual basis.
Independent, experienced hunters who enjoy exercising their bow-hunting skills are the ones to whom the Oak Creek Ranch is offering deer and turkey hunting opportunities.
The deer which live on the Oak Creek Ranch are White-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus.
At right is an aerial photograph of the more than 2,000 contiguous acres of habitat which make up the Oak Creek Ranch, including Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grassland, wooded canyons, oak trees, a 40 acre lake, numerous ponds, springs and Oak Creek, which traverses over 4 miles of the ranch.
We'll show you where the ten deer feeders are located (by marking your topographical map) but won't guide you to the deer. You'll easily find deer trails, deer signs and other clues which will be the guides to your hunt.
Hunters who want unguided "walk and stalk" hunts and the freedom to be independent in their own provision of shelter and food are likely to be happy hunting at Oak Creek Ranch. Those are exactly the sort of hunters for whom the ranch has been developed as wildlife habitat.
We are interested in hearing from groups of independent experienced hunters in regard to leasing hunting rights, preferably by the acre on an annual basis. We want this group of hunters to have such enjoyable and productive hunts that the lease will be renewed year after year.
(We are not interested in granting hunting leases for hunters who want guided hunts, even if they hire their own guide, and will not lease rights to hunting guide services who want to bring guided hunters to the Oak Creek Ranch.)
For more information about hunting regulations and seasons for Kansas deer hunting and Kansas turkey hunting, see this page on the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks web site.
All Kansas hunting and fishing laws and regulations must be observed at the Oak Creek Ranch.
If your "dream hunt" includes catered meals by an excellent camp cook, we suggest that you make independent arrangements with Vanita Blundell, of neighboring Comanche County. Her phone is 620-582-2542. She has years of experience in cooking for groups of hunters in several states as a contractor for hunting outfitters. She can work with you to plan a menu for a certain number of meals per day for the duration of your hunt, served at your chosen spot on the ranch. The ramada by the lake would be a good choice for your place to set up your hunting camp with catered cooking, as it has running water and electricity.
You need not worry that you might be stuck sitting in camp if you harvest your white-tailed deer early in the hunt, as you can make prior arrangements at the time your group negotiates the hunting lease to do some bass fishing in the lake, provided that you having a fishing license. The privilege of fishing in the lake is only extended to groups of hunters who have a hunting lease, not to the public at large.
Choose the Oak Creek Ranch for hunting, and do some bass fishing on the same trip. There are, of course, reasonable limits on the number of bass you are allowed to take from the lake. You will need to bring your wading boots and a boat or canoe unless you plan to fish from the shoreline. Powered watercraft are not permitted on the lake for fishing done in conjunction with a hunting lease. Electric trolling motors may be used on small boats which are ordinarily rowed if you fish here while on a hunting trip.
You can discuss this and other details of your hunting lease with Ronnie Hoagland. For information on Kansas fishing regulations, see this page of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks web site.
Hunters who have "killed out" early in their group hunt are also welcome to take hikes, do some photography, look for shed antlers to take home as souvenirs of their hunt, or simply hang out in camp while basking in the glow of a successful Kansas deer hunt, perhaps while relaxing in a lawn chair beside the lake as a cool breeze plays across your face and occasionally brings you a waft of the smell of pan-broiled bass in a skillet, or perhaps fresh venison smoking over an open fire.
"Dream Hunts" are made of experiences such as this. We want every moment you spend at the Oak Creek Ranch to be memorably exciting or pleasant. Along with that fond memory of the sweet twang of the bowstring as you release it to harvest the deer you have chosen, your return home with stories to tell about the other pleasures you experienced in conjuction with the hunt is something you'll likely be able to share.
You can park your recreational vehicle, pickup with camper or set up your tents at the place of your choosing. There are 5.5 miles of potable water lines on the ranch and many places you can choose to camp with handy access to running water. Lodging is available in Medicine Lodge, which is approximately 14 miles east of the ranch, as well as in Pratt and Coldwater. Bed and breakfasts are often available in both Sun City and Wilmore.
We can provide you with contact information for local businesses and individuals with whom you can independently contract to pick up your deer, process the meat, then ship the frozen venison, head and hide to your home for you. Although we don't provide these services, we'll put you in touch with local people who do. You can arrange for their services before you arrive for your Kansas deer hunt at the Oak Creek Ranch. You want your hunts to be as enjoyable and hassle-free as possible. So do we.
With the exception of a privy near the barn and sheds, there are no toilet facilities available on the ranch. Please bring your own camp toilets, use the toilets in your recreational vehicle or be prepared, like a good Boy Scout, to follow Boy Scout guidelines for making impromptu "bootheel latrines".
Hunters who understand deer behavior and habitat are likely to be impressed to learn that, on the Oak Creek Ranch, whitetail deer can pretty much go from one end of Oak Creek to the other without breaking out of the cover of the trees. Note the many wooded canyons which join Oak Creek in the aerial photo for an idea of how much of the ranch is prime deer habitat in terms of sheltering wooded areas.
Many of the trees on the ranch have been trimmed to optimize them for deer habitat. There are easy passageways back into the woods near all the feeders, for example, and the lower branches on many of the stands of cedar trees high on hills have been trimmed. Deer like to be up high on a hill with a clear view of their surroundings while they are sheltered by trees. That's one of the many ways in which the ranch has been groomed as ideal habitat for the White-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, which thrive here.
Deer feeders and food plots are used to maintain the wildlife population, most especially the white-tailed deer and Rio Grande wild turkeys which inhabit the ranch. There are ten deer feeders on this ranch which distribute around 1,800 pounds of corn to the wildlife each week.
There are six food plots of about ten acres each on the ranch maintained specifically for white-tailed deer. Along with the natural vegetation and the mast crops, such as acorns, on the ranch, our feeders and food plots ensure that the deer you'll find here are well-fed with a wide variety of foods.
Many people swear that the taste of venison from deer with a lot of corn in their diet is far superior to the gamey taste of venison from deer that have fed solely on natural vegetation. If you've ever eaten venison from Arizona deer that have fed mainly on the sparse desert vegetation, you're likely to agree that it is not as tasty as venison from corn-fed Kansas deer. This is the reason why almost all beef found in the grocery store is from corn-fed, not grass-fed, cattle. That's our deer feeders are constantly stocked with corn in preference to other foods. We want the venison you take home from your successful hunts to be delicious meat.
You may be the sort of person whose interested in hunting in a particular place is whetted by knowing as much as possible about it. That's why this web site includes information on the geology of the ranch land, a gallery of photographs of wildflowers taken on the ranch, a field check list of species of birds observed in Barber County, Kansas and the history of the six generations of the Hoagland family who have ranched in Barber County, Kansas, as well as the history of significant events in the county.
The Oak Creek Ranch is part of the "last frontier", being one of the areas in the Great Plains which were passed over for settlement as gold discoveries in California and Alaska caused settlers and prospectors to flood to the west coast from the east coast. In fact, Barber County, Kansas, has many authentic "Wild West" stories about it. Most of the events mentioned in the following histories took place within twenty miles or less from the Oak Creek Ranch:
Recollections of the Past - The Festive Buffalo (A Barber County buffalo hunt that backfired.)
A Christmas in the Wilderness, 1871 - A story by Scott Cummins about a buffalo hunters' Christmas dinner near where Medicine Lodge, Barber County, Kansas, was established a few years later.
* History of the Oak Creek Ranch and the Hoagland family
* The Medicine Lodge Peace Council": A Graphic Description of Famous Peace Council By An Eye Witness, Gov. A. A. Taylor of Tenn. - Barber County Index, September 29, 1927.
* Green Adams Describe Things As He Saw Them In Barber County In The Early 1870's - Barber County Index, October 6, 1927.
When you're choosing the location for your Kansas deer hunts, we want the Oak Creek Ranch to be your first choice of places you'd love to go deer hunting in Kansas. If you are part of a group of hunters who are interested in leasing hunting rights by the acre on an annual basis, please contact Ronnie Hoagland.
