The Game Types of Oklahoma

The Post Oak - Blackjack Game Type represents the forest-grassland ecotone and contains dominants from both the deciduous formation and the grassland formation. The overstory is largely composed of post oak (Quercus stellata), blackjack oak (Q. marilandica), and black hickory (Carya texana) with the percent of blackjack oak increasing in the composition as one moves west through the Post Oak - Blackjack Game Type. The understory is made up of little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), and other species depending upon the site.

Its best correlation with other works is with the Oak Savannah of the Soil Conservation Service. There are approximately 17,600 square miles of this condition which includes generally the east central portion of the state with fingers reaching as far west as Cleo Springs in Major County, Curtis in Woodward County, Webb in Dewey County, and western Comanche County. The northeastern portion lying on the north side of the South Canadian, North Canadian, and Cimarron rivers differs importantly from the rest of the Post Oak - Blackjack Game Type. This section is supported by deep sandy Quaternary soils.

The Post Oak - Blackjack Game Type lies within the climatic province characterized as subhumid, mesothermal and adequate moisture for all seasons. Average annual precipitation varies from 26 inches on the west to 42 inches on the east with the bulk of this type having between 32-40 inches. The Post Oak - Blackjack Game Type usually lies above the flooded lands, and game populations are not influenced by rainy seasons as on adjoining grassland types. Drouth periods here reflect in serious shortage of food and cover plants. However, this is usually furthered by continued heavy grazing.

The topography of this type is characteristically rolling to rough, with sufficient local variation to make for excellent small game conditions. Generally, this type is supported by coarse textured, relatively poor soils developed from residual sandstones and weathered shales. The soils are leached and acid in reaction. The northwest fingers of the type are supported on wind deposited sand for the most part, and is slightly dune-like in relief.

The Post Oak - Blackjack Game Type, as found through the cross timbers agricultural region of the state, presents some of the most serious problems of sheet and gully erosion in the country, and productivity of the land as a game producer, as well as a human producer, has been seriously reduced. Farm tenancy is high, averaging around 65-70% for the entire type. Better than 50 percent of these tenant families remain on the same farm for only one year or less. The average farm size is around 80 acres and the principal crop is cotton. Grain sorghum, berries, peanuts, and orchards are becoming more important in certain sections. Approximately 75% of the type is still in woodland.

This type offers more in the way of farm game management possibilities than the other types. Improved farming methods result in better small game habitat. The principal species are the bobwhite, fox squirrel, and cottontail rabbit. Whitetail deer are found scattered throughout the type. Furbearers although locally low, are fully represented here. For the bulk of the type, marginal conditions such as railroad right-of-ways, county road margins, field edges and prairie woods margins account for the main part of the small game habitat. In the center of wooded areas quail are abundant only when soil disturbances have brought about a variation in the vegetation.

For the most part, game populations, particularly bobwhite quail and cottontail, are not in need of serious attention in the northwestern portion of the type. The remainder, however, could be made to support a very much higher quail population than it does at present, largely because burning and heavy grazing result in more serious destruction of game habitat than in the northwest. The soils here are either naturally poor or poor through depletion, and fenced areas often do not show an immediate development as they should. Fertilization is often necessary to restore the vegetation.

Potentially, the post oak-blackjack condition is a good game and fur producer, and because of its large size it warrants serious attention. Practically all large human centers of population east of El Reno are either within or near the type and it probably supports a heavier hunting pressure than any other type. It must be emphasized that the game increase of this type is an agricultural problem and must be attacked through cooperation with farm agencies and local sportsmen, garden clubs, etc.

About the plates

Plate I - Post Oak-Blackjack Game Type in south central Oklahoma, showing absence of suitable understory for game caused by overgrazing.
Plate II - Post Oak-Blackjack Game Type in south central Oklahoma. Soil fertility reduced by erosion and unwise cropping, resulting in poor game habitat.
Plate III - Post Oak-Blackjack Game Type in northern Oklahoma showing excellent development of game cover on right-of-way.
Plate IV - Post Oak-Blackjack Game Type in northwest Oklahoma. Note excellent field margin conditions for game.
Plate V - Post Oak-Blackjack Game Type. Note excellent understory preserved through moderate grazing and fire control.
Plate VI - Selective clearing, brush piles and moderate grazing is beneficial to grass as well as game. (Post Oak-Blackjack Game Type).

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