Forgot to add the pics

Looks more like a Silver maple to me (Acer Saccharinum) but could be some level of cross with a red maple which happens quite readily in the wild.

How do you suppose it got there, no need of maples in this part of the state? Could it have been something in the bark mulch we laid down?

Leaf shape looks more like a Freeman maple (red x silver cross) than pure Acer rubrum.

And it is hard to imagine anywhere in the US where there are not plenty of maples. They are by far the most widely planted shade tree, either by municipalities as street or boulevard trees or by homeowners. The seeds or samaras can travel a considerable distance from the parent tree - they are designed by nature specifically for wind dispersal - so no need for a tree to be located in the immediate vicinity.

It is also possible that ripe seeds were included in the mulch. Maples are seldom used for that purpose (as mulch) but it is still possible although less likely than the seed being blown in.

Seed could have ridden in on a truck even.

' Could it have been something in the bark mulch we laid down? '

Could very well be. Possibly the nursery you got the mulch from had potted specimens large enough to produce a few seeds?

The list goes on and on. :-)

Going to let it get a little bigger, maybe next spring transplant it to the front or side lawn since now it’s too close to the house and in a garden that may cause shade problems with the plants. Especially the cacti

Plan for a large tree over 60' tall when choosing final planting site.

House in new and built in a old cow pasture with no trees

==>>> or they shipped in some topsoil for the beds around the house.. or the lawn ...

ken

Doesn't look like pure red -- looks like red-silver hybrid or silver. Whatever it is, it's too close to the house.

I agree - silver or freeman (Red/silver hybrid). It’ll grow fast.

Should I wait for it to go dormant before moving it? It’s in a pretty shady location now and don’t want to move it to full sun too quickly

I'd wait until the leaves drop off to transplant.

No tree other than cottonwood grows big and fast in central OK. I think you can ignore some of the replies commenting on how huge it will get. IME your climate will keep it check and you may have to supply supplemental water to it for many years during summer. I think a lot of people forget/don't know just how hot and dry central OK typically is during the growing season.

One of the things I find most interesting driving from AR to OKC on I40 is how the trees get smaller and smaller the closer one gets to OKC as well as the cool shapes the trees develop from growing in constant wind!

I have a volunteer dwarf crepe myrtle that's come up in a flower bed, should I wait for it go dormant before transplanting ?

And jOnd03, you are absolutely correct. OKC gets more annual rainfall than Seattle, but almost all of it comes in April, May, and June.