While some counties have wildlife management areas (WMAs), to help even the playing field with those counties that do not, Table 1 reflects deer harvest totals by county with data from the WMAs removed. Along with that diversity comes varying quality and amounts of deer habitat. Oklahoma boasts some of the most diverse landscapes in the country. Individual seasons and their respective harvests are represented in Figure 3. In contrast, archery hunting continues its long-term growth in the state with a new archery harvest record of 30,748 total deer harvested. Figure 2 shows success rates amongst the various hunting methods. Muzzleloader hunters harvested 16,544 deer.

However, for those hunters utilizing this method, harvest and success rates were up compared to the 2018-19 season. Muzzleloader hunting continues to show declining hunter participation. A total of 59,045 deer were harvested during the various gun seasons (youth, regular gun, and holiday antlerless). Gun hunting continues to be the most popular method and thus makes up the majority of the total harvest at 55.5 percent. This marks the fourth year in a row of failing to reach doe harvest goals. Doe harvest made up for 37 percent of the season total, which is below the target range of 40-45 percent. Figure 1 depicts a deer harvest breakdown from 2004 to current. Harvest totaled 106,337 deer, a small decrease from the 2018-19 season. With the 2019-20 season in the books, it is clear that Oklahoma hunters are continuing to enjoy a healthy resource in our deer herd. By Dallas Barber, Big Game Biologist, ODWC

Wild life game 2019