Deer numbers continue to rise

The numbers are in from last year and it was an extremely good year for Oklahoma deer hunters. In fact hunters took 122,397 deer total, a little off the record, but still well above the average.

“Oklahoma’s deer populations enjoyed growing numbers and good habitat conditions across much of the state last year, factors contributing to the record harvest,” said Dallas Barber, big game biologist for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. “But also contributing was the willingness of Oklahoma hunters to help the state’s deer management plan by taking more antlerless deer.”

Antlerless harvest made up 44 percent of the total harvest, falling right in line with the statewide management goals that are resulting in healthier populations overall.

Biologists have been encouraging hunters to take more does. This is vital to the health of Oklahoma’s deer herd, and it sure seems that hunters are listening.

Gun season continued as the most popular deer hunting season. Gun hunters took 72,749 deer with a modern firearm, well behind the 80,000 mark set last year, but still well above archery and primitive firearms. This figure includes the holiday antlerless season and the youth season.

Muzzleloader harvest was back up last year, after falling off slightly. Primitive hunters took 15,446 deer last year, up more than 3,700 from the previous season. Weather may be the biggest factor in the nine-day season, especially for the two weekends. Good weather equals more hunters and a greater harvest.

Archery hunters had been on a roll, setting records in the previous four seasons. Last year those numbers cooled off a little with only 34,183 deer harvested. Well below the 41,478 record taken in 2022-23.

When it comes to location of harvest the top three counties for deer harvest came in as expected due to their large size. Osage County landed in first place with 5,001 deer harvested. McCurtain County hunters took 3,651. Pittsburg County was closely behind with 3,565 and Cherokee County landed in third place with 3,200 deer taken, but Creek County was not far behind.

For Southwest Oklahoma, Caddo County led the way with 2,237 deer harvested, followed by Grady (2,014) and Stephens (1,584). Most counties in the SW region were up slightly over the previous season.

Hunters have more than three months to get in on whitetail action in Oklahoma. The season started Oct. 1 for archery and runs in some form or fashion until January 15.

If you are just getting into deer hunting or one of the specialty areas like archery, then check out the ODWCs virtual classes at https://wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/resources/deer/archery. Classes include archery basics, game processing, practice tips and much more.