Page 15 - 2019 SEPT/OCT Outdoor Oklahoma

2018-19 Big Figure 1: Total Harvest from 2004 to Current Bucks Does

120

100

Game Report Harvest (in thousands) 80

60

40

20

0
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Year

Hunters in Oklahoma are continuing to enjoy some which is consistent with last season’s numbers. The total
of the most diverse deer hunting opportunities that the archery harvest was 28,886 animals. While archery har-
country has to offer. Harvest increased slightly from 2017- vest this year did not set a new harvest record as it had
18, with a total of 109,260 deer taken in 2018-19. in 2016 and 2017, the 2018 archery harvest is the second
Figure 1 shows total deer harvest from 2004 through highest harvest by archers.
this past season. Doe harvest landed at 36 percent for Figure 2 depicts the percentage of deer harvest by season.
the season, which is below the target rate of 40 percent The top three counties in harvest numbers were Osage
to 45 percent. In the westernmost parts of the state, 222 County with 5,208 deer, Pittsburg County with 3,330 deer
mule deer were taken across 14 counties, which can be and Cherokee County with 2,954 deer.
seen in Table 3. Table 1 shows harvest by county, season and sex
Gun hunting continues to be the most common hunt- on the state’s private lands. Harvest data from wildlife
ing method. Muzzleloader hunters harvested fewer deer management areas (WMAs) and other public hunting ar-
compared to last season, but the number of muzzleload- eas is not included in order to account for counties that
er hunters was down as well. lack WMAs.
Archers came up with 26.4 percent of the total harvest, Oklahoma is dominated by privately owned land, mak-
ing up about 95 percent of the state. Still, hunters have
Figure 2: 2018-19 Percent Deer Harvest by Season Type an abundant chance to use public hunting areas such as
Department-managed WMAs, national wildlife refuges,
state parks, and recreation areas. Table 2 details deer
harvest in these areas by area, season and sex.
Mule deer inhabit the westernmost areas of the state,
and they can be harvested using the regular deer license.
A total of 222 mule deer were harvested across 14 west-
ern Oklahoma counties. Regulations protect antlerless
mule deer during gun season; this resulted in only one
antlerless mule deer being harvested. Table 3 breaks
down mule deer harvest.

Deer Archery Season
In the past two seasons, archers have set new records
for single-season harvest. While that wasn’t the case for
the 2018-19 season, archers did harvest 28,886 deer,
Gun Archery Muzzleloader good for second all-time. Their harvest made up 26.4 per-
60.5% 26.4% 13.1%
cent of the overall 2018-19 deer harvest.
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