.The white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is the most popular big game animal in Oklahoma............... Accounts from early explorers venturing into Oklahoma were filled with descriptions of white-tailed deer in abundance(alongside sizeable Wolf, Puma and Black Bear Populations)............. Deer remained relatively abundant through 1876............ However, shortly after Oklahoma Territory was opened for settlement in 1889, unregulated market and subsistence hunting and changes in land use practices drastically reduced size of the deer population.............. By 1916, Oklahoma’s deer population was relegated to four isolated pockets and barely totaled 500 animals................ Deer season was closed in that year and was not reopened until 1933............... Currently, white-tailed deer occur in every county, with an estimated statewide population of about 325,000 which has average deer density around the state at 19 deer per square mile.................Important to note that pre European contact(AD 1500) deer density that allowed for optimum biological diversity of Oklahoma's forests and prairies was 6 to 12 deer per square mile............With this in mind, you quickly see that when Outdoror Writers in Oklahoma newspapers print articles about the decline of the states deer herd, they reveal their ignorance about habitat health and the adverse impacts of deer on the land.............Instead of the 88,000-110,000 deer killed by hunters annually over the past 14 years, Oklahoma hunters would have to kill twice that number to once again return diversity to the land.............Human hunters will never achieve those levels so it is time to encourage the return of the Wolf and Puma(Black Bears are back in the state currently as well as Coyotes) and restore the age old dance that had pioneers calling Oklahoma "flush" with wildlife of all kinds

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Deer numbers in Oklahoma expected to bounce back

Monday, 11 August 2014 08:48

By KELLY BOSTIAN • Tulsa World TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Calling factors that  affected the 2013-14 deer-hunting season  a “perfect storm” in many ways, the big-game  biologist for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife  Conservation said this year’s 18.4 percent decline  in deer harvest numbers should turn around this  coming season. “If you look back at the numbers over time, we have  had years where there is a dip in numbers and it will  grow again, and there will be a dip and it will grow  again,” biologist Erik Bartholomew said. Over the long term, the 2013-14 season should  eventually stand out as an anomaly, the Tulsa World  reported. “It’s not something we expect will continue,” he said. Deer hunters claimed a total of 88,009 deer kills for  2013-14, 52,197 bucks (59.3 percent) and 35,812  (40.7 percent) does. It is an 18.4 percent decrease  from the 107,848 killed the previous year, and 26  percent lower than the record harvest of 119,349 taken  during the 2006-07 season. Factors contributing to the decline are continued  drought in much of the state, difficult hunting  conditions in parts of the state springing from the  drought, and severe weather events at key points. With fewer deer born in 2011 and 2012 the population  in some areas is the smallest it has been in many years.  Places continuing to suffer from drought had poor food  sources and even fewer deer available. Parts of the  state that did have a moist summer and fall had fewer  deer that were moved around less because of an  abundance of natural food sources like acorns and  persimmons. When the deer did move they were well  hidden because the return to a moist environment  spurred growth of dense vegetation and tall grasses. “In many areas they weren’t coming to feeders and  food plots,” Bartholomew said. He hunted an area  with persimmon trees “so full they were bending  over to the ground.” Hunters had to adjust accordingly.  “You had to target the available food sources,” he said. Bad weather also played a direct part in reducing  the deer harvest in 2013-14. The gun season was  affected by two major winter storm events over its  16-day run, along with several days of heavy fog in  many areas of the state. Significant winter weather  also affected the opening few days of the holiday  antlerless season. A lesser factor may include the inaugural year of the  Department’s “Hunters In The Know Let Bucks Grow,”  program, which encourages hunters to pass up shots  on younger bucks in favor of taking only mature bucks. Some hunters have worried openly that the online e-check system is to blame for a part of the decrease because they  believe it is easier for hunters to cheat the system now that  all reporting is done online. Bartholomew said he doesn’t  believe that is the case. “It is more convenient now than ever to check your deer,”  he said. “It is just as easy to drive past a check station  and not physically check a deer as it is to fail to report it online.” The system aids biologists and game wardens, who have  instant access to all reports.