Page 19 - SeptOct2019

The Wildlife Department’s annu- al Game Harvest Survey estimated 77,618 hunters participated in muz- zleloader season. This is a slight de- cline from last season’s 79,248. With the decline in hunters came a decline in harvest. After the season closed, muzzle- loader hunters had reported 14,306 deer taken, which made up 13.1 per- cent of overall harvest. That was down 13.6 percent from the 2017-18 season. Figure 5 shows muzzleloader buck and doe harvest by day. Muzzleload- er hunter numbers and harvest from 2004 to current can be seen in Figure 6. Deer Gun Seasons Oklahoma Deer Management Zones The 2018 gun season began Nov. 17 and ran for 16 days. Bag limits remained unchanged from the 2017 season, with hunters having the opportunity to harvest three deer, with no more than one antlered. Hunters had to harvest at least one antlerless deer from Management Zones 2, 7 or 8. A day-by-day breakdown of harvest is shown in Figure 7. 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 Bucks Does SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 17 CIMARRON TEXAS OTTAWA CHEROKEE ADAIR SEQUOYAH BEAVER HARPER ELLIS ROGER MILLS BECKHAM GREER WOODS ALFALFA MAJOR BLAINE CADDO COMANCHE COTTON GRANT GARFIELD KINGFISHER CANADIAN GRADY KAY NOBLE LOGAN OKLAHOMA CLEVELAND McCLAIN GARVIN CRAIG WOODWARD PAWNEE PAYNE LINCOLN OSAGE CREEK OKFUSKEE ROGERS TULSA WAGONER MAYES DEWEY CUSTER WASHITA KIOWA OKMULGEE MUSKOGEE McINTOSH JACKSON TILLMAN STEPHENS CARTER JEFFERSON LOVE Figure 5: 2018 Muzzleloader Harvest by Day 0 10/27 10/28 10/29 10/30 10/31 11/1 11/2 Day 11/3 11/4 Figure 6: Muzzleloader Season Hunter Numbers and Harvest 35 120 30 25 20 15 10 100 80 60 40 20 5 00 Year MURRAY PONTOTOC PITTSBURG JOHNSTON MARSHALL PUSHMATAHA CHOCTAW HUGHES COAL ATOKA BRYAN LATIMER LE FLORE McCURTAIN HASKELL Number of Hunters (in thousands) 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 HARMON Harvest (in thousands) Harvest (in thousands) DWAYNE KEAR/READERS' PHOTO SHOWCASE 2019 POTTAWATOMIE SEMINOLE DELAWARE WASHINGTON NOWATA