Working Paper 111 · Herd & HarvestOklahoma · 77 counties · Private-land deer · October 2026 snapshot
Oklahoma Deer Counties Ranked: Osage Leads Total Harvest, Pittsburg Leads Archery
FDR Research Desk · Published FDR county analysis · Agency sources and methods linked below
Osage led Oklahoma's private-land county deer table in 2025-26 with 5,062 deer. Pittsburg was second at 3,975, but it moved into first when the comparison narrowed to archery harvest. That change gives a bowhunter a reason to look past the headline total. It also comes with a firm boundary: the county table excludes the separately reported Wildlife Management Area and Oklahoma Land Access Program harvests.
KEY FINDINGS
- Osage led the private-land total with 5,062 deer. Pittsburg followed at 3,975 and McCurtain at 3,172.
- Pittsburg led private-land archery harvest at 1,364. Osage followed at 1,287 and Rogers at 1,101. These totals are derived by adding the agency's antlered and antlerless archery columns.
- The county table covers 124,050 deer. WMA harvest of 8,966 and OLAP harvest of 775 are separate. This is the report's deer table, not a whitetail-only ranking.
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Measured ODWC private-land deer totals, 2025-26. Derived ranks and archery sums. WMA and OLAP excluded. Source table is not whitetail-only.
10 of 77 entries shown
| State rank | County | Private-land deer | Archery deer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Osage | 5,062 | 1,287 |
| 2 | Pittsburg | 3,975 | 1,364 |
| 3 | McCurtain | 3,172 | 849 |
| 4 | Atoka | 2,981 | 840 |
| 5 | Creek | 2,940 | 883 |
| 6 | Rogers | 2,928 | 1,101 |
| 7 | Lincoln | 2,856 | 719 |
| 8 | Pottawatomie | 2,590 | 786 |
| 9 | Cherokee | 2,452 | 756 |
| 10 | Grady | 2,355 | 616 |
01County comparison
Osage leads total harvest by 1,087 deer
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation report lists Osage first with 5,062 private-land deer. Pittsburg follows at 3,975, a derived gap of 1,087. McCurtain is third at 3,172, ahead of Atoka at 2,981 and Creek at 2,940.
Rogers is sixth with 2,928. Lincoln, Pottawatomie, Cherokee and Grady complete the first ten. These are private-land counts for the 2025-26 season. The ranking has no adjustment for county area or the number of hunters, so it does not estimate individual success.
02County comparison
Pittsburg moves ahead when the table narrows to archery
Pittsburg's archery total is 1,364 deer, calculated from 610 antlerless and 754 antlered. Osage reaches 1,287, from 553 and 734. Rogers is third at 1,101, from 486 and 615. Adding the same two archery columns for all 77 counties produces that order.
The difference is visible in the mix of harvest as well. Archery accounts for a derived 34.3% of Pittsburg's private-land total, compared with 25.4% in Osage and 37.6% in Rogers. Those are shares of checked harvest, not archery success rates. The table supplies no matching county count of archery hunters or days hunted.
03County comparison
Oklahoma County rises from twenty-ninth to fifth
Oklahoma County's all-method private-land total is 1,772, placing twenty-ninth. Its archery total is 874, which ranks fifth, just behind Creek's 883. That is a much larger change than the switch between Osage and Pittsburg at the top.
Tulsa reports 1,282 private-land deer, including 613 taken by archery. The derived archery shares are 49.3% in Oklahoma County and 47.8% in Tulsa. The source shows that bow harvest makes up a larger portion of those counties' totals; it does not establish why. A claim about pressure, access rules or deer behavior would need separate evidence.
04County comparison
Public-land harvest belongs in the report's other tables
The county private-land rows sum to 124,050 deer. The report separately lists 8,966 for Wildlife Management Areas and 775 for the Oklahoma Land Access Program. Together those categories reconcile to its overall 133,791 deer. WMA and OLAP results are not included in this county ranking.
A public-land hunter should inspect the report's entry for the actual property. Osage's county lead cannot be transferred to a WMA inside the county. The source also labels Table 1 as deer harvest and supplies separate mule deer information elsewhere; this article preserves the broader deer label rather than claiming a whitetail-only county ranking.
05Basis of this report
Sources and method
ODWC's 2025-26 Table 1 supplies measured private-land deer counts for all 77 counties. FDR derives total ranks and archery sums. The six method-and-sex components reconcile to every county total; the county sum is 124,050. WMA and OLAP harvests are excluded from the ranking, and the county table is not labeled whitetail-only. Retrieved October 5, 2026.
Compare the other states in the FDR county report series.
NOTES AND SOURCES
- Measured ODWC private-land deer totals, 2025-26. Derived ranks and archery sums. WMA and OLAP excluded. Source table is not whitetail-only.
Fully Drawn Research is an independent data analysis desk, not affiliated with any state wildlife agency, transportation agency, mapping provider or outfitter. FDR county scores and interpretations are independent analysis. A county ranking does not evaluate an individual property.
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