Custer County Hunting

Custer County deer counts and trends

Hunters checked 924 deer in Custer County during the 2025-26 seasons, 62nd of the 77 counties. Statewide the county rows sum to 124,050; Custer County accounts for roughly 0.7%. Down 6% from 984 in 2024.

Blank years: 2015 not published (no readable ODWC county table). WMA deer are tallied apart from county rows.

Across the 25 report years on file, the high mark is 984 deer in 2024 and the low is 523 in 2014. The 2016-2025 average works out to about 803 deer per year (10 years with figures).

In 2025 rifles and shotguns took 79% of the county deer, archery 17% and muzzleloaders 4%; antlerless deer made up 40%.

Bow, muzzleloader and gun deer in Custer County

Older totals for Custer County:

• 1999727
• 2000880
• 2001843
• 2003849
• 2004768
• 2005774
• 2006804
• 2007671
• 2008704
• 2009874
• 2010846
• 2011683
• 2012613
• 2013603
• 2014523

Public-land deer in Custer County

Other big game checked in Custer County

Only years ODWC printed as text are shown; older elk, pronghorn and bear county tables are images that were not transcribed.

For scale, the whole state reported 133,791 deer in the 2025 seasons.

County deer by year from the ODWC Big Game Harvest Reports (report index; 2025 2025-26 report, 2024 2024-25 report, 2016-2023 tables such as 2019-20 Table 1, 1999-2011 county PDFs); public-area deer from the 2025-26 public land table; statewide totals from the 2025-26 Big Game Report. OCR years keep only rows whose columns sum to the printed total. Checked November 3, 2026.

Other big game rules in Custer County

Custer County and the elk zones

Because I-40 and I-35 divide the elk zones, Custer County sits partly in the Northwest Zone and Southwest Zone. Zone quotas for 2026-27: Northwest Zone 8 and Southwest Zone 30; ODWC closes a zone once its quota is reached, so check the quota before each hunt.

Northwest Zone: Private lands north of I-40 and west of I-35, excluding the Panhandle and Special Northwest zones. Southwest Zone: Private lands south of I-40 and west of I-35, excluding Caddo, Comanche and Kiowa (Special Southwest Zone).

No SSA covers Custer County. Only antlers, deboned meat, teeth, hides and finished mounts may be brought into Oklahoma from other states.

Elk zones and quotas from the ODWC elk regulations; bear area from the ODWC bear page; pronghorn from the ODWC antelope page; CWD areas and rules from the ODWC SSA page and ODWC CWD page; harvest figures from the ODWC Big Game Harvest Reports. Checked November 3, 2026.

Custer County ground open without a lease

Washita National Wildlife Refuge, 8,088 acres, is the biggest of the 2 public areas we list for Custer County. Public ownership comes to around 5,624 acres (0.9%). We list state park and military land apart; neither is general hunting ground.

Custer County public land, the large blocks

• Washita NWR is listed as a wildlife refuge of about 8,088 acres. Game on the area list: ducks, doves, cranes and rabbits. Listed extras: controlled hunts. The ODWC hunting contact is (580) 664-2205. Controlled hunts in 2025: 3.
• Hunters reach Foss State Park, some 1,749 acres, without leaving Custer County. Species on record there: doves and rabbits. Call (580) 592-4433 (hunting).

Custer County walk-in hunting

The Oklahoma Land Access Program lists 2 tracts in Custer County, near 302 acres together. ODWC describes the cover as Mix of Milo and native grass. A Land Access Permit ($100 resident / $200 nonresident) is required for residents 18-63 and all nonresidents; walk-in tracts allow archery and shotguns only.

• Custer County H002160 ac
• Custer County H001142 ac

Custer County outskirts: areas in other counties

• Washita County WMAWashita County (240 ac), 23 miles as the crow flies
• Dewey County WMADewey County (212 ac), 25 miles as the crow flies
• American Horse Lake (Department Lake)Blaine County (405 ac), 28 miles as the crow flies
• Lake Vanderwork (Department Lake)Washita County (446 ac), 34 miles as the crow flies
• Canton WMABlaine County and Dewey County (14,877 ac), 39 miles as the crow flies
• Canton Lake (Corps)Blaine County and Dewey County, 39 miles as the crow flies

* Reference acres only.

Areas from our Oklahoma land list (ODWC where to hunt area pages, the ODWC OLAP rules and OLAP layer, USFS, USFWS, Corps and NPS records); acres by kind from the ODWC Public WMA Boundaries layer, USFS, USFWS, USACE Tulsa District and PAD-US layers (GIS measures, not official acreages, lake surfaces removed). Checked November 3, 2026.

Custer County hunts, dinners and trials

County total as of November 3, 2026: 5 upcoming listings. Count 3 draw-only controlled hunts among them.

Dates ahead

Running a trial or a nite hunt nearby? Post the date

Custer County odds and ends before opening day

Dates on this page cover 2026-27 only; ODWC publishes new regulations each summer.

Sources: 2026-2027 Oklahoma Fishing & Hunting Regulations, ODWC hunting, Census and the sources in each section. Checked November 3, 2026.