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Cy Curtis Awards, the OK SLAM and the Big Game Harvest Reports
Oklahoma Hunting Records and Harvest Totals
The top Cy Curtis entry in each of the 8 big game categories, the OK SLAM and SUPER SLAM, and the ODWC harvest totals: deer by season since 2010, elk, mule deer, pronghorn and black bear by year, and the 2025 Game Harvest Survey for turkey, small game and furbearers.
Photo: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Southwest Region (Public Domain Mark 1.0)
Cy Curtis Awards, the top entry in each category
The Cy Curtis program has kept Oklahoma's big game records since 1972 and carries the name of the ODWC biologist credited with bringing white-tailed deer back to the state. Scoring waits through a 60-day drying period and is done by a qualified ODWC employee or a Boone and Crockett or Pope and Young measurer.
Cy Curtis Awards (since 1972), named for the ODWC biologist credited with restoring white-tailed deer; records trophy white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, pronghorn and black bear in an online database. Scoring by a qualified ODWC employee or a Boone & Crockett / Pope & Young measurer after a 60-day drying period; harvest, check-in and license information and a signed Fair Chase Statement required; hunters receive a certificate.
| Category | Top score | County | Method | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typical whitetail | 194 | Pushmataha County | gun | 2007 |
| Non-typical whitetail | 248 6/8 | Tillman County | gun | 2004 |
| Typical mule deer | 191 7/8 | Cimarron County | archery | 2014 |
| Non-typical mule deer | 226 4/8 | Cimarron County | gun | 2016 |
| Typical elk | 377 6/8 | Dewey County | gun | 2016 |
| Non-typical elk | 411 1/8 | Comanche County | archery | Sept. 28, 2025 |
| Pronghorn | 85 | Cimarron County | gun | 2006 |
| Black bear | 21 2/16 | Pushmataha County | archery | 2024 |
ODWC's records page lists each entry with the hunter's name; this table shows only the score, county, method and year of the top entry on each tab.
Sources: ODWC Cy Curtis records. Checked: figures traced back to ODWC wording on November 3, 2026.
Taking all five: the OK SLAM and SUPER SLAM
Finishing the slam means taking all five of Oklahoma's big game animals inside the state: a black bear in the southeast bear counties, a whitetail anywhere, a mule deer and a pronghorn out west, and an elk on private land in an elk zone or by controlled hunt.
OK SLAM
OK SLAM recognizes hunters who have taken a bear, white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk and pronghorn in Oklahoma over a career; SUPER SLAM all five in one season. Enter by email to ODWC.
Sources: ODWC Cy Curtis records; ODWC bear page; ODWC antelope page. Checked: figures traced back to ODWC wording on November 3, 2026.
Oklahoma deer harvest by season
The best deer season in the ODWC record came in 2022-23 with 134,158 deer, and 2025-26 ran a close second at 133,791. Land ODWC manages gave 6.7 percent of the 2025-26 deer.
Seasons with no bar are not zero: ODWC printed no statewide grand total for them in the county tables, and the 2002 and 2015 county tables could not be used. 2016 and 2018 county tables were read from images.
| Season | Archery | Muzzleloader | Firearm | All deer | Antlerless share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 39,084 | 15,636 | 79,071 | 133,791 | 45% |
| 2022-23 | 41,487 | 11,715 | 80,956 | 134,158 | 45% |
| 2021-22 | – | – | – | 117,629 | – |
Grand totals include county, WMA, OLAP and, where printed, tribal harvest. Sources: 2025-26 report; 2022-23 report; 2021-22 report; ODWC Big Game Harvest Report. Checked: figures traced back to ODWC wording on November 3, 2026.
Top Oklahoma deer counties, 2025-26
Osage County led the 77 counties with 5,062 deer checked off private land, ahead of Pittsburg County at 3,975. Every county page carries its own chart back to 1999.
| County | Archery | Muzzleloader | Gun | Total, 2025-26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Osage County | 1,287 | 466 | 3,309 | 5,062 |
| Pittsburg County | 1,364 | 651 | 1,960 | 3,975 |
| McCurtain County | 849 | 551 | 1,772 | 3,172 |
| Atoka County | 840 | 469 | 1,672 | 2,981 |
| Creek County | 883 | 357 | 1,700 | 2,940 |
| Rogers County | 1,101 | 246 | 1,581 | 2,928 |
| Lincoln County | 719 | 281 | 1,856 | 2,856 |
| Pottawatomie County | 786 | 285 | 1,519 | 2,590 |
| Cherokee County | 756 | 403 | 1,293 | 2,452 |
| Grady County | 616 | 193 | 1,546 | 2,355 |
| Le Flore County | 610 | 569 | 1,119 | 2,298 |
| Payne County | 621 | 191 | 1,465 | 2,277 |
County rows leave out deer taken on WMAs and OLAP, as in the ODWC table. Sources: 2025-26 county table. Checked: figures traced back to ODWC wording on November 3, 2026.
Elk, mule deer, pronghorn and bear by season
Elk have climbed every season since 2022, from 549 to 844, and the 2025 total was the highest of the five seasons shown. Pronghorn come only from Cimarron and Texas counties, and black bears from the southeast bear area.
| Species | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elk | 607 | 549 | 627 | 812 | 844 |
| Mule deer | 254 | 209 | 242 | 209 | 294 |
| Pronghorn | – | 150 | 87 | 89 | 80 |
| Black bear | – | 60 | – | 77 | 54 |
54 bears (28 males, 26 females); archery 49, muzzleloader 5; average age about 3.1 years; Choctaw Nation checked in 4. The 2025 mule deer figure is the 294 ODWC printed; its county rows add up to 296.
A dash means ODWC printed no table that year or it was not transcribed. Sources: ODWC Big Game Harvest Report. Checked: figures traced back to ODWC wording on November 3, 2026.
2025 survey estimates for turkey, small game and furbearers
ODWC does not tally turkeys by county. Its 2025 Game Harvest Survey asks a sample of license holders what they took and projects the totals, so each figure comes with a 95 percent range that runs wide for the less common species.
| Species | Hunters, est. | Harvest, est. | 95% range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall Turkey | 10,270 | 1,351 | 566 to 2,137 |
| Spring Turkey | 42,295 | 11,232 | 9,160 to 13,305 |
| Feral Swine | 55,673 | 2,044,008 | 1,931,264 to 2,156,752 |
| Dove | 46,079 | 819,329 | 711,795 to 926,863 |
| Squirrels: Gray Squirrel | 22,837 | 254,110 | 164,644 to 343,576 |
| Squirrels: Fox Squirrel | 24,999 | 238,182 | 147,892 to 328,473 |
| Quail | 17,701 | 199,757 | 151,170 to 248,344 |
| Raccoon | 11,621 | 192,960 | 121,592 to 264,328 |
| Coyote | 19,458 | 189,502 | 122,764 to 256,241 |
| Rabbits: Cottontail Rabbit | 11,621 | 62,498 | 47,962 to 77,034 |
| Crow | 5,000 | 51,027 | 30,237 to 71,816 |
| Pheasant | 8,648 | 27,592 | 17,728 to 37,455 |
| Beaver | 2,432 | 18,743 | 8,562 to 28,924 |
| Turkey: Spring Turkey | 42,295 | 11,232 | 9,160 to 13,305 |
| Bobcat | 5,270 | 7,702 | 3,497 to 11,908 |
| Otter | 1,081 | 7,162 | 0 to 16,025 |
| Gray Fox | 1,622 | 1,892 | 106 to 3,677 |
| Rabbits: Swamp Rabbit | 1,081 | 1,486 | 597 to 2,376 |
| Rabbits: Jackrabbit | 541 | 1,351 | 249 to 2,454 |
| Turkey: Fall Turkey | 10,270 | 1,351 | 566 to 2,137 |
| Woodcock | 270 | 1,351 | 292 to 2,411 |
| Red Fox | 1,216 | 243 | 0 to 746 |
Game Harvest Survey mail/phone estimates with 95% confidence intervals; ODWC notes small samples and possible recall bias. Sources: 2025 Game Harvest Survey, Table A2. Checked: figures traced back to ODWC wording on November 3, 2026.
Oklahoma records questions
How do I enter a deer in the Cy Curtis Awards?
Let the antlers dry for 60 days, have them scored by a qualified ODWC employee or an official Boone and Crockett or Pope and Young measurer, and send the score with the harvest, check-in and license details and a signed Fair Chase Statement.
Which animals make up an OK SLAM?
OK SLAM recognizes hunters who have taken a bear, white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk and pronghorn in Oklahoma over a career; SUPER SLAM all five in one season. Enter by email to ODWC.
How many deer were checked in Oklahoma during 2025-26?
133,791 in the 2025-26 seasons, the second-highest total on record.
What was the record Oklahoma deer season?
2022-23, with 134,158 deer.
How many elk are taken in Oklahoma each year?
844 in 2025, up from 812 in 2024, counting private-land seasons and controlled hunts.
Where can I find Oklahoma turkey harvest by county?
ODWC does not publish it. The 2025 Game Harvest Survey gives only a statewide estimate, about 11,232 spring turkeys.
Which Oklahoma county has the biggest elk on record?
The top non-typical elk, 411 1/8, came from Comanche County with a bow in September 2025; the top typical elk, 377 6/8, came from Dewey County.
What is the Oklahoma record typical whitetail?
The top typical whitetail on the Cy Curtis records page scores 194, a gun kill from Pushmataha County in 2007.
What is the biggest non-typical buck in the Cy Curtis records?
248 6/8, taken with a gun in Tillman County in 2004.
Straight from ODWC
Every fee, date and count here traces to an ODWC regulation or licensing page, a page of the 2026-2027 regulations guide or a Title 29 section, reopened on November 3, 2026. Where two ODWC pages print different figures, this page says which one it shows.
Other photos on this page: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Southwest Region (Public Domain Mark 1.0); NPS Photo (Public domain); ShenandoahNPS (Public domain); U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Southwest Region (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Russ (CC BY 2.0).