Cy Curtis Typical and Non-Typical County Density Maps

[APeterson]

Seeing as I am employed as a Geospatial Analyst and was bored today I decided to leverage my talents and produce a few density maps that I think the OSA/Oklahoma Hunting Community will appreciate.

Step (1). I downloaded the most up to date (2010) Cy Curtis Award (Typical) & (Non-Typical) White-Tailed Deer Records from the ODWC Website.
Step (2). Categorized and sorted the Record data into County of Harvest, Method of Harvest and Date of Harvest.
Step (3). Created a pivot table in Excel and logged the number of Harvests per County up to the last recorded date (2010).
Step (4). Utilizing ArcGIS software I performed a simple Join function of the data to a Oklahoma County Dataset.
Step (5). Created a Map Layout for the data to be displayed.

Below is the final map products depicting the Oklahoma Counties with the highest density of Cy Curtis Award Typical and Non-Typical White-tailed Deer. This data may be useful to determine where your next lease or hunt should be. If you have any ideas or tips to improve these maps please feel free to contact me.

Enjoy,

 

[OKjoe]

Wow! Thanks!

 

[FlyGuyGSP]

Very cool, thanks for the work you put into that.

 

[Porter]

I like this! I've got a lease in Osage County, and drew out on the Pushmataha MZ hunt this year. Now if I can just get some time off work and get in the stand.....

 

[fishfurlife]

I have always liked this system. I also like the thought of recognizing big deer in our state.

I do not think it is a good gauge for the potential of a given county. Take Kiowa county for example.There is some great hunting to be had in Kiowa county but the numbers show it to be marginal. I think it is just a matter of who submits their deer to be scored. Beckham county is another one. I have a good friend that tipped over a buck this morning that will clear the NT minimum by a good bit. I don't see him ever getting it officially scored.

 

[Okie4570]

Ok r00s7a..........what say ye?

 

[APeterson]

I have always liked this system. I also like the thought of recognizing big deer in our state.

I do not think it is a good gauge for the potential of a given county. Take Kiowa county for example.There is some great hunting to be had in Kiowa county but the numbers show it to be marginal. I think it is just a matter of who submits their deer to be scored. Beckham county is another one. I have a good friend that tipped over a buck this morning that will clear the NT minimum by a good bit. I don't see him ever getting it officially scored.

I agree with you Fishfurlife that these density maps only reflect the "Submitted" white-tailed deer to be scored. In fact my brother harvested a nice 160 class buck 2 seasons ago that would easily score in the top 5% of Cy Curtis typicals in Logan County and he has not submitted it for either scoring or submission.

However, I strongly disagree with you concerning the "Gauge for Potential of a County" comment.
This analysis was intended to depict what the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife has on record for the Cy Curtis Awards. The maps pinpoint the known density of quality white-tailed trophy genetics from bucks that have recorded harvests. It also helps quantify the probability of which counties contain these trophies. It simply identifies that you are more likely to encounter a quality trophy in Pushmataha or Osage county over Kiowa or Tillman County.

Did you know that in the 2011 season there were an additional 4,300 deer harvested in Archery? What can you contribute the 24% increase in archery harvests to? Legalizing of Crossbows? Fraudulent Online Checking? Drought Conditions?

 

[fishfurlife]

Yes, last year sucked for weather and conditions. Look back over the history of deer harvest in Oklahoma. You will find a pretty stark correlation between poor years and increased harvest. The deer simply move more to get to and from water/food. Thus making them easier targets.

I will stick with my guns on the gauge of potential. To turn it around and look at it from the other side. Look at Comanche county. I would say that it is a safe bet that of the deer submitted, 75% or better most likely came off of Ft Sill or the WMWR control hunt. Everyone can't hunt those areas, yet they are known for large deer. I agree that they are still part of the county and the deer are growing in that county, but I think they skew the idea that the county would pump out nice deer.

Those two areas are perfect examples of what can happen if deer are actually managed. Heck, the deer on the refuge fight with some of the poorest soil/nutrition in the state and the place produces huge bucks. I swear that those deer grow big by chewing on rocks sometimes.

 

[DEER 24/7]

fishfurlife i have seen the biggest bucks i have ever seen in our state in the WMWR and like you say there is'nt much on the table fare,i believe a buck does,nt max out until 6 1/2 & 7 1/2 hrs old.the pencentage of bucks making to that age class are very few,we see a 5 1/2 yr old 150" buck and we whack him me included,some bucks at 51/5 are monsters but wonder what they would of been at 6 1/2

 

[DEER 24/7]

apeterson thank you for posting your map good reading