It's official: The 2008-2009 deer season was outstanding! Oklahoma hunters killed 111,427 deer -- our second highest harvest ever! Our deer chasers actually took 21,115 more deer than last season's total!

Punctuated by typical Oklahoma weather -- unseasonably warm temperatures during both early archery and blackpowder seasons, followed by cold, windy weather during gun season -- the season was indeed a memorable one. Legions of deer hunters took to the woods across the state, and though we had a so-called trickle rut, we still managed our second highest harvest ever!

It's a fact: There are deer everywhere! Sooner deer hunters racked up some impressive numbers of animals in most counties, and for some hunters it was their best season ever.

Last season, I had high hopes after my wife and I drew in on Canton WMA, one of the state's best gun hunts. Every year, this northwest WMA yields a good harvest.

Our opening-day gun hunt dawned to blustery cold weather with temperatures near freezing. Donna and I had scouted and found an area with abundant deer sign adjacent to the refuge's waterfowl management area. We set up near the edge of a field that had a funnel joining the field to the waterfowl sanctuary. Well-worn trails gave evidence that deer traveled daily from the secure waterfowl area onto the field we were watching.

The frigid north wind blew, reminding us that winter was near. In two days of hunting, we managed to see a few does but no bucks. Elsewhere, hunters were successful. In total, 100 hunters killed 48 deer -- 28 bucks and 20 does.

The latter part of gun season, my wife and I hunted with outfitter Danny Pierce near Reydon. Pierce operates Rush Creek Outfitters, a dandy guide service. Pierce placed us on some prime leased land south of Reydon, where he had seen rutting activity a few days earlier.

My wife, Donna, passed on several small bucks in hopes of bagging a real wallhanger. Again, high winds proved to be our nemesis, nearly blowing our ground blind away at times.

With a two-buck limit in place, hunters definitely are being more selective on where they hunt and the type of deer they harvest. Nonetheless, Oklahoma hunters tagged near-record numbers of both bucks and does last season.

Some counties in our state are bulging with does, causing the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation concern over the buck-to-doe ratios there, while other counties boast dandy numbers of bucks. So, before you go hunting, read on and see where the greatest deer densities are, and where to go to put venison in your freezer this fall.

EXPERTS WEIGH IN ON 2009 DEER SEASON
Jeff Danker of BuckVentures Outdoors is enthused about this coming season. In fact, after picking up some giant shed antlers from his ranch in Harper County last spring, the television host says he is excited about the coming season.

"Last March, we picked up some matched sheds that we estimated would have scored in the 160s," Danker said. "If those bucks grew like I expect them to, then I hope to get a crack at another Boone and Crockett buck on my ranch."

Outfitter Steve Purviance lamented the conditions at the end of last season, but he's optimistic about the coming season. "It was really dry in December, January and February, but we had some very good moisture from March to June," he said. "One of the best things to happen in our area was a late snowstorm in March that dropped 27 inches of snow in some areas of the northwest. Luckily, it melted within a few days."

Purviance says the deer numbers seem to be high in Woods, Woodward, Harper and Beaver counties. He believes that Woods and Woodward counties have the highest deer densities that they have ever had.