What counties or areas are “ best “?

Best for what....

Mule deer, Pronghorn and prairie dogs would be Cimarron

Uhmmmmmmmm....this is posted in the "Deer Hunting" portion of the forum.

Whitetail mostly

Look up Cy Curtis awards. Really comes down to how you want to hunt. My two favorites are Osage and alfafa

Mule DEER. Put your cheaters on

Yeah, it depends on what you want

We own 200 acres in Jefferson which is the first county across the border north of Bowie, Tx

I know for a fact becaus I saw 2 of these but 3 monsters killed in last 3-4 years real close to me. Within a mile actually one was 178 and the other 2 were both low 180’s. All low fence. My little spot has never produced that type deer. But I’m can be in the stand in about 1 hour and 15 min. So drive time and the legit chance at that type deer is important to me

If you are wanting what I’d call primo, I’d look at the select counties that offer a little more. Bear, WT and Elk

Which is gonna be Le Floure, McCurtain, Pushmataha, Latimer and I believe Pittsburgh

Over course it’s a further drive but you can buy land in those counties cheap too if that’s an option. I almost did that not 6 months ago but bought land closer to DFW

I live in Houston, but grew up in Oklahoma and hold a lifetime license from there. My favorite public land to hunt is Pushmataha WMA near Clayton, OK. There are some awesome deer on that place and they also have elk which can be fun to run in to. Good area to camp. The only "open" hunting is archery. Black powder is controlled hunt only by draw. No rifle.

The biggest bodied deer are going to be up near the Kansas border, but the SE OK area is hard to beat in my opinion.

Keith

Been through Pushmataha County, and just by the looks of it, would have to agree this place looks solid. We literally got lost trailering a boat from Broken Bow, when 259 got closed down due to a wreck. Google maps had me go through logging roads, and we were in the thick of that county for hours going slow, so I wouldn't bust a trailer tire. Long story short, if you can find something near Cloudy, OK, that would be some awesome hunting.

Shhhhhhhh...there ain’t no deer in Push...

However...a stud 9 year old buck (aged by Push biologist), may have gotten a ride home in my buddy’s truck during a ML hunt we drew out for.

Also saw the biggest bobcat on the planet there.

Born and raised in Texas, but hunted Bryan County Oklahoma area (North East of Durant/Choctaw Casino) my whole life.

Bryan and surrounding counties produce some monster bucks and the overall population appears to be more than healthy (on the properties I have access to)









Note - unless you have a DMAP(Oklahoma version of MLD) taking of doe is restricted to certain days depending on season and area.

https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/seasons

Three bearded gobs on one pic!!!!, thats impressive too.

I transplanted to Oklahoma. Im not sure if yall are noticing this, but the whole state is making good deer here. Texas used to be some pockets had great deer and some not so much. We do have 2 pockets of exceptional deer here. One would be the NW: Woodward, Ellis, Beaver, Major, Woods, and Harper. Those produce the biggest, but it takes big tracts. I monitor this pretty closely. I bought land in Seminole county, right at the Pontotoc line. My opinion is the best counties for deer hunting- antler size and population would be: Seminole, Hughes, Pontotoc, Coal, Pittsburg, Johnston, and Atoka Counties.

You will here a bunch of different opinions, these are mine. I hunted 800 acres in Pittsburg county for over a decade with awesome deer. But the closer you get to the pine forest the tougher it gets. Every county is putting out awesome deer.

There are no deer in Oklahoma

If you are interested in getting on a lease. You can go here and look at available leases or leases looking for members on Weyerhauser land.

https://wyrecreation.com/leases

Are there any above average areas for elk?

Yes Cimarron( on the river or out side of felt) and any place with in 40miles of Wichita Mountain WMA


This is Cimarron

Is Felt in the Okie Pan Handle? Private land or public land hunting?

Yes, west of Boise city, there is some federal land on the south side but not much. Most the big bulls are on the river. Bunch on the KS border. The elk herds originated off Cimarron National Grass land release in KS. Finally got a season allocation instead of a minute amount of depredation tags a few years back.

Best public is draw tag in WM WMA