This state's classification carries no date range for the species.
Present in eastern Oklahoma tallgrass prairie.Classified as a game bird and species of greatest conservation need, but hunting has been closed statewide since 1997 following population decline. No indication of any reopening for 2026-27.
Greater prairie-chicken in Oklahoma has contracted sharply from a historical range across central Oklahoma south into Texas to a narrow strip of tallgrass-prairie ranches along the Kansas border. ODWC and independent reporting agree the species is now found essentially only in Kay, Osage, Nowata, and Craig counties in far north-central/northeastern Oklahoma, on large private ranches with intact tallgrass prairie (the southern edge of the Flint Hills/Osage tallgrass prairie ecoregion that continues north into Kansas). ODWC's own spring lek survey routes document the contraction directly: 32 leks counted in 2005 fell to just 7 leks by 2024, and the species is listed as an Oklahoma Species of Greatest Conservation Need. No sub-region of this remaining four-county strip is documented as denser than another in available sourcing, so the whole strip is treated as one region rather than subdivided further.
Greater prairie-chicken hunting has been closed statewide in Oklahoma since 1997, but ODWC runs active annual spring lek survey routes in Kay/Osage/Nowata/Craig counties (a documented decline from 32 leks in 2005 to 7 in 2024) -- a clear case of monitoring continuing despite closure. Publication is irregular feature-article style (most recent found: Aug 15, 2025); no newer coverage has been found, confirming no 2026 figures have surfaced yet.
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