buckeye

Check out this and see how your state stacks up against the others in record book bucks taken over the last 10 years. Ohio is looking good!!

http://www.remington.com/magazine/consv/2002_0502a.htm#state

Seems the link isn' t working. Copy and paste it to check it out.

JZarr

I knew I was spoiled.

Combined P&Y and B&C entries for the counties I hunt

Lake County, IL #6 w/118
McHenry County, IL 4 w/123
JoDaviess County #23 w/62

I think that last one would be a lot higher if the locals were interested in registering their animals in the record books. I know a lot of big bucks that get taken one year and forgotten the next.

The most popular counties like Buffalo, WI and Pike, IL are the ones that people pay big bucks to hunt. There' s probably more trophy hunters there than anywhere else in the world, which is why you see more entries into the books.

A.K.A eastwood

[link]http://www.remington.com/magazine/consv/2002_0502a.htm#state[/link]

you have to remove the equals sign in [link]

buckeye

These numbers really make you wonder and have a huge margin of error I would think. Think of all of the P&Y bucks that aren' t listed because of non complient archery equipment. Plus I am sure many of them are never even scored and registered into the books. Plus all of the deer that would be P&Y qualifiers had they been taken with a bow instead of guns during the firearms seasons. Makes you wonder how accurate the numbers actually represent the the size of bucks listed per state though.

AKA eastwood thanks for reposting the link correctly.

JZarr

Very true, which is kind of what I was hinting at. The most popular counties for hunting get pounded by people looking for that trophy buck. So you can pretty much guarantee that every record class animal that is harvested is registered. Not to mention there are more of them harvested simply due to the fact that there' s more hunters. Not taking anything away from these areas though. Hell, they' re popular for a reason - which is because there are big bucks there!

I remember when I was younger that JoDaviess and Carrol Counties here in IL were the " big" counties for trophy deer. Back in Noel Feather' s day these were the spots to hunt and more big animals came from this area than anywhere in the state. As the # of hunters grew over the years, the # of trophy animals started to decrease. Then all of a sudden people discovered Pike and Adams Counties and they all flocked down there, leaving JoDaviess and Carrol Counties to recover from the hunting pressure of before. As the years go on I' m seeing more and more mature animals in the counties where there used to be the most pressure.

I think those stats give a fairly accurate stats as to where the big bucks are at, but they' re by no means perfect. Although I have to say I' m still blown away by the # of record book animals harvested in Buffalo County, WI. Nobody is even close to them!

onehornjimmy

Another reason Buffalo County is so high is the sheer number of landowners who practice quality deer management. Obviously it is a great area for big bucks, very scenic, and lots of farm and feed. I think many of the counties up north produce some BIG bucks, but people could give 2 rats about P & Y or B & C...so they dont register them. That is OK...we dont need astronomical land prices, and an invasion of hunters like Buffalo County

tabby

Wow. Pennsylvania is up there a lot higher than I thought it would be.

whitetails & muskies

Onehornjimmy....Bingo!!!! The fields of Biologic and " growing" trophy deer is kind of a joke, in my eyes at least. I know a few people up in Bayfield/Ashland and Iron counties that have taken some real supertankers and could care less about " inches" . Certainly not alot of deer up in these areas, but a deer that has seen very few humans and tips the scale at true 200#+ is a true trophy. And yes, the $$$ that comes along with the success of some areas is a real negative.

buckeye

Can the average person really hunt in any of these top counties with out paying? You would think most all of the land would be leased out to outfitters and private clubs. It is strange Ohio is 4th overall but does not have a single county listed in the top counties. I like that though gives equal oppertunities to everyone all over the state.

JZarr

Spots in the prime counties are very hard to come by, that' s for sure. You usually either need to know someone who knows someone, be related to a landowner, be a landowner yourself, or pay for spots to hunt. Unfortunately that' s what statistics like these do for spots like that. It' s just the nature of the beast.