34 � Fair Chase Spring 2002 © DUPLAN WILDLIFE

Spring 2002 Fair Chase � 35

As a deer hunter, I read a lot aboutwhere to hunt big whitetail bucks.Over the years I’ve noticed thatmost articles on that topic arevague. Statements like, “Iowa isa great state for huge bucks” arecommon. I wanted to knowwhich counties are breakingrecords, and why some countiesproduce more big deer than oth-ers. I also needed maps, sincethey are more useful and infor-mative than lists. Dissatisfiedwith what I read, I decided to seeif I could do better.

The first step was record book datafrom the Boone and CrockettClub. Jack Reneau, Director of BigGame Records, provided the infor-mation I needed and explainedhow it was organized. I assembled5,568 whitetail entries spanningthe years 1830-2001 (only two en-tries were included from 2001, andonly 120 from 2000). I successfullyentered 5,439 entries into a Geo-graphic Information System (GIS)that allowed me to produce a vari-ety of maps and analyze the data.I did not include 129 entries lack-ing county-specific information onwhere the deer was taken. The in-formation and maps shown here are based on the 5,439 deerentered into the GIS.

I had initially planned to produce one map showing thedistribution of all the entries, but I noticed that the distri-bution of entries had changed over time. I decided to divide the recordsbook into two time spans, 1830-1979 and 1980-2001. The former pro-vides a historical account of deer herds in the United States, while thelatter gives hunters an up-to-date map on which areas are currently pro-ducing numerous B&C entries.

BY JOEL W. HELMERB&C Associate

Dept. of Geography

Oklahoma State

University

0 entries

1-2 entries

3-5 entries

6-10 entries

11+ entries

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

DISTRIBUTION OF WHITETAIL DEERENTRIES BY COUNTY 1830-1979

The deer shown here

in the black-and-white

photo was taken in

1893 in Michigan. His-

torically, Michigan

ranked fifth for the

greatest number of

whitetail deer entries.

Since 1980, Michigan

has fallen out of the

top ten trophy pro-

ducing states. On the

other hand, Iowa

ranked fourth histori-

cally, second in current times, and is now the overall

number one state producing trophy whitetails in the

Boone and Crockett Club’s records book. The buck pic-

tured here was taken by Steve Philby in 1997 and scores

170-6/8 points.

36 � Fair Chase Spring 2002

1830-1979The 1,489 entries mapped from thisearly period comprise 27% of 5,439total entries. Thirty-nine states and663 counties appear, the top threestates — Minnesota (315), Wiscon-sin (194), and Texas (157) — ac-counting for 45% of all entriesduring the period. Montana, Arkan-sas, and South Dakota popped up inthe top 10, while states currentlyhailed as big buck meccas, such asOhio, Illinois, and Kansas, recordedrelatively few entries.

The most productive countyduring this period was northernMinnesota’s St. Louis (39), followedby south Texas’ Webb (27), andMinnesota’s Itasca (20). The top 10counties during this period are inWisconsin, Minnesota and Texas.

The distribution of entriesfrom 1830-1979 reflects the historyof whitetail deer in the United

States. During the late 1800s andearly 1900s, whitetails were ex-tremely rare in many states and hadbecome extinct in some. Conver-sion of land for agriculture, defor-estation, and unrestricted markethunting are some of the reasons forthis decline. During this period,whitetails in agricultural states wereespecially vulnerable, as much ofthe land was cleared. Some deerherds did not return until recently.Ohio did not have a modern fire-arms season until 1943; and inIowa’s first modern deer season, in

1953, hunters took only 4,000 deer!Other states have similar histories,helping to explain the lack of en-tries during this time period. Incontrast, whitetail deer survived ingreater numbers in states with re-mote, forested areas. Minnesota,Wisconsin, and Maine are goodexamples — so too areas like southTexas, the Rocky Mountain Range,and the Mississippi Delta region.

One interesting place is theDriftless Area of west-centralWisconsin and southeasternMinnesota. This region wasnot glaciated during the lastice age. Its landscape of for-ested hills provided food andcover, where deer survivedand where they still growbig. Buffalo Wisconsinis in this region, andstands as the all-timem o s t - p r o d u c t i v ecounty with 62 en-tries.

1980-2001During the last twodecades, the rangeand total populationof the whitetail hasexpanded immensely,with managers nowworking to either stabi-lize deer populations orreduce them. With in-creasing numbers of deercame more interest in tro-phy-class deer. The 3,950 en-tries (74% of the record book total)come from 41 states and 1,254 coun-ties. Incredibly,the years 1990-2001 account for2,811 or 52% ofthe record bookentries during thisperiod.

D i s t r i b u -tion has shifted toinclude the mid-western states,where deer herdsare growing, aidedby excellent habi-tat. The top 10 states are IL (509),IA (507), WI (395), MN (293), MO(244), KY (242), KS (235), OH(199), TX (159), and IN (138). Themap shows the dominance of Mid-western states during the last 20

TOP TEN WHITETAIL STATES OF ALL-TIMESTATE 1830-2001 1830-1979 1980-20011. Iowa 615 108 507

2. Minnesota 608 315 293

3. Wisconsin 589 194 395

4. Illinois 552 43 509

5. Texas 316 157 159

6. Missouri 285 41 244

7. Kentucky 279 37 242

8. Kansas 255 20 235

9. Ohio 235 36 199

10. Michigan 155 55 100

DISTRIBUTIONOF WHITETAILDEER ENTRIES

BY COUNTY1830-2001

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

STATE IOWA

HUNTER Ben R. Puttmann

LOCATION Cherokee County

YEAR 1998

SCORE 170 (typical)

STATE KANSAS

HUNTER Mark B. Steffen

LOCATION Rice County

YEAR 1996

SCORE 160-2/8 (typical)

Spring 2002 Fair Chase � 37

0 entries

1-2 entries

3-5 entries

6-10 entries

11+ entries

STATE MINNESOTA

HUNTER Thomas C. Kroening

LOCATION Olmstead County

YEAR 1998

SCORE 180-4/8 (typical)

STATE WISCONSIN

HUNTER Todd W. Davis

LOCATION Shawano County

YEAR 1999

SCORE 161-6/8 (typical)

STATE OHIO

HUNTER Mickey E. Lotz

LOCATION Hamilton County

YEAR 1995

SCORE 206-7/8 (non-typical)

STATE MISSOURI

HUNTER William M. Hazer

LOCATION Washington County

YEAR 1998

SCORE 170-2/8 (typical)

STATE TEXAS

HUNTER B. Tyler Fenley

LOCATION Angelina County

YEAR 1999

SCORE 198-6/8 (non-typical)

STATE ILLINOIS

HUNTER Walter L. Baker

LOCATION Jersey County

YEAR 1998

SCORE 216-3/8 (non-typical)

38 � Fair Chase Spring 2002

years, especially the last decade.States and counties that yieldedmany entries during the previousperiod have, by and large, contin-ued to produce; but they account fora smaller percentage of entries.

The top 50 counties are dis-tributed in the following states: IA(17), IL (11), WI (6), KY (4), MN(4), TX (4), ME (2), MI (1), andMT (1). Twenty-eight of the top50 counties come from Iowa and Il-linois, which is why these states at-tract hunters. For some states, thelast 20 years account for nearly allof their entries. For example, Kan-sas recorded 235 Awards Book en-tries during this period, and 255All-time entries, while Kentuckyhad 242 and 279, respectively.

1830-2001Mapping all 5,439 entries gave me aprint similar to the 1980-2001 map,since the vast majority of trophiescome from that period. Forty-twostates and 1,443 counties producedentries, with most coming from thetop 10 states: IA (615), MN (608),WI (589), IL (552), TX (316), MO(285), KY (279), KS (255), OH(235), and MI (155). These 10 statesaccounted for 3,880 entries, or 72%of the record book. The all-time bestcounties are Buffalo, WI, and St.Louis, MN with both recording 62entries. The top 50 counties are dis-tributed in the following states: IA(13), MN (12), WI (10), IL (8), TX(5), ME (1), and MT (1).

WHY DO SOMECOUNTIES PRODUCESO MANY ENTRIES?Answering this question is difficultsince so many natural and man-made factors come to bear. Still, therelationship between record bookentries and river systems is plainlyevident throughout the country, es-pecially in heavily farmed states. Forexample, in Iowa the best deer coun-ties are not the most heavily farmed,but tend to have a mixture offarmland and forest cover asso-ciated with river bottoms.Counties bordering the Mis-souri, Mississippi and DesMoines Rivers account forthe majority of entriesfrom Iowa. This patternis evident in nearly allstates, especiallyalong the Mississippi,Ohio, and MissouriRiver systems.

The relation-ship between deerdensities and num-ber of entries is alsointeresting. Stateswith high deer den-sities and long fire-arms seasons withliberal bag limits pro-duce, on balance, fewerentries. States withlower deer densities,shorter gun seasons, andmore restrictive buck har-vests tend to produce moreentries. A good comparison is be-tween Ohio, which averagesaround 10 deer per square mile,and Mississippi, which averagesmore than 30.

Perhaps the most interestingpattern is the impact state manage-ment practices can have on entries.In Kansas, modern rifle season takesplace after the rut, while in Okla-homa it generally falls during thepeak of the rut. Also, the black pow-der season in Kansas is in mid-Sep-tember, when the trees still wearleaves and temperatures are high. Incontrast, Oklahoma’s black powderseason occurs in late October andearly November, when temperaturesare cool, bucks are starting to rut,and the leaves are falling. Since themajority of bucks killed are takenduring gun seasons, timing those sea-

TOP WHITETAIL COUNTIES SINCE 1980COUNTY 1980-2001 1830-2001 1830-19791. Buffalo Co. , WI 45 62 17

2. St. Louis Co., MN 23 62 39

2. Dimmit Co., TX 23 41 18

3. Pike Co., IL 22 24 2

4. Adams Co., IL 21 25 4

4. Fulton Co., IL 21 22 1

4. McHenry Co., IL 21 21 0

4. Allamakee Co., IA 21 25 4

4. Monona Co., IA 21 23 2

4. Webb Co., TX 21 48 27

DISTRIBUTIONOF WHITETAILDEER ENTRIES

BY COUNTY1980-2001

sons so bucks are less vulnerablegives the animals time to mature.Similar differences are apparent be-tween seasons and the number ofbig-buck entries from Iowa and Mis-souri, Ohio and West Virginia, andNebraska and Kansas.

The maps produced for thisarticle give hunters an accurate pic-ture of where B&C-class bucks arebeing taken. Though your odds are

definitely higher in certain statesand counties, the maps also showthat entries come, literally, from allover. They have come from 1,443different counties, half the countiesin the forty-two states that have pro-duced entries. So no matter whereyou hunt, there is always a “geo-graphical chance” of bringing homea record book buck! � � �

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

STATE ILLINOIS

HUNTER James Kruczynski

LOCATION Pike County (3)

YEAR 1998

SCORE 198-7/8 (non-typical)

Spring 2002 Fair Chase � 39

0 entries

1-2 entries

3-5 entries

6-10 entries

11+ entries

STATE IOWA

HUNTER Craig R. Belknap

LOCATION Des Moines County (12)

YEAR 1998

SCORE 198-5/8 (non-typical)

STATE WISCONSIN

HUNTER Ronald J. Jilot

LOCATION Buffalo County (1)

YEAR 1997

SCORE 203-5/8 (non-typical)

STATE TEXAS

HUNTER Floyd Burr

LOCATION Dimmit County (2)

YEAR 1949

SCORE 166 (typical)

STATE TEXAS

HUNTER Joe E. Coleman

LOCATION Dimmit County (2)

YEAR 1998

SCORE 170-4/8 (typical)

STATE MINNESOTA

HUNTER Bruce C. Norton

LOCATION Houston County (11)

YEAR 1995

SCORE 168-3/8 (typical)

Historically Dimmitt County has been a top

producer. It currently ranks second (tie) and 3rd

overall since 1830.