From what I have been hearing from a lot of hunters from WI (as well as many on this site) the DNR is really screwing up the deer hunting up in Wisconsin. Haven't hunted up there in a few years but hear its getting pretty bad. From the numbers it looks like WI has a greater number of entries in B&C and P&Y by a small amount over Illinois and Iowa, but look at the number of licenses sold and deer harvest. Last year there were 188,000 deer killed in Illinois, in Wisconsin 0ver 450,000! Thats over 2 1/2 times the amount of deer killed in Illinois! I would expect when a state has that many hunters they would kill more record bucks. If you went down to it, the trophy deer to hunter ratio is much better in Illinois then Wisconsin. By shear numbers, yes, Wisconsin may kill more Trophy Deer but you are much more likely to kill a big Buck in Illinois with a lot less hunting pressure. Plus, the golden triangle is a great place to hunt, but now there are even more counties that have huge deer that have A LOT of Public land in Illinois.
Not to say that I would turn down hunting in Wisconsin. Ive hunted up there a few times (Waushara Co.) and had a great time and would do it again in a second. I might even try Devils lake SP for firearm deer since my Waushara Co. property is now houses (GRRRR!
) and I can't hunt my Illinois piece this year. I just think that when it comes down to it there are many great states that you can get a huge buck and a couple numbers on a peice of paper really doesn't make WI the "Case Closed" best place to harvest a trophy buck.