Although several states offer better opportunities at trophy bucks than other states.....its not a gimme anywhere. A hunter still has to be in the right area and in the right place at the right time. The lower the hunting pressure, the better the odds. Even hunting a place such as Pike County.....with all the hunters and outfitters there, I doubt if the success ratio(# of hunters to trophy animals taken)of harvesting a trophy is any higher than most other midwest counties. You'll find that with higher game populations comes higher hunter populations. Thats why some of the most recognized animals have come from some of the most unrecognized areas.

Take the buck that Beatty killed in Ohio......if you look that county up in annual harvest kills.......its very low.

Pike county is very good; i grew up and now live in a neighboring county and have a non typical (222) on the wall along with a 140 typical, if you decide to go in illinois you may want to look around the Pike county area, Cass & Morgan counties offer some very good whitetail hunting, check out www.strutrut.com they are based in Cass county I think they offer hunting sites in several different counties.

Cant say where is absolutely the best (havent hunted em all yet) but the Illinois Golden Triangle area (Pike and surrounding counties which I've hunted for a while now) is a sure contender! LOTS and LOTS of trophy quality bucks killed there each year.

Nebraska is probably one of the most under rated places to hunt for a trophy whitetail! As noted above these other states get way more hunting pressure,I beleive we have about 15,000 bowhunters statewide!
I have taken 4 P&Y whitetails here,with the biggest going 150 1/8.
We dont have a lottery for tags.....you can purchase a N/R tag over the counter for about 180.00 dollars! This is a real "Steal" compared to some of the rest.
I run Hickory Ridge Outfitters and we are about 20 miles from the Kansas border and 30 miles from the Iowa state line......we are smack in the middle of some of the best bowhunting the midwest has to offer!
A good friend of mine took the new number 2 non-typical for bow here in Nebraska, 224 3/8 P&Y last season!
We grow corn fed monsters here as well,we just dont get all the "pub" that Iowa,Illinois and Kansas get!
We are booking for 2004 and have some of the prime time in October and November still open! A six day hunt runs 1,500.00 meals and lodgeing included.
You can see some of the quality animals we take at www.stealtharchery.com

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It's NOT Florida! [>:]

Well... I say Ohio!!!

If you look at the numbers it all makes sence.

Ohio is 3rd for entries into B&C and P&Y over the last 10 years. That is outstanding. Now add the fact that over 50% of Ohios archers shoot cross bows it makes it all the more unbelievable.

Quoted from the ODNR web site.

So less than half our archers have tallied # 3 on the list for total entries. I say thats pretty bada$$!!

Let's face it: there are a bunch of places with great trophy whitetail hunting all over the place. But the best?....

I seem to recall that in Buffalo County, WI more B&C and P&Y bucks killed per square mile than anyplace else in North America. Nearby Trempealeau County is also very good...also land is much cheaper than Buffalo Co. so it is a better deal and easier to find affordable hunting options.

All I know is that in that area, it is very common to see 130+ class bucks passed up due to the chance to shoot even bigger ones.

Ogle County,Illionois. I have a friend that owns property here and have seen pics from his trail cam absolutely huge bucks, this year he killed a 13 and a real nice 8 but never saw the really big ones during shooting light only on the camera!! Last year he took an 8pt that the estimated live weight was 300lbs!!Have also heard and seen pics of other hunters in this area very nice deer in this county.

I would venture to the 'Great White North' - Canada (Either Ontario or Saskatchewan).
Though, I am a little biased.

IT has got to be Illinois. The deer that I see every year are just phenominal.
I finally hunt a good piece of property and was just in awe of the deer I was seeing in the August beans. I took two PY's this year and was done in November. Of course as I went back for does I saw two monsters that I had not seen the year before. IMO