Thanx, that one scored 321 1/8 5X5 got it with a muzzleloader area 16 New Mex. Got a 387" 6X7 in area 12 the next year. New Mexico has defintely got it together on their management ideas.

That is a great score and probably biggest 5x5 I have seen. I have been jinxed in NM in 5 trips. Did take a 320 in UT rifle, 340 in AZ bow and 350 in NV bow. Don't know much about unit 12 but you were very lucky to draw 16. 387's don't grow on trees. I've only seen 2 that big, both in Nevada. Had to pass though both were quartering towards me at 40 yards.

@ZIM
3 archery bucks on priv land, 2 gun bucks, 1 140" on priv land and the buck in my avy on state land.

So has anyone else heard 2 bucks with the second buck tag being earned through a doe harvest?

How many years are you talking for your harvests?

Haven't heard of this one but most every option has been hashed and rehashed over and over. OBR is still the way to go.

See? This is what I'm pointing out. I took 5 P&Y bucks in 6 years off PUBLIC land. Quality of statewide game management is far better judged by public land results rather than private. Find me a guy that took 5 P&Y/6 years off INDIANA public land. Good luck with that, because you are going to need a lot of it!

I've hunted public in 12 different states and have seen the difference quality state regulations make. All were quite heavily hunted, but guns were not allowed in the peak rut in the quality states. There is absolutely no comparison between the quality levels of Iowa, Kansas & Illinois to Indiana or Michigan. None. Numbers of hunters had little to do with it. Guns in the rut did.

'01-present, still haven't connected this year.

I was at Muscatatuk this weekend on a special hunt, ran into a CO and asked him about the latest, other than it being shelved he mentioned 2 bucks with the second buck being earned.
But yeah, ORB all the way.

Not directed at you, just my general thoughts..
Indiana will never put up the numbers of these super buck states due the sheer numbers stacked against us, i.e. herd size and number of hunters.
But that's not to say we can't catch them in book bucks per sq. mile, per xx acre, per xx hunters.
Look at what Kentucky is doing with their trophy quality recently.


@ZIM, just saw your post.
There's no way for me to get solid numbers of priv. vs pub. land trophies.
But public land down here in my region gives up great bucks every year.
Be nice during check in if they asked public or private land.
Quick question, hom many bucks in Il are harvested by non residents, is that an easily obtained figure?

Another thing, how many public acres available for deer hunting in Il, is pub. hunting walk in or special type hunts?

Another thing, how many public acres available for deer hunting in Il, is pub. hunting walk in or special type hunts?[/quote]

Onion, So you took one book buck off public in 10 years. That is about what I figured. BTW I have hunted many of the IN public lands to compare, including Muscatatuk.

I agree it is obvious IN won't match the numbers of P&Y these other states have. I am only referring to book bucks taken/square mile as you mention. You can easily compare numbers of P&Y taken for similar sized counties with similar habitat. It's not close. Pull out a P&Y/B&C county-by-county map and you will see a lighter shaded area where IN & MI are.

You don't need statistics on public vs. private land entries. If you just go out there and hunt there like I do, the difference jumps out and bites you in the a$$.

To answer your question, virtually 100% archery season deer on public land is wide open for both residents and nonresidents. I know of only one that does not allow NR and one that has a draw out of 300. For gun it's different. Most public properties are on quotas and sell out permits. Nonresidents can apply in 2nd lottery but 95% of the permits are gone by then.

Are you saying that the # of IL B&C bucks taken during firearms season, that the rut was completely over and done with and had no effect on these numbers? Indiana may not take the quantity of B&C buck as IL, do to the fact that we don't have the number of hunters as IL, for now and I myself like this. I live in Pike County, Indiana. There's not an outfitter among us .

Onion, how did you do at the Refuge. I live right by there and hunt in there a lot during late bow. Last year I saw over 100 deer in 6 days of hunting.

ALso lots of good discussion on Antlertalk.com about the new regs. Lots of super nice Indiana guys on there.

I am saying exactly what my words stated if you review my prior posts. Mature bucks are most vulnerable during the "5 prime peak rut days" and increase/decrease incrementally before and after those 5 days. Experienced hunters know what those days are. They vary a bit by region. However, all of November is the active. Kansas and Iowa allow no firearms in November. Illinois has only 3 days, which typically occur after the peak 5 days.

Indiana has 16 gun days in November which routiely include the 5 peak days depending on the year.

Fewer number of P&Y bucks harvested in Indiana has virtually nothing to do with numbers of hunters, when you evaluate it on a county-by county basis. The farm country counties of IN & IL have similar human densities and hunter efforts. If you followed your population theory then Indiana should produce better buck quality on public land than Illinois because there are less hunters. That is clearly not the case. Heck, little IN public land has any quotas on gun hunters except some the first 2 or 3 days. So by your theory there should be more big bucks harvested because there are more hunters hunting them.

The exact opposite is true though. More hunters mean fewer bucks live long enough to become mature to be harvested by anybody, andywhere, anytime.