BarnesX.308

Claims can be made about a specific state based on statistics, but that doesn't mean you can throw a dart at the map and do well.

I'm sure there's some crowded public land in Ill. where things aren't as rosey as the magazines make them out to be. On the other hand, if you have 5000 acres of private land in PA with low hunter densities and good nutrition, you're going to have a good shot at a real slammer.

PA suffered for many years with its "brown it's down" mentalilty. First, does were not shot so we had a million does but bucks never made it past 1.5yo. Now we increased doe seasons and have big bucks but the herd is all shot up. You need a happy medium. Tough to do on public land with high hunter density. Everyone wants to fill their tag and I don't blame them.

It's all about age. In most states, especially northern, if you have a 5.5 year old buck, you have a good one.

earnhard3

I go several ways. #1 state for whitetail...are we talking the amount of deer, size of deer, or the size of the bucks? If we are talking bucks which I'm sure we are I suggest looking at history and let do the talking.

however as for deer populations...http://www.i-maps.com/Qdma/frame/def...10100&MF=11000

Lanse couche couche

Interesting map. Makes some good points about variation within states and how large areas of some states that are supposed to be bad for deer are probably significantly better than many portions of some other states that are supposed to be hot spots for deer.

shottyhunter24

minnesota!!!!!

earnhard3

I have a large boone and crookett map that shows the same area (all of us) with area that produce the big boys. The IL,WI, MN, IA "corridor" is the hot spot.

Cannonw24

Mississippi, our law just changed and its based on spread and main beam length, excited to see what it will do for our racks. Here most deer dont make it to 3.5 yr olds.

kraig6412

whats sad is its true. we have a rule here were they have to be 6 inch spikes to shoot them i think if they were 6 points then shoot them then we might have bigger deer.

RyanATiffany

Only having hunted in Ohio I gotta say... Iowa. I've seen some good deer here in Ohio though and the seasons last for a while and you can hunt with anything but a rifle. Anterless tags, long season, 2 muzzle loader seasons, shotgun is short but that's when everyone goes, a couple youth seasons. In my area of OH we can get up to 7 deer which should be plenty for almost anyone. Private land is the way to go but there is a fair amount of public land too with plenty of deer there.

BarnesX.308

Starting in 2002, PA went to a point restriction. 3 points to a side in some WMUs and 4 points a side in others. Although I didn't like it at first, I can see it is helping. I mean, it was tough finding that 1.5 year old P&Y buck.

Jseay

Well I've been reading this topic and found a couple of post about the Florida joke. I am by no means saying it's the best state to hunt but their are some good bucks taken even in central Florida. Just wanted to share a couple of pics with you guys of some deer that were killed just south of Orlando. The first two deer were taken the same day. All were taken on public land.

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