Best place in the US for whitetail deer

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L3M182
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Best place in the US for whitetail deer

Post by L3M182 »

Was talking with a mate last night and these things cover a huge area and habitat range. Just out of interest if you could hunt a buck in any of the states. where and why?. Money not a factor. What’s the dream US internal hunt?.
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InstinctiveArcher
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Re: Best place in the US for whitetail deer

Post by InstinctiveArcher »

That's hard to choose since there are a lot of states that consistently produce really nice bucks. I definitely would not go to Michigan though. I can tell you that from experience :lol:
If I could go anywhere, I would probably go to Kansas or Iowa. They have some monsters, and the terrain is just completely different from what we have here. They also have a good amount of public land for non resident hunters. The tags can take a few years to get, but they are worth the wait IMO.
Also don't overlook some of the other states. Pike County Illinois is famous for big deer, as is Buffalo County, Wisconsin. Tennessee has been producing some really nice bucks, including the new world record nontypical a few years ago. Missouri should also not be overlooked. Lots of people don't realize it, but Wyoming has some incredible whitetail hunting as well.
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Re: Best place in the US for whitetail deer

Post by outrider »

almost all over Texas..............................still see some crossing the roads inside the city limits of Ft.Worth......... :D
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Re: Best place in the US for whitetail deer

Post by SoftShoe »

As has been said there are several great places to hunt whitetail. For me, the journey is as important as the destination so I would pick a location that offered scenic beauty as well as the oportunity for some big bucks.

Personally I am not fond of hunting wide open places. I like woods & hills so while I enjoy hunting here in Kentucky I think I would chose a place that was more & bigger of what I already have.

Adirondack mountains have always had a special place in my heart. I have camped & kayaked there. Every time I have thought I would be great to do some hunting as well.

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Second pick would be around Hundred Mile House in British Columbia. I hunted bear there 35 years ago. There was mostly Mule Deer there but there were some monster Whitetail as well.

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Re: Best place in the US for whitetail deer

Post by Tod1d »

"Best" is pretty subjective. Best place to find a lot of WT deer? Best place to find a monster record-book deer? Best place to have a really enjoyable trip?

If I were hell-bent on a nice wall-hanger, Central Illinois or Texas would be possible choices. I think I'd enjoy a northern mid-west hunt more though. Montana, Dakotas, or even a little further north like Central Canada.

My "no holds barred" dream hunt would be for Elk out west (Colorado, Wyoming, Montana), or Moose (Western Canada or Alaska)
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Re: Best place in the US for whitetail deer

Post by L3M182 »

Tod1d wrote:"Best" is pretty subjective. Best place to find a lot of WT deer? Best place to find a monster record-book deer? Best place to have a really enjoyable trip?

If I were hell-bent on a nice wall-hanger, Central Illinois or Texas would be possible choices. I think I'd enjoy a northern mid-west hunt more though. Montana, Dakotas, or even a little further north like Central Canada.

My "no holds barred" dream hunt would be for Elk out west (Colorado, Wyoming, Montana), or Moose (Western Canada or Alaska)
yeah it is subjective but thats what i was going for. success rates, scenery, trophy percentage, population density's. all going to differ and effect each other in some way but was just wondering if folks could go anywhere where would that be and why
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Re: Best place in the US for whitetail deer

Post by InstinctiveArcher »

I'd like to change my answer :D

I'd be going to Wyoming. I absolutely love it out there. The scenery is incredible, there are tons of different big game species living there, and as I said before, the whitetail hunting is fantastic! I remember hiking around devil's tower and seeing two really nice 8 pointers just standing along the trail. On the drive out in the evening, all of the farm fields were full of deer.
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Re: Best place in the US for whitetail deer

Post by Radamus »

You're getting pretty far west and into Muley country there with Montana - So for a nice buck- depends on what you really want and what kind of scenery you're after. So best eating? stick to the corn belt, they are practically tame, corn fed with a fair amount of fat since they don't have to hump the mountains as in the east. Worst place would be the Appalachian range- they live on bark, roots and acorns and climb mountains all day - tough and thick woods hunting.
Iowa through Missouri would be my choice but don't discount the Buckeye, Ohio has had it's fair share of monster bucks, good clean living and well fed. I'd take middle of the state south and west as the winters are pretty mild.
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Re: Best place in the US for whitetail deer

Post by stancomputerhunter »

Just pick any of the states from the Big 10 Conference and you're gold...except Maryland, Rutgers and Penn State. They are Eastern schools that have no business in the Big 10.
Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Nebraska, Missouri (which has no business in the SEC and should be in the Big 10), and lastly..if you have to..Wisconsin. :lol:


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Re: Best place in the US for whitetail deer

Post by gas56 »

The most trophy record book bucks have been produced in Illinois, But I'll take my chances where I live,.. it's cheaper for expenses, not far to travel, and there have been many trophy bucks also taken there.
White-tailed Deer density in the states change from early records until today and there are a few exceptions where trophy deer & deer populations remain pretty constant. So my recommendation is finding places that Deer populations and Record Deer now reflect to be more accurate with current records, though a trophy deer can be taken in a place that has smaller deer populations but really never had good trophies,.. those places you may want to stay away from, even though the odds of a World record deer could be taken almost anywhere good Whitetail populations exist,..
Cornbelt states are a good bet, lots of food for deer as Corn, Soybeans, Acorns, browse, grass fields, brush fields, tracks of woodlots, forests, lakes & streams are all good habitat for healthy deer herds. Northern states have bigger bodied bucks and have good Trophy deer, and Texas is an exception with deer populations and trophies even though bucks are smaller bodied. Some Southern states are now transplanting northern whitetails to get them in their deer gene lines to produce bigger bodied deer,.. can't say that will work in the long run but they are trying it. A constant would be updated records from Boone & Crockett & Pope & Young whitetail density maps in the U.S. and Canada.
Here are a couple of links that may give you an idea of where to start looking for a good place,.. and I don't want to be biased and tell you my state is very good.... :lol:
The numbers usually don't give you false representation of where a good hunting area exists but the great trophies in the below link may reflect a longer time line of when some deer were
taken. Hope this helps.....:D
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/spor ... ecord.html
https://www.wideopenspaces.com/possible ... t-in-ohio/
https://www.outdoorlife.com/photos/gall ... s-all-time
http://www.northamericanwhitetail.com/e ... 015/262450#
Record book Trophy Whitetailed Bucks by State and Province, U.S. & Canada
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