By Scott Bestul

Tranquility Wildlife Area
Location: southwest Ohio
Size: 4,254 acres
ZIP: 45660

Tranquility produced a 165-class buck during the December muzzleloader season last year. "Obviously, the big boys are finding plenty of places to hide during the November gun hunt," Beatty says. Also located in Adams County, this Division of Wildlife-managed area devotes 10 percent of its acreage to food plots. About half of Tranquility is mature hardwoods dominated by oak and hickory, with brush and grasslands completing the mix. This is Beatty's home base, and he says 140- to 150-class bucks are "definitely not out of the question" on Tranquility's steep ridges and deep ravines.

Shawnee State Forest
Location: southwest Ohio
Size: 63,747 acres
ZIP: 45660

They call Shawnee "The Little Smokies of Ohio," an apt name for the largest state forest in Ohio-and one of the most rugged. Located in Adams and Scioto counties, Shawnee's mature hardwood stands were thinned out by a massive ice storm in 2003. "That has produced a lot of 3- and 4-year-old successional growth that makes great shelter for mature bucks," Beatty says. An active timber management program means there are logging roads hunters can use to hike around this massive spread. One of Shawnee's best features is... [ Read Full Post ]

By Scott Bestul

Black Hills National Forest
Location: northeast Wyoming
Size: 175,471 acres
ZIP: 82729

Whitetails number only 51,000 in Wyoming, small potatoes compared to muleys, antelope and elk. (The big three combined outnumber whitetails 10 to 1.) Most top-of-the-crop 150-class bucks come off wooded creek bottoms, which are all privately owned, says Jeff Obrecht, public information office for Wyoming Game and Fish. However, bucks with a 20 to 22 inch outside spread are possible in the Black Hills, especially on steep slopes and rocky outcrops where few hunters are willing to venture. Whitetail numbers on the rugged federal spread (which encompasses another 1 million acres in neighboring South Dakota) have soared from 40,000 to 60,000 in the last five years. A dry summer likely means that hunters will find deer concentrated on available watering sites during the September archery season, though fall rains should make water a non-issue by the November firearms opener. [ Read Full Post ]

By Scott Bestul

Kansas Bend Wildlife Management Area
Location: southeast Nebraska
Size: 1,056 acres
ZIP: 68421

About five miles downstream from Hamburg Bend, Kansas Bend is the smallest of the new Missouri River WMAs. A mix of deciduous timber, grassland, marshy areas and cropland are the main deer habitat on this three-mile stretch of bottomland. Bordering areas of private land contain cropland and steep river bluffs. Hunting pressure is light, especially mid-week, and unlimited permits are available for archery, muzzleloader and firearms buck-only.

Langdon Bend Wildlife Management Area
Location: southeast Nebraska
Size: 1,307 acres
ZIP: 68414

In eastern Nebraska, river corridors typically have greater deer densities than any other habitat, according to Kit Hams, big game program manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Langdon Bend is no exception. Nearly half of this management area's acreage is devoted to row crops, and the rest is dominated by bottomland hardwoods and open pasture. Like the two WMAs upstream, hunting pressure is light on this four-mile long stretch of bottomland, especially on weekdays, and permits are easy to come by for archery, muzzleloader and firearms hunting. [ Read Full Post ]

By Scott Bestul

Ballard Wildlife Management Area
Location: west Kentucky
Size: 8,600 acres
ZIP: 42056

"Ballard has the best buck-to-doe ratio of any public hunting area in the state at one buck for every two does," Yancy says, "and it also has an excellent age-class structure that features a lot of older bucks." Starting this year, more sportsmen will be able to take advantage of these numbers. Under strict harvest restrictions since 1993 that allowed only 10 percent of hunters to harvest a buck, Ballard this year is one of two Kentucky public lands to newly adopt an outside spread minimum of 15 inches. In addition, archery hunters will for the first time have the run of Ballard from September 1 to October 14; after that, all but 400 acres will close to provide refuge to migrating waterfowl. Bring your knee boots to reach secluded areas: Fertile bottomlands dotted with the oak trees and row-crop agriculture that keep deer in top nutritional shape are broken up by many bald cypress sloughs.

Peabody Wildlife Management Area
Location: west Kentucky
Size: 60,000 acres
ZIP: 42327

You need look no further than the bulletin board in Uncle Lee's sporting goods store in Greenville for pictorial proof of Peabody's potential.... [ Read Full Post ]

By Scott Bestul

Kingsbury Fish and Wildlife Area
Location: northwest Indiana
Size: 7,100 acres
ZIP: 46350

"Kingsbury has been a premiere deer-hunting destination in northwest Indiana for many years," Reiter says of this former munitions plant site near heavily urbanized areas in the prairie country near Lake Michigan. That's largely due to a fairly extensive area of disposed ordnance that's off limits to hunters but wide open sanctuary for deer. "That contributes to keeping the deer population higher and allowing bigger animals to survive later than usual on public land," Reiter says, "and Kingsbury still produces some pretty big deer occasionally." The habitat includes restored native prairie grasses like big bluestem and switch grass, some marshland and thick brush, and leased croplands that help deer survive the winter.

Crosley and Splinter Ridge Fish and Wildlife Areas
Location: southeast Indiana
Size: 6,688 combined acres
ZIP: 47265

Only 10 miles apart, Crosley and Splinter Ridge offer excellent oak-hickory deer habitat in the eastern hardwood forest landscape that dominates this part of the state. Wooded rolling hills make up about 80 percent of Crosley's 2,460 acres, which also feature 13 ponds and seven miles of the Muscatatuck River. Splinter Ridge's steeper hillsides make for tougher hiking across its 4,228... [ Read Full Post ]

By Scott Bestul

Pisgah State Park
Location: southwest New Hampshire
Size: 13,168 acres
ZIP: 03470

"You can't get away from it all at Pisgah, but you can get away from a lot of it," Gustafson says. Relatively undeveloped by southwestern New Hampshire standards, the largest park in the Granite State system offers lower hunting pressure in a region that boasts the highest deer densities in the state. Rugged terrain provides plenty of places for deer to escape, and the herd's age structure proves it. Forty-five to 50 percent of adult bucks here are at least 2 1/2 years old. Those that reach 4 1/2 average 190 pounds.

Connecticut Lakes Headwaters
Location: north New Hampshire
Size: 171,000 acres
ZIP: 03592

This former paper company tract was home to the Thurston buck, a 183 3/8 Boone & Crockett bruiser that stood as the New Hampshire state record for 10 years until dethroned in 2006. Once owned by International Paper, the land is now split between the State of New Hampshire and the Connecticut Lakes Timber Company. Every last glorious mile is open to public hunting. Deer densities are low, but the chances are good for a buck in the 270- to 280-pound range, says Will Staats, regional wildlife... [ Read Full Post ]