By Scott Bestul

Moran Wildlife Management Area
Location: west Massachusetts
Size: 1,147 acres
ZIP: 01270

More than 25 percent of Massachusetts bucks are 3 1/2 years or older, according to Tom O’Shea, assistant director of wildlife for the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game. “We’ve got the kind of age structure the Quality Deer Management Association sets as a goal,” O’Shea says, “and our deer densities, while not as high as mid-Atlantic states, are still better than a lot of our New England neighbors.” Big bucks can be found statewide, but the Berkshire Mountains offer some of the most extensive public land acres. Moran is a good place to start: Located on a plateau at 1,700 feet, the WMA’s northern hardwood, spruce, fir, aspen and birch habitat provides lots of security, which means hunters need to mount a drive (a reasonable undertaking on Moran’s relatively gentle terrain) to get deer up and moving.

Nantucket Conservation Foundation lands
Location: east Massachusetts
Size: 8,800 acres
ZIP: 02554

Nantucket Island boasts the state’s highest deer densities and best hunter success rates. “You may not find the biggest bucks there,” O’Shea says, “but you’ll see lots of deer in a really unique hunting environment.” Thirty miles off the Massachusetts coast,... [ Read Full Post ]

By Scott Bestul

Three Rivers Ranger District, Colville National Forest
Location: northeast Washington
Size: 483,916 acres
ZIP: 99141

West across the Columbia River, Game Management Unit 101 in Colville National Forest's Three Rivers Ranger District in Ferry County offers an excellent opportunity for bowhunters. Most of Washington's mature buck harvest comes during the late firearms season, which ends just before the peak rut and the onset of late archery season in mid-November. But Unit 101 doesn't hold a late modern firearms hunt. As a result, bowhunters can look forward to more bucks and less disruption, and they get to hunt the entire rut. Three Rivers Ranger District tends to be more arid, and the forest here is more open-and thus more suited to the tree-stand hunting bowhunters in the state seem to prefer. "Those archers do take a higher percentage of nice big bucks," Zender says. [ Read Full Post ]

By Scott Bestul

Mississippi River Pool 24
Location: 10,211 acres
Size: west Illinois
ZIP: 62366

"About the closest we come to underused public land in Pike County is on the Mississippi River islands," says Krumwiede. You'll need a boat-preferably at least a 16-footer with a 40 horsepower motor-to access this federally owned land, which helps explain the reduced hunting pressure. Pool 24 extends from Lock 22 at Hannibal, Mo., to Lock 24 at Clarksville, Mo., and there are half a dozen named islands on the Illinois side of the state line worth checking out. Denmark (the largest, at 30 acres), Cottonwood, Willow, Gosline, Crider and Cash lie in Pike County, while Middleton Island is in Calhoun County. Cottonwoods, willows and thick brush can make it hard to see far, but some mature hardwood stands thin out the cover and offer more visibility. Pool 21 (with 8,536 acres in Adams County) and Pool 22 (with 6,861 acres in Adams and Pike counties) offer similar opportunities upriver.

Weinberg-King State Fish and Wildlife Area
Location: west Illinois
Size: 2,320 acres
ZIP: 62311

Pike County may get the headlines, but there's good hunting elsewhere in western Illinois, too. "Schuyler and Brown counties are real good sleeper counties, and they're just as... [ Read Full Post ]

By Scott Bestul

State Game Land 223
Location: southwest Pennsylvania
Size: 7,200 acres
ZIP: 15370

Hardwood forest tangled with wild grapevines dominates this area on either side of I-79 in Greene County. "There are a lot of deer on the public area, and they don't seem to be hard to hold," Dunkerley says. Reverting farm fields and old apple orchards help keep bucks put, as do 200 acres of crop fields and numerous clear cuts that are the result of vigorous timber sales. Game Land 223 is about 70 minutes from Pittsburgh, and Dunkerley says the greater distance seems to lighten hunting pressure a bit. The area produced a 178 Boone and Crockett buck two years ago, and someone snapped a photograph of a 190-class bruiser in 2006. "As far as we know he wasn't killed last year," Dunkerley says. "He may still be out there."

Cooperative Farm-Game Program and Cooperative Safety Zone Program lands
Location: southwest Pennsylvania
Size: 5,000 acres
ZIP: 15122-15223

Lots of states say some of their biggest bucks are found near urban areas, but not many offer hunters a chance to harvest them. Pennsylvania does. The Farm-Game and Safety Zone programs lease private property for public access, and about 5,000 acres are in... [ Read Full Post ]

By Scott Bestul

Mahannah Wildlife Management Area
Location: east central Mississippi
Size: 12,675 acres
ZIP: 39156

Starting this year Mahannah boasts the toughest antler restrictions in the state-a minimum 18-inch inside spread or 20-inch main beam. Those requirements set the public ground on equal footing with its neighbors, 32,000 acres of private hunting clubs that surround Mahannah. Like Sunflower, only ten miles away, Mahannah has fertile soil and abundant food. But here the hunting is archery-only, and if you're not lucky enough to snag a permit in the lottery you'll have to wait until January, when Mahannah opens to all. The wait is worth it: A few years back this WMA produced a nontypical that weighed 280 pounds and grossed 191 Boone and Crockett. High water can be a late-season factor in these flat, low-lying open hardwoods, but it bothers hunters more than deer. "Deer go right to the water," Fleeman says, "and lay up on a pile of vines and eat." [ Read Full Post ]

By Scott Bestul

Uwharrie National Forest
Location: central North Carolina
Size: 50,189 acres
ZIP: 28001

North Carolina's largest deer tend to come from the central Piedmont region, but 200-pounders are rare, according to Harrold. "We have biologists who work a whole career in North Carolina and see only two or three," he says. "It's quite a news story when it happens." Hunting pressure on piedmont public lands is generally high. The Uwharrie has long been a traditional deer-hunting destination, at one time recording the highest harvest in the state, but hunting pressure has slacked a bit as the action spread into surrounding farmlands. White oak, red oak and hickory hardwoods provide the biggest fall food source for deer, and planted food plots and adjacent crop fields-many recently converted from tobacco to corn and other grains-supplement the deer diet. The Uwharries are old mountains, and while hillier than the rest of the piedmont, their slopes are much more modest than the Appalachians to the west. [ Read Full Post ]