The final DMU in the three-way tie for third place on Big Deer Contest list is DMU 8, located in southeast Georgia. Composed of 12 upper and 10 lower Coastal Plain counties, only four of the 22 counties in this region posted entries last year -- Telfair, Wilcox, Bleckley and Dodge. The area is not known as a big-deer producer, because the habitat quality is poorer than that of neighboring DMU 6. However, hunters who focus on farms and river bottoms in the area may be lucky enough to take a quality deer from this DMU.

Up in east-central Georgia, DMU 7 only managed to post one entry on the Big Deer Contest in 2004-05. It was a 132 6/8 P&Y buck taken by Jerald Sholar in Screven County. Since 2002, however, five of the DMUs 13 counties have posted a total of eight entries to the contest.

DiLane WMA in Burke County is a good public area offering in this DMU that may yield some big bucks.

The foothills counties north of Atlanta make up DMU 2, which posted no entries to last year's contest. On the other hand, since 2002, the area has added four deer to the list. The DMU consists of 17 Ridge and Valley and Upper Piedmont counties.

Parts of DMU 2 are still largely undeveloped, but some counties like Cherokee, Forsyth and Hall have experienced huge human population growth that has negatively impacted the habitat. Still, Forsyth, Walker and Paulding counties all made the WRD's list of counties with 1 1/2-year-old bucks having average beam lengths of 9 inches or longer.

GEORGIA'S TOP 20 BUCKS OF 2004-05
Rank	Hunter	County	Score
1.	Tony Lewis	Dooly	180 4/8
2.	Ian McTurk*	Brooks	179 4/8
3.	Patrick Holton Jr.*	Lee	178
4.	Butch Moore	Marion	177 4/8
5.	Taylor McCann* **	DeKalb	174 7/8
6.	Davis Quick*	Brooks	170
7.	Phil Webb	Dougherty	169 4/8
8.	Jeff Caswell	Dooly	167 1/8
9.	Chad Petersen	Bleckley	167
10.	Jeff Hall	Laurens	162 3/8
11.	James Stanford	Morgan	161 3/8
12.	Wayne Carter	Cook	159 4/8
13.	Bobby Brannen	Colquitt	158
14.	Donald Guy	Marion	157 7/8
15.	Anthony Durden	Telfair	154 5/8
16.	Rodney Locke	Terrell	153 2/8
17.	Gary King**	Dooly	180 4/8
18.	Shayne Goddard	Troup	151 5/8
19.	(tie) Chuck Birchfield**	Fulton	151 3/8
	Jeremiah Brinson	Grady	151 3/8
	Greg Gallups	Macon	151 3/8
20.	Samantha Linhart	Worth	150 2/8
*Non-Typical **Bow Kill

In extreme North Georgia, DMU 1 consists of the 12 Ridge and Valley, Upper Piedmont and Blue Ridge counties. This area is well known for producing lots of acorns, but the soils do not yield much other quality food for deer. While DMU 1 posted no entries to the Deer Contest in 2004, it has posted only two entries since 2002.

Still, DMU 1 offers large tracts of public lands. The terrain is rugged and hunters may have to hike a ways to find a good hunting spot, but over the years both the Cohutta and Blue Ridge WMAs have turned out some nice bucks. Quality-managed Smithgall Woods/Dukes Creek Conservation Area is another option.

In this DMU, Habersham and Pickens counties both made the list for 1 1/2-year-old deer with average beams of 9 inches or longer making these good counties to try as well.

At the bottom of the big deer list as always is DMU 9, which posted no entries on the contest last year or in three previous years. Consisting of the 15 Lower Coastal Plain counties in southeastern Georgia, DMU 9 has sandy soils that have never been known to support quality deer and the herd relies on acorns as its primary source of food.

Ossabaw and Sapelo Island WMAs invariably top the list for best places to bag deer, but not big ones. Hunters looking for good spots to hunt in this region can try Glynn or Long counties. Both had 1 1/2-year-old bucks with at least 9-inch beam lengths.