Big bucks are harvested in almost every county in the Peach State. In fact, Georgia produces more trophy bucks than its Southeastern neighbors just about every season.

Each year, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Sportsman magazine and the Georgia Outdoor Writers Association co-sponsor the Georgia Big Deer Contest, which is open to all hunters, resident or non-resident, who legally harvest a buck in Georgia during the season. Antler tines and beams are measured for length and circumference, plus the width of the inside spread and combined to give a total score.

The minimum scores required to enter the categories are 145 for typical firearm kills and 170 non-typical, using the Boone and Crocket Club guidelines. For archery they are 120 typical and 145 non-typical using Pope and Young Club measurements.

Bucks shot with a crossbow must meet firearms minimums.

Seventy-four bucks were entered in last year's contest, 27 in typical firearms, five in non-typical firearms, 39 in typical archery and three in non-typical archery.

Of last year's top 20 big bucks, there were eight non-typicals and 12 typical racks. Thirteen bucks, including the biggest, a 211 5/8 B&C non-typical taken by Devin Key in Rockdale County, were killed in urban counties, while the rest were harvested in predominately rural counties in the south and central part of the state.

In fact, 69 percent of those 74 deer -- 51 bucks -- were killed in the southern half of the state. Twenty-five Georgia counties out of 159 produced an entry last season. Eleven counties, seven of which were in the south, posted multiple entries. In North Georgia, Fulton and Gwinnett counties produced two entries each, Cobb County boasted three and DeKalb chalked up four.

In the southern part of the state, Dougherty County produced nine trophy whitetails; all typical archery kills including Garrett Jones' 141 7/8 P&Y buck. Other southern counties with multiple entries were Colquitt with four, Macon, Ben Hill and Worth with three, while Irwin, Turner and Schley had two each.

The highest-scoring typical buck taken by firearm last season was a 167 B&C brute in Pulaski County by Wayne McDaniel, while the biggest typical bow kill was a 146 6/8-inch buck taken by Randy Birchfield in Fulton County. The season's biggest non-typical firearms kill was the previously mentioned 211 5/8 B&C monster taken by Key in Rockdale County, while a 187 4/8 non-typical was arrowed by Rusty Osborne in DeKalb.

Big bucks in Georgia seem to thrive in the habitat found along the state's major river corridors -- the Chattahoochee, Flint, Altamaha, Ocmulgee and Satilla. Those regions produce a wealth of soft browse and hard mast. Such fertile soil also produces healthy agricultural crops like peanuts and soybeans, which are necessary for bulking up big bodies and racks, sometimes to the farmer's dismay.

All areas of the state are not the same, however, especially regarding soil composition. The state is divided into five geophysical regions -- the Ridge and Valley in the northwest; the Blue Ridge Mountains of the northeast; the central Piedmont Plateau; the Upper Coastal Plain; and the Lower Coastal Plain. Each has its different soil compositions.