Tim Black

Compared to other Southeastern states, Georgia produces more than its share of monster bucks each season. Sitting in a deer stand in the Peach whitetails can be attributed to several factors. First of all, real estate -- of which we have plenty: East of the Mississippi River, Georgia's the state with the largest area. And while we're in 10th place in the nation in human population, most of that's concentrated in the counties of greater Atlanta -- which leaves a lot of room for deer.

The Peach State also boasts fertile soil, which results in the growth not only of peanuts, cotton, pine trees, and the fruit that gave us our nickname, but also of healthy whitetails. Also critical to the nurture of big bucks is native browse, and ours is abundant and nutritious. And if agricultural fields or food plots are present in an area as well, the groceries required for bulking up the bodies and the racks of local deer are even better suited to the task.

A few years ago, the state instituted antler restrictions for the buck harvest. The limit is two bucks, one of which has to have at least 4 points on one side of its rack before it can be taken, thus increasing the number of deer reaching maturity and growing bigger racks.

But that's not to say that you can find and harvest a bragworthy buck everywhere in Georgia. While a few can be found in almost any region of the state each fall, some areas in the state yield more and bigger bucks. All areas of the state are not the same, particularly with regard to soil composition. The state is divided into five geophysical regions: the ridge and valley in the northwest; the northern mountains; the central Piedmont; the upper coastal plain; and the lower coastal plain.

The Georgia Wildlife Resources Division partitions the state still further -- into nine deer management units. Each DMU is composed of counties having distinctive geography and deer-herd characteristics.

Every year the Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Sportsman and the Georgia Outdoor Writers Association cosponsor the Georgia Big Deer Contest. Open to all hunters who legally harvest a buck in Georgia during the season, the contest provides valuable indicators of the number of trophy bucks in Georgia and the places in which they're being harvested in its annual results.

Racks are assessed by measuring the antler tines and beams for length and circumference, plus the width of the inside spread, with inches of antler equivalent to the total score.

The contest's main categories, firearms and archery, are subdivided into typical and non-typical groupings. The minimum score for each: firearms (Boone and Crockett points) -- typical, 145, and non-typical, 170; archery (Pope & Young points) -- typical, 120, and non-typical, 145. Any buck meeting these criteria is one tremendous trophy.

For the 2005-06 deer season, 42 bucks were entered; by comparison, qualifying entries totaled 46 in 2004, 72 in 2003, 47 in 2002, and 76 in 2001. So, on the basis of these Big Deer Contest entries, last season was the least fruitful of the last five in terms of big bucks harvested.

The typical buck categories are usually well represented, with gun hunters often bagging the biggest specimens. The 2005-06 deer entries consisted of 15 in typical firearms, four in non-typical firearms, 22 in typical archery, and one in non-typical archery.