Nov 14, 2015 4 min read

After many years of watching and hunting whitetail deer, I developed many opinions on their behavior and ability to escape hunters.

With the regular deer season fast approaching it seems to me the rut has arrived a bit late this year. A friend from Greene County blames warm weather and perhaps he is right in his assessment.

Normally, the rut here in Pennsylvania peaks in mid-November but begins a few weeks earlier. I have seen a few hints of the rut in previous weeks but it was Wednesday when I watched a buck seriously chasing a doe.

I have seen a few good bucks and that is relative, but I heard of one being taken with the bow.

Still, in warm weather, those above-average bucks tend to wait until full dark before showing up in the open. They didn’t grow to maturity by being stupid.

Speaking of antlers, rumor has it there two types of deer hunters. There are those who hunt for big antlers and those who are simply hunting for meat.

That’s a crock as far as I believe!

A good example of that would be the hunter who has the privilege of watching two bucks at the same time. One is a huge 10-point and the other a legal buck but with a small 6-point rack. I would bet everything he would shoot the big buck.

There is no doubt evidence from drawings on the walls of caves that man has been fascinated by antlers and horns since he first carried a spear into the woods.

The question then comes up where does one find a trophy rack?

For those who can afford it, there are places across the country where the odds of downing a true trophy are increased. There is a definite part of the country that produces larger antlered deer. This area would take in all or part of six states: Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri.

Of course, there are other places scattered about. Kentucky is coming on strong, especially the southwestern area. And of course you can’t ignore Texas.

Another state not to be overlooked and often hunted by Pennsylvania natives is our neighbor to the west, Ohio. This state has two of the top 20 bucks ever scored, one of which is the No. 2 nontypical.

Oddly, both top 20 bucks from Ohio are of the nontypical category. I hunted in Ohio and find that you can hunt for two or three days and not see a deer, but the chances are that when a buck is spotted, it will be a good one.

The top state in the United States based on numbers is Minnesota, but this is not the No. 1 place in North America. I would place that honor to Saskatchewan in Canada. Of the top 10 typical bucks scored, four of them came from Saskatchewan, and this includes the top buck, the Hanson buck.

When studying record-book whitetails, it jumps out there are few bucks in the book scoring over 200. It also should be noted that Saskatchewan has been the home of four scoring that high. Minnesota has two, as does Illinois.

There are a sprinkling of other states that have one in the book exceeding 200 typical but not many. Pennsylvania’s top buck scores around 188 and came from Bradford County in the early 1940s.

Heavy hunting pressure prevented our state from becoming a home to large-antlered trophies. Like it or not this is not the state to hunt if you have unlimited funds and seek a Boone and Crockett trophy.

Big bucks are mature bucks and three things will help create these monster bucks that can be seen hanging on the wall at Cabellas, age, food and genetics. That’s what creates a monster buck.

The buck needs good food and matures at about four or five years of age. Genetics fall into play next.

Who is the father and the mother?

Big bucks will produce big bucks simple as that.

Over the years, Pennsylvania has been a high numbers state not a trophy state. Of course, we can still take pride in taking the best that is offered.

After all, a buck in the 140-category is a nice buck and one that is not all that common. Then, there is the chance to hunt our neighbor to the west. But even that doesn’t guarantee anything but the chance a big buck might walk by.

After all, the whitetail is the hardest animal to put in the book. Oh well, if he walks past me and is legal I’ll probably take the shot.

George H. Block writes a Sunday Outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter.