Interesting topic. I grew up in Texas and lived there for 25 years. Have lived in the midwest for the last 18 years, hunted a number of midwest states, and 16 states total for Whitetail. I've hunted in Canada and Mexico, but not for Whitetail. Been studying the B&C and P&Y books for 25 years.
If we're talking about states where the average hunter can get access to private land, or states where even public land regularly produces 150"+ bucks, then my thoughts are below. I'm throwing in Texas and Colorado because even though access isn't great, they each produce some huge bucks.
- Tier 1 - Iowa - despite the relatively small amount of great wooded deer habitat overall in the state, Iowa has just the right amount of good regulations that work in concert with each other to make Iowa still the best state overall, in my opinion, for trophy bucks.
- Tier 2 - Kansas - I've hunted Kansas a number of times, though not in a while. Even though I've heard it's not what it once was, in my opinion there is no other state (*including Iowa*) where you can still go to *almost* any part of the state and have an above average chance at encountering a truly large buck. Part of that is because of good habitat. Part of that is because there are a lot more "farmers/ranchers" than "hunters" in Kansas. And part of it in my opinion is because there is a lot of leasing that goes on in Kansas and so there are a lot of areas that get managed to some degree, which obviously means a higher percentage of bucks make it to maturity.
- Tier 3
- Ohio - I lived in Ohio for 16 years and it produces bucks just as big as Iowa. Also has WAY more good deer habitat than Iowa. If Ohio would move their shotgun season back by 1 week (same timeframe as Iowa) and restrict non-resident licenses, Ohio could get *close* to Iowa quality, though I don't think it could ever quite equal Iowa simply because Ohio has a much larger resident population, so more hunting pressure by far than Iowa.
- Kentucky - Kentucky has a lot of great habitat, which means that even with a rifle season during the rut it still manages to pump out a lot of big bucks. Was considered a "sleeper" state for big bucks for a while, and I think it still is to some degree. Not sure exactly why. Probably still one of the better states to buy cheap-ish hunting land.
- Indiana - Once Indiana changed to a 1 buck limit about 20 years ago, they've been every bit the equal of Ohio in terms of a big buck state. They always had the genetics and the habitat, just had too many young bucks getting shot.
- Illinois - Hunted Illinois several times, but not in a number of years. Even though it is by most accounts not close to what it used to be, any midwest state with that amount of good deer habitat is going to pump out some big bucks on a year-in and year-out basis.
- Missouri - Missouri deer regs don't make it very easy for a buck to get old, but they still turn out lots of big ones in spite of multiple buck limit and rifles during the rut. If Missouri had the same regs as Iowa, with the vast amount of great habitat there they would vault over Iowa as a big buck state within 5 years I bet, and would probably be in the top 3 states as a trophy buck destination.
- Wisconsin - If Wisconsin had regs like Iowa, just because of the sheer amount of deer and habitat it would almost certainly be the top big buck state in the nation. Even with hordes of hunters and liberal deer regs Wisconsin still turns out an above average number of huge bucks every year.
- Oklahoma - I'm throwing Oklahoma in here as the last one in the Tier 3 group because even though it doesn't turn out as many "top-end" bucks, there is a *lot* of good habitat, a lot of "really good" bucks, and it still remains a bit of a sleeper to a lot of hunters from other states, except Texas, whose hunters have figured out that Oklahoma has really good bucks and land is way cheaper to lease than good land is to lease in Texas.
- Tier 4
- Nebraska - If Nebraska had regs like Kansas, they would probably be close to the same ranking for big bucks as Kansas. But they don't. So they aren't.
- South Dakota - Both South Dakota and North Dakota have the advantage of very small resident populations, being still thought of more as pheasant (SD) and waterfowl (ND) states, a lot more farmers/ranchers than hunters, and being far enough away from large populations of hunters that there are a lot of other states that non-resident hunters can and do get to easier. The negative for both SD and ND is that even though they can and do produce booners every year, they don't seem to produce the same percentage of absolutely top end bucks like midwest states that are further east. Some people probably don't even think of the Dakota's as the "midwest". If you want to kill a 130-150" class buck, the Dakota's (and Montana) are probably some of the best states there are in which to do that.
- North Dakota - See South Dakota. I've hunted ND for whitetail several times and saw a lot of 130-150" type bucks. Seeing them wasn't the problem, getting close enough to shoot them with a bow was the problem.
- Montana - See South and North Dakota.
- Colorado - Colorado's eastern plains are basically just an extension of Kansas. The eastern plains has produced whitetail bucks as big as anywhere else in the U.S. The negatives are that there isn't a lot of habitat overall, and tags and access are not easy to come by (for nr's) without using an outfitter.
- Texas - South Texas can naturally produce bucks as big as anywhere in the U.S. The problem is access. Good land is hard to come by for leasing/hunting, so a lot of Texas hunters go to Kansas and Oklahoma. The Texas panhandle produces bucks just as big as western Oklahoma, but not a lot of habitat, and access is still not easy, though easier than south Texas. West Texas does not naturally produce very big deer (without supplemental feeding) because there are just too many deer for the available food. East Texas (where I grew up) has the capability to produce big deer and throws out a few huge non-typ's every year or two, but overall the hunting pressure and poaching pressure is just too great in east Texas to produce many real mature bucks.
- Canada - Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba all turn out bucks just as big as any state in the U.S., but access for American hunters is no-go to all of them without hiring the services of an outfitter.
