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NEW B&C rankings…. By state..

Sligh1

Sligh1

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For fun I added how many forested acres per state. Makes it a bit more insightful. I would also strongly argue, without clear evidence, IA, KS, Saskatchewan & Alberta- those 4 places: uniquely enter B&C bucks at a far lower rate. Folks in these 4 areas are used to large deer & vast vast majority don’t get entered. VS states like MI, WI, MN, etc where they are “more rare” & guys are far more “fired up” to enter them. No comment on whether guys should or shouldn’t enter - I just believe these 4 places far more bucks are NOT entered vs other states. Interesting side note on those 4 as well: IA, KS, Alberta & SK….. all down for entries. Which I’m not surprised at based on all the challenges they have faced in last 10 years… publicity, targeted trophy hunting, poor regulation changes, etc etc.

Interesting data. Some of it doesn’t make any sense. Some of it u can say “well these areas have hard winters & rough soil”. Whatever. Million holes anyone could put in this. On the Legit interesting side…. INDIANA!!!!! Look at what happened there!!!!! ONE BUCK STATE!!!! :)
If u were to divide the amount of forested acres by the B&C bucks- that’s more accurate data if a guy wanted to compare apples to apples a bit better. Bucks “ENTERED” would be: 1 per 128,000 acres in WI. Geesh!!! & they are listed as #1 overall. Iowa is 1 per 36,000 acres. All of these are clearly way low as I bet 10-50x or more are shot vs entered - if I were to GUESS. Heck, wouldn’t shock me if 30 B&C bucks shot in iowa and only 1 was entered.

In the end, guys who have hunted in tons of other states many years can also say “screw the stats, THESE _____ states are the best”. & that’s where u truly will get the correct answer IMO Interesting data though …

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The only thing I can comment on definitively is that Indiana has seen a direct cause and effect in more mature deer since moving to a one buck per year (not season but year) state. I lived there 1999 - 2004 and am still close to many hunters there. Once they went to a one buck state all of my friends began commenting on the increase in age structure about 3 years into it. AND have taken larger deer as a result.
 
Wow...it would be very interesting to see the real numbers. In three years only 83 b&c bucks were entered in IA. I know booners are not around every tree, but holy smokes there quite a bit more than what is reported. Theres like roughly 50,000 bucks harvested each season. lol in three years theres been quite a lot more than 83 out of roughly 150,000 bucks harvested being a booner. Not tons and tons, but a lot more than 83. My buck in 21 qualifies, but I havent entered it. Call me cheap, didnt want to pay the $20 or whatever it was.
 
I would guess .. just a guess that the state that hunters register bucks the most often is Wisconsin. Least often Iowa or South Dakota .

Iowa would probably be #1 if the just did a tally !
 
If I were to guess, the people posting on and lurking on this site have killed more than 83 booners in the last 3 years. And the reason is the same as posted above. Not everyone wants the publicity. Too bad everyone goes off of hunting shows and social media instead of that BC chart to decide on where to hunt.
 
One thing I noticed is that Wisconsin enters more than half of their bucks in 'awards', that is between 160-170 typ and 185-195 ntyp. Not sure about IA, but Sask and Alberta for the most part don't consider a deer a booner unless it makes the all time book.
 
2-bucks said:
The only thing I can comment on definitively is that Indiana has seen a direct cause and effect in more mature deer since moving to a one buck per year (not season but year) state. I lived there 1999 - 2004 and am still close to many hunters there. Once they went to a one buck state all of my friends began commenting on the increase in age structure about 3 years into it. AND have taken larger deer as a result.
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My guess is, if any “frequent hunters” or “serious hunters” were to be polled, bet vast majority be in favor of the results & wanting it to stay 1 buck.
 
Buckscrape said:
One thing I noticed is that Wisconsin enters more than half of their bucks in 'awards', that is between 160-170 typ and 185-195 ntyp. Not sure about IA, but Sask and Alberta for the most part don't consider a deer a booner unless it makes the all time book.
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So- Canada - who knows how many bombers?!?!? Countless thousands out there yearly over that vast an area.

Is it Majorly winter cycle dependent on how good or bad the hunting is? Bet the lack of folks coming from US during covid had to have helped it for age class some?

How has the last few years been up there or “current conditions”. Canada is on my “bucket list” to-do!!!!!! Sask or Alberta!?!?!!?!? Or heck- cool stuff in Manitoba and Ontario too.
 
To Skip and IBH83, you were both part of a couple world class bucks being taken the past couple years, and I believe they were both officially scored. Were they not entered, and if not, why? Just curious. Why officially score them and showcase them and not enter them? I get the aspect of hiding a big buck, but that didn't happen and honestly it usually doesn't. The truth is there's probably been a booner killed in every patch of woods in the Midwest. I don't get the big secret.

My dad entered a booner in the mid 90s. Was scored by IL's most famous scorers at the deer classic. Back then they said almost nothing got brought up from southern IL and that's where most the monsters got shot. Said people would barf if they knew what was being shot down there.
 
Sligh1 said:
So- Canada - who knows how many bombers?!?!? Countless thousands out there yearly over that vast an area.

Is it Majorly winter cycle dependent on how good or bad the hunting is? Bet the lack of folks coming from US during covid had to have helped it for age class some?

How has the last few years been up there or “current conditions”. Canada is on my “bucket list” to-do!!!!!! Sask or Alberta!?!?!!?!? Or heck- cool stuff in Manitoba and Ontario too.
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21/22 winter decimated the mature deer. Bad timing too, like you said it was shaping up really nice for the US hunters. Going to be a couple years before getting back to normal. Finding an outfitter that has a bit of ag in their area would be key.
And ya, Sask of course!! :cool:
 
northcedar said:
To Skip and IBH83, you were both part of a couple world class bucks being taken the past couple years, and I believe they were both officially scored. Were they not entered, and if not, why? Just curious. Why officially score them and showcase them and not enter them? I get the aspect of hiding a big buck, but that didn't happen and honestly it usually doesn't. The truth is there's probably been a booner killed in every patch of woods in the Midwest. I don't get the big secret.

My dad entered a booner in the mid 90s. Was scored by IL's most famous scorers at the deer classic. Back then they said almost nothing got brought up from southern IL and that's where most the monsters got shot. Said people would barf if they knew what was being shot down there.
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I agree, just because a deer was not entered doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hit the public eye. Be it social media, this site or a trophy buck competition, IMO the average joe applying in Iowa is not getting their interest from P&Y or B&C clubs. So I understand where you are coming from but I think one buck argument would be a hard sale when we are saying “Iowa is already the best trophy buck state based on forested acres but we need to be the best even more!” And I’d be for killing a record class deer more often but I’m not sure everyone is and only shooting one buck, shoot I haven’t shot a buck in Iowa in three years. And we all could only kill one buck on our own (just leave tags infilled) but how many are doing that now?
 
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northcedar said:
To Skip and IBH83, you were both part of a couple world class bucks being taken the past couple years, and I believe they were both officially scored. Were they not entered, and if not, why? Just curious. Why officially score them and showcase them and not enter them? I get the aspect of hiding a big buck, but that didn't happen and honestly it usually doesn't. The truth is there's probably been a booner killed in every patch of woods in the Midwest. I don't get the big secret.

My dad entered a booner in the mid 90s. Was scored by IL's most famous scorers at the deer classic. Back then they said almost nothing got brought up from southern IL and that's where most the monsters got shot. Said people would barf if they knew what was being shot down there.
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You're right! How could I forget that one?!

That one in the books. I retract my statement. Doh!

OK, that's one of at least 100 "book" deer in last 5 years that I know of that is actually in the book.
 
I support the growing trend of not reporting big Iowa bucks for the record books. Unless it's a state or world record, why bother? It only hurts our fellow resident hunters.
 
I'm not Rob or Skip, but I've had a few officially scored and not entered. 1st one I just wanted to see what he actually scored officially, 2nd was needed for entering into the Iowa Bowhunters Association spring banquet awards.
As for reason not entering into the book is pretty simple. Those all register county taken and have your name associated. Doesn't take too much digging anymore online to try and find a last name landowner to match up with a last name in the record book, and if you hunt any land by permission/lease, or if any of your neighboring land is hunted by permission or lease, it's a pretty easy way to hot spot your location, and this is just in reference to by the book hunters. Add into that equation people who trespass, poach, or are looking for areas to shed hunt and you have a whole new reason.
 
We had my bro’s 241” scored but didn’t enter. He’s shot “several” B&C bucks that we didn’t even score them & didn’t enter. All of my bucks that would B&C…. I didn’t enter them.

**A “side note” it might be hard to believe but to this day but it’s true ;) ….. I don’t know how to score a deer. I’ve never personally done it. I could figure it out obviously but I’ve never done it, probably never will. Nothing against it what-so-ever of course!!! I just let my buddies do it if they want to. I can eye ball a deer & be within “10” “ most the time. So- many of my deer - I let buddies score them but certainly not official & I don’t enter…..

WHY I DONT ENTER: ???? Not a huge reason. This isn’t an opinion thing or right or wrong. Just never took the time to do it and never cared to do it. Many of my buddies might enter theirs- GREAT!!!! I just “don’t care” I guess. IF IF IF i shot the world record or state record- YES, I would take the time to do it. If I were as good of hunter as others that can consistently take down state records - I’d do it (Rompola, Curtis, etc). I guess, ME- I truly “just don’t care”. But that’s just a simple & minor preference thing. I know dudes that have entered every single p&y buck they shot. And AWESOME!!!!!! “Congrats and good for them!!!!” No big reason for me other than “just don’t care”.

On OTHER HAND!!!!…. I LOVE seeing others big deer & sharing pictures & the details of the hunts - fun!!! There’s dudes that are the “don’t tell anyone” about any deer. Again- no right or wrong. But that doesn’t seem like any fun or enjoyment IMO. Sharing with others, even when it can cause problems (guys target your area for example or bring in poachers) BUT has to be a level of “fun” in this process. Sharing with others is fun & seeing what others accomplish is fun!!!
 
My only takeaway from that list is we need to get the word out to all the celebrity hunters in this state. They are really hurting their shows by not hunting the states with the biggest bucks. I'm sure they just don't know what they're missing by staying in Iowa and it's hurting hunter recruitment in those other states.

As for me, I can't afford to leave so I'll just have to stay here and settle for a mediocre big buck state. People used to say this state had a booner behind every tree but since so many trees are getting cut down all the booners left and went to other states. Give it another 20-25 years of growth from new tree plantings in this state and maybe they'll come back.:cool:
 
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