Keith Morrow, a district wildlife manager, has a rosy outlook for the trophy buck hunting prospects this year.

"I think it will probably be equal to or better than last year," he said. "I think we have room to take more."

Hunting pressure in District Four has probably slackened, thanks to the expansion of the three-deer-limit counties, and the deer harvest increased in this district last year in keeping with the state average. (The district-wide harvest of 34,303 bucks was 2 percent better than the year before.) Seven of the 19 counties had slightly reduced kills, indications of a reasonably stable deer population.

"Some of this can be misleading," Morrow explained. "District Four hunters take half the deer that are harvested in the state. The potential has to be even better. It becomes a numbers game."

The top counties in the district are Guernsey, Muskingum and Coshocton. Guernsey County led the state last year with 2,942 bucks followed by Muskingum (2,814 bucks) and Coshocton (2,792 bucks).

OHIO'S TOP TROPHY DEER COUNTIES BY DISTRICT
District 1
Licking	448
Knox	203
Fairfield	240
District 2
Richland	137
Allen	53
Huron	66
District 3
Ashland	129
Jefferson	227
Tuscarawas	196
District 4
Muskingum	470
Coshocton	276
Washington	258
District 5
Adams	105
Highland	125
Hamilton	60

Muskingum was the No. 2 county for new entries into the Buckeye Big Buck Club this year with 30 entries. Coshocton tied for 8th place with 17 new entries.

"Those counties have produced a lot of deer and it's because of the mix of habitat that is there," Morrow said.

District Four hunters accounted for 40 percent of the state buck kill last year. Six of the top 10 buck harvest counties and 15 of the top 25 were in this district. The lowest-ranking county, Pike, ranked 35th in the state.

Of course one of the main reasons hunting pressure is relatively heavy here is that there is much more public land available than in other districts. In addition to several state wildlife management areas there is the Wayne National Forest.

"A lot of people hunt public land because they have no place else to hunt," Morrow said.

DISTRICT FIVE
"We continue to get trophy deer coming out of Greene County," said Dan Frevert, a District Five wildlife management supervisor. "Clark County, which is another good county for trophy deer, should continue to do well."

These counties have a mix of habitat that favors antler development, from glaciated to Appalachian Plateau. Neither county produces high numbers of deer, however. Just 444 bucks were taken from Greene County last year, and 347 from Clark County.

"Some counties feature row crop agriculture, some are better for grazing and some for timber," Frevert said. "Trophy deer hunting depends on good habitat. There has to be a balance of fewer deer and good habitat."

The total take for the district in 2004-05 was 9,268 bucks, a slight drop from the previous year. Adams County was the district's leader with 1,619 bucks. It ranked 20th in the state. Brown County was next with 1,232 bucks, ranking 29th in the state.

DISTRICT ONE
"We've had some nice bucks taken throughout the district. Hunters in the eastern part of the district, Knox and Licking counties, reported seeing a lot of deer. There are still plenty of whitetails in those two counties," said Dan Huss, a District One wildlife management supervisor.

Trophy bucks are a product of habitat more than of management in Ohio. The best habitat, or at least the counties with the most good habitat, happens to be Knox County and Licking County.

"We don't go out and survey to see what kind of trophy deer are out there," Huss noted. "But, every year they kill plenty of big deer in those two counties because there is good habitat out there. Another area where there are plenty of trophy-sized deer is the edge of our urban areas."

Of course, the challenge in those urban edges is access. In fact, hunter access is a problem all over District One, which has very little public land.

"It's almost exclusively private land hunting," Huss pointed out. "But, hunters are more likely to gain access on the eastern side."

District One has great trophy buck hunting judging from the newest entries in the Buckeye Big Buck Club records. Licking County led the state by a wide margin with 39 new entries. Knox County ranked fourth with 20 new entries, Fairfield County tied for sixth with 18 new entries, and Logan County was tenth with 16 new entries.