Photo by Mike Lambeth.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Wildlife continues to manage a quality deer herd, and big, mature whitetail bucks are some of the expected byproducts.

Last year, for example, Ohio shocked the hunting world once again when farmer John Schmucker of Adams County downed an incredible 291 2/8 trophy with a crossbow.

According to biologists, opportunities for trophy-class bucks look solid again for 2007.

Ohio's top trophy-producing counties and public lands haven't changed drastically over the past 10 years.

The "big four" counties of Knox (with 16), Licking (26), Coshocton (11) and Muskingum (15) once again led the state in Buckeye Big Buck Club (BBBC) entries -- with a total of 68.

But to the east, Tuscarawas, Guernsey, Belmont, Harrison, and Carroll counties also produced high numbers with a total of 61 trophy-sized deer.

Licking County led the state with 26 and Tuscarawas came in a close second with 22 BBBC qualifiers.

Tuscarawas, Knox, Licking and Coshocton counties are developing a strong grassroots following the work of quality deer managers (QDMs), who are making a tremendous impact in harvesting more does and allowing bucks to mature.

Leading proponents in this QDM movement are the state's Amish residents, who are also dedicated deer managers. That may explain why Tuscarawas County had the third-highest total deer harvest statewide, with 7,478 of which 3,681 -- almost half -- were does.

After the 2006 season, the Buckeye Big Buck Club entered 534 qualifiers, with 442 of them being typicals with a score of 140 net inches or better, and 92 non-typicals with a net score of 160 inches or better.

Seventeen of the 442 typicals made 170 inches and qualified for the Boone and Crockett Club. A crossbow hunter in Greene County harvested the top typical buck, which deer scored 180 3/8.

Ohio's 2005-06 top non-typical was grown in Carroll County and fell to another crossbow hunter. Its score topped out at 247 1/8.

Of the nine non-typical bucks that made Boone and Crockett's 195-or-better benchmark, five exceeded the 200-inch mark, including the notable Mike Rex Buck -- a 218 6/8 brute downed on the first day of the 2005 bow season.

Dr. Mike Tonkovich, Ohio's top deer biologist, is looking forward to another tremendous deer season.

"A combination of voluntary hunter restraint and significantly more deer has resulted in an older buck age-structure in the region," Tonkovich reported. "A greater proportion of the bucks being harvested today are adult deer, at least 3.5 years old. Yearlings averaged 64 percent and 52 percent of the adult buck harvest for the period 1977-79 and 2004-06, respectively."

Bottom line: The 12 percent difference in buck numbers represents older bucks -- thus increasing the odds of seeing and possibly harvesting them.

The key to locating trophy bucks on public land is to hunt in a consistent trophy-yielding area and to evaluate the adjacent private property boundaries for travel patterns and food-source opportunities.

Every district in Ohio has a few special public-land opportunities that, if scouted and hunted properly, can produce a new record-class buck.

Tuscarawas, Knox, Licking and Coshocton Counties are developing a strong following of quality-deer managers who are making a tremendous impact by harvesting more does and allowing more bucks to mature.