"Even in counties near the bottom of the ranking in terms of harvest, there are almost always some localized hotspots," Ruth said.

Ruth begins his harvest analysis with the "harvest per unit area" method.

"Comparisons can be made between the various counties in South Carolina if a harvest per unit area is established," Ruth said. "Essentially, it's an apple-to-apple comparison. While overall harvest data is interesting, it is skewed by the size of the counties and the amount of land that is available for hunting. Some counties simply have a tremendous amount of land available for hunting, while others have a much smaller portion."

The harvest per unit area standardizes the harvest among counties regardless of the size of individual counties. One measure of harvest rate is the number of deer taken per square mile (One square mile is equal to 640).

"When considering the estimated deer habitat that is available in South Carolina, the deer harvests rate in 2006 was 10.5 deer per square mile over the entire state," Ruth said. "Although deer harvest has been down each of the last four years, this harvest rate should be considered extraordinary in comparison with other states. The top county recorded a harvest rate in excess of 20 deer per square mile."

The top 10 counties in South Carolina for the 2006 harvest by unit area are prime areas to consider. The No. 1 county in 2006 was Bamberg County, with a harvest rate of 20.0 deer per square mile. This figure, however, is down significantly from 2005 when Bamberg County was also the top county in the state in this category. The harvest rate was 26.5 deer harvested per square mile for the 2005 season.

The No. 2 county for the 2006 season was Union, with a harvest rate of 18.3 deer per square mile. This figure is down only 6.8 percent from the 2005 data, when Union County had a 19.7 deer per square mile harvest rate. These are still extraordinarily good figures, according to Ruth.

The third-ranked county is Hampton, with a 17.5 deer per square mile harvest rate. Hampton County was second in the 2005 hunt year with a 21.6 deer per square mile harvest rate. Overall, the 2006 Hampton County harvest was down 19 percent from the 2005 harvest. However, based on the statewide decrease in deer harvest, Hampton County would still have to be considered a very strong area for the 2007 season.

In the fourth spot was Allendale County, with a 16.7 deer per square mile harvest rate. Allendale was third in the state in the 2005 hunt year, so it also remains a strong and consistent area.

The fifth most productive county was Chester County, with a 15.4 deer harvested per square mile total. Chester dropped only 3.4 percent from the previous year's totals.

In the sixth spot was Greenwood County, with a 15.3 deer per square mile harvest rate. Greenwood County had had an increase in deer harvest from the previous year. The increase -- 0.9 percent -- was small, but in a year when other top counties saw harvest decreases, even a small increase is noteworthy.

In seventh place was Calhoun County with a 14.5 deer per square mile total. This represents a 15.4 percent decrease from the previous year.

In the eighth spot was Orangeburg County, with a deer per square mile harvest total of 14.4. Orangeburg is a traditional top 10 county in this category, but this figure does represent a 12 percent decrease from the previous year.

In the ninth spot, and cracking the top 10, is Clarendon County. Clarendon County had a 14.3 deer per square mile average. That in itself is a good number. However, this county had a phenomenal year in 2006 with a 46.5 percent increase from the previous year. According to Ruth, the deer herd in Clarendon County is still rapidly expanding. This makes it a prime spot to consider for the 2007 season. The final spot in the top 10 lists is McCormick County with a 13.6 deer per square mile harvest total. McCormick County also produced one of the largest harvest increases in the state last year at 10.4 percent.

The next counties in order of ranking were: Fairfield, Lancaster, Spartanburg, Saluda, Abbeville, Cherokee, Williamsburg and Anderson. Of these, only Saluda and Williamsburg counties had positive harvest growth in 2006.

There were a few of the lower ranking counties that each had over a 20 percent increase in the deer harvested per square mile category. These are areas you should certainly keep an eye on. When most of the others are dropping and these have significant rise, they may be real sleeper hotspots for 2007. These counties include Jasper, Lee, Beaufort, Florence, Marlboro and Greenville counties.