Now we'll look at the raw harvest data. While not really an apple-to-apple look at the harvest rate, there's just something special about areas where plenty of deer are harvested. It does instill confidence if nothing else.

Some hunters will compare the two lists and look for overlap of county names. If they're on both lists, you likely have a real winner.

The county with the highest harvest in 2006 (and 2005) was Orangeburg County. The total harvest for Orangeburg County in 2006 was 11,344 deer, which is 12 percent less than the total from the 2005 season.

The second-ranked county was Williamsburg, also a consistent leader in this category. Williamsburg County had a total harvest of 9,906 deer in the 2006 season. There was a slight 0.7 percent increase in the total harvest here. This is indicative of a good pattern and a great place to watch in 2007.

The third spot belongs to Colleton County with a total of 9,232 deer harvested in 2006. This is down 9.3 percent from the 2005 harvest totals. The fourth leading county is Hampton County with 8,868 deer harvested, down 19 percent from the 2005 total.

In the fifth spot is Fairfield County, down from third last year, with a total of 7,975 deer harvested in 2006. While still in the top five, Fairfield County experienced a big drop in overall harvest: a 24.3 percent decrease from the 2005 season.

In sixth place is Union County, with 7,397 deer harvested in 2006. Hunters in Union County experienced a 6.8 percent decrease in the deer harvest from the previous year. This is certainly better than the average decrease on a statewide basis.

The seventh place county was Chester County with a harvest total of 7,225 deer. Chester County dropped only 3.4 percent from the previous years harvest total.

In the eighth spot was Clarendon County, with a total of 6,664 deer harvested. This 46.5 percent increase is rally dramatic for a single year and puts Clarendon County into the top 10 of both lists.

The ninth spot was claimed by Florence County, with a total harvest of 6,612 deer in 2006. Florence County also showed a dramatic increase with a 26.1 percent increase over the 2005 season.

Rounding out the top 10 is Bamberg County, with a total harvest of 6,128 deer. Bamberg fell from the No. 6 spot in 2005 and overall dropped 24.6 present in total harvest.

The next 10 total harvest spots were, in order: Laurens, Jasper, Allendale, Newberry, Lancaster, Spartanburg, Greenwood, Richland, Barnwell and McCormick counties.

Counties that ranked lower on the total harvest scale, but that had increase in excess of 20 percent from the previous year include: Lee (27.6 percent increase), Marlboro (27.3 percent increase, Beaufort (25.4 percent increase) and Greenville (86.5 percent).

Ruth noted that any county with a positive growth rate last year certainly has to be looked at in a positive way when considering options for the 2007 season.

The data for the wildlife management areas (WMA) is also included in the report.

According to Ruth, deer hunting on the WMAs remains very popular in South Carolina.

"In the 2006 season, we had approximately 47,000 licensees having a WMA permit," Ruth said.

"During the 2006 season, it is estimated that 4,522 bucks and 3,961 does were harvested for a total deer harvest on wildlife management areas of 8,438 deer," Ruth said. "This figure represents an increase of approximately 3.2 percent from 2005."

The Upstate WMAs are broken down into the Mountain, Central Piedmont and Western Piedmont hunt units. The Mountain Hunt Unit had 2.6 deer harvested per square mile. This is a rather low figure based on statewide totals. The Central Piedmont had a 14.4 deer per square mile harvest rate, which is quite good, according to Ruth. The Western Piedmont was very close to that with a 13.1 deer harvested per square mile rate.

The coastal wildlife management areas are for the most part low-acreage parcels, with the notable exception of the Francis Marion WMA at 252,578 acres. The harvest rate for the coastal WMAs collectively was 6.5 deer harvested per square mile. For the Francis Marion WMA, the data indicated a low 2.0 deer harvested per square mile. The top WMA was Cross Generating Station WMA at 21.5 deer harvested per square mile. This is a small 654-acre WMA.

On a statewide basis, Ruth noted that the harvest was pretty even between bucks and does. He said there were 115,917 bucks harvested and 105,403 does. "Keeping a good harvest balance between bucks and does, close to 50-50, is good for the overall deer population," Ruth said.

Based on all the above data, it looks like the 2007 season should be good, with the potential to be very good. Of course, localized weather conditions will influence the overall harvest. Nevertheless, the deer herd condition is good and should provide good opportunities across the state.

Consider the above data to help you home in on the exact tract of land to take your deer in 2007.