The fourth spot all time belongs to Colleton County with 209 bucks (197 typical and 12 non-typical racks). Fifth is a tie with Williamsburg and Anderson counties producing 178 each. Williamsburg has a total of 176 typical and two non-typical. Anderson County has 174 typical and four were non-typical. In seventh place is Abbeville with 171 total record-book bucks. Of these, 162 were typical and nine were non-typical.

In the eighth slot, there is another tie, this time between Kershaw and Allendale counties with 168 each. Allendale County has 159 typical and nine non-typical sets of antlers on the list. Kershaw County has 163 typical sets of antlers and five non-typical sets.

The 10th place county is Barnwell with an all-time tally of 156 record-book bucks. There have been 153 typical and three non-typical deer taken in this county.

Ruth said that the prospects for taking big bucks in the 2007 season seemed to be very good. He said that weather conditions and hunter effort are certainly keys to the number of deer taken overall, as well as impacting the number of trophy deer taken.

"Based on trends over the past several years, the outlook is very good," Ruth said. "The good ol' days for taking big bucks might just be right now, in one sense. One thing about the 2007 hunting season is that the late freeze this spring that impacted most of the state will most likely have a big impact on mast this season. In addition to oaks, persimmons and crabapple production may be way down in many areas. If this occurs, the deer may be moving more in search of food, which will possibly enable hunters to harvest more deer and bigger deer. The long-term impact of a significantly reduced mast crop on the deer herd or size of animals in future years is uncertain at this time. We'll need to get through this season and see what's out there before we can predict long-term impacts," Ruth said.

Ruth summarized the antler scoring data and trophy buck potential with the following.

"Although some of the top counties have relatively high deer populations, some of these counties have more moderate numbers of deer," Ruth said. "It is important that hunters and land managers understand how the density of deer in an area affects the quality of the animals. Areas with fewer deer typically have better quality animals because natural food availability and nutritional quality is higher. Good nutrition is important in producing good antlers, but deer reproduction, recruitment and survival are also directly tied to nutrition. To continue to have good numbers of large-antlered bucks, the harvest of female deer must continue to be emphasized in many areas in order to keep deer numbers from becoming too high. Over the last several years, most hunters have realized the importance of harvesting doe deer. These hunters should be commended and encouraged to continue this trend where needed."

Moreover, you can stack the odds in your favor by analyzing the above data and plan your hunt where and when trophy bucks are most often taken. Use this data to help plan where to get your big buck for the 2007 hunting season.

Find more about South Carolina fishing and hunting at: SCgameandfish.com