If you take a quick glance at the state map, you'll see that the part of Kentucky lying between Interstate 24 to the west to Interstate 75 down the center of the state is strongly shaded as trophy potential counties. Let's take a look at the three regions that cover that territory, and show you what's available there in terms of high-quality buck hunting.

GREEN RIVER REGION
Counties in the Green River Region are some of the best in the Commonwealth for simply finding deer, as well as finding trophy whitetail bucks. Last season, 18 different trophy-class bucks were taken in the region. There are likely more as yet not officially registered. Mark Mulliniks capped the top Kentucky typical from last season in Butler County, scoring 180 6/8 points. Butler County gave up a second record-book deer for Charles Riehn, as well, a 161 7/8 bruiser taken by gun.

Grayson County in the Green River Region produced three trophies last season, two typicals and one non-typical for Bobby Edrington who dropped a monster 215 2/8 buck with a firearm. In addition to Butler County, Ohio and Breckinridge counties also had two trophies each reported. No doubt good things are happening in these spots and hunters should keep their eyes open this season as well.

We recommended last year that hunters should pay attention to Hart County because it produced four trophy bucks in 2003. Someone listened, because two more were dropped last season in Hart County, which has really blossomed into one of Kentucky's top trophy counties in the last few seasons.

Four of the seven non-typical trophy bucks last year came from the Green River Region. In addition to the Edrington buck, Dale Fancher took a second B&C All-Time book qualifier at 207 5/8, while Randall Bentley dropped a 191 4/8 scoring buck out of Hart County. Mark Simmons brought home a 190 1/8 Ohio County buck. Both of these deer were taken with a firearm. The last two deer scored high enough for Three-Year Awards Period recognition from B&C, which must score 185 0/8 or higher. All-time non-typical B&C listings start at 195 0/8.

"If you're looking for spots in Kentucky with the potential for big bucks, you won't find any better than the Green River Region," Yancy said. "It holds all the cards."

BLUEGRASS REGION
As we noted, you'll see a whole lot of counties in the Bluegrass Region shaded on the trophy buck county map. That proved true last season as well. Out of the 37 bucks reported, five typicals and two non-typicals were registered from Bluegrass Region counties. There were 11 trophies taken there the year before. Not the least bit shabby for trophy production given the hunting pressure season to season, especially in the northern tier counties with big urban areas.

This year, we've added three more counties in the Bluegrass to our high potential map, including Grant, Henry and Spencer. Each of these posted new record-book deer last season, including an unbelievable 270-class non-typical, which is now the top non-typical listing for all of Kentucky.

Chris Crawford found this monster buck in Henry County last season and it scored well above the previous record of 260 1/8 set by Ben Brogle with a 2002 season buck from Garrard County. Who's going to be the first Kentucky hunter to bypass the 300 non-typical mark? Maybe it'll be you, and maybe it'll come from the Bluegrass Region. It's got to be out there somewhere.

One of the No. 2 top-scoring typicals is from Hardin County, also a Bluegrass Region county. The Bluegrass Region has been pretty consistent in producing record-book bucks over the years. Curtis Patton's 178 1/8 gun kill is another example that this region has several hotspots for trophies, too.