Photo by Mike Lambeth.

The 2006 Kentucky Deer Season was the third-best ever, in terms of the number of Boone and Crockett (B&C) Club trophy bucks reported in a single season. Couple that with the third-best overall harvest on record, and Bluegrass State deer hunters racked up exceptionally well.

In recent years, trophy buck production in Kentucky has been nothing short of outstanding. Each year since the 2000 season, the state has averaged 32 whitetails qualifying for the record book. That includes typical bucks scoring 160 or higher, and non-typical bucks scoring 185 or higher.

The 2005 season produced 27 bucks that met the minimums for B&C recognition. Biologists with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) actually expressed some disappointment that compared to some previous seasons, that number was just average.

Last year, as the law of averages would have it, Bluegrass hunters reported a very impressive 40 bucks that were big enough to make the record-book cutoff scores.

Said KDFWR senior biologist David Yancy, "The 2005 season seemed like a so-so year to us for B&C deer. We questioned ourselves whether that was just a quirk of weather-related hunting conditions, or something else," said the biologist.

"We might have been a little anxious for another big year for trophies, because our track record this decade has been so good.

"It now appears -- after we've gotten the scoop for the 2006 season -- that trophy whitetail production continues to be very good," he said. "We continue to claim a top-five state status in the U.S. for our land size in pumping out Boone and Crockett-class bucks."

Yancy didn't expect 40 trophies from last season, but based on the overall harvest, he believed that there would probably be some increase from the year before.

"It does look like there's a link between the number of deer Kentucky hunters take each season and the number of trophies reported each season," he said.

"Higher harvests correspond with higher numbers of record-book bucks. But to see a jump of 13 from one season to the next is really phenomenal."

What does this information tell us in terms of what hunters can expect from this year's deer season?

Given the history of recent years and the bumper crop of big bucks that showed up last year, we'll highlight it for you here. You'll quickly see that it adds up to another potentially super year for huge bucks in Kentucky.

To find the counties with the best potential, you need to string together a couple of years' worth of information and look for a pattern. Then consider the habitat quality and season structure for each area. When all those factors are positive, you've got a formula for predicting the trends for trophy deer production in Kentucky.

Let's take a look at which regions and counties blossomed last year, and examine some historical data about where the big boys have come from. Then let's look at how the 2007 season shapes up for finding you a buck of a lifetime.

I think you'll agree that there are some very exciting findings.

PURCHASE REGION
Last season, four of Kentucky's top bucks came out of the Purchase Region to the far west, compared to five the previous season. A two-season total of nine trophy deer (especially given that 2006's top non-typical is among that nine), strongly suggests that this region is coming into its own as a place to find high-quality bucks.

Check these statistics:
Dan Miller dropped a monster Pennyrile Forest (Christian County) non-typical that topped Kentucky's list last season with a score of 246 3/8. His buck is miles ahead of the rest of the biggest non-typicals for 2006.

Coincidentally, another Dan -- Dann Hughes -- shot Kentucky's biggest non-typical the year before in nearby Trigg County, which also lies within the Purchase Region.

Hughes' buck scored 249 3/8 and was "far and away" the leader in that category two seasons ago.