GREEN RIVER REGION
At the onset of this article, we alluded that the 2008 season showed a number of trophy bucks once again came from counties with a rich history of giving up quality whitetails. This was especially true in the Green River Region, which has led the state in producing the most B&C deer many times in the last 20 years.

We also mentioned a truly monstrous non-typical fell last season, and Green River's Butler County claimed it when Robert J. Taylor connected with a 249 6/8 buck that surpassed all but three other non-typicals ever recorded from Kentucky. But Green River Region hunters know there are more trophies in this elite set of mid-western counties that continue to grow record deer.

You can check the list for the other seven besides the Taylor buck in 2008. Todd County is the only other county besides Clay in the Southeast where multiple trophies fell last year.

Almost incredibly even for Kentucky, the 2007 season saw Union County post three trophy bucks, and Henderson and Ohio counties posted two each. Won't often get much better for potential big deer locations than that, and the trend says 2009 will likely see others from one or more of those counties as anywhere else in Kentucky.

Counties in the Green River Region over the past two seasons have reported 18 trophy bucks. Recall 2008 was somewhat of an off year, and there were still that many taken here. Where corn and soybeans abound, so too, do big whitetail bucks. Numbers are one thing that tells it like it is, and as you can see the list last year, the year before and back about as far as anyone cares to remember, bears it out.

Todd, Logan, Hart and Muhlenberg counties get the heavy nod, out of truly a host of very good big-deer counties. Good growth and antler development, thanks to the high quality and abundance of food sources, along with the one-buck-per-season Kentucky limit are two top reasons why these counties do so well. If you're destined to find your name beside a Boone and Crockett Club entry, hunting spots with a cropland and woodland mix in this region is about the best choice you can make for best odds.

BLUEGRASS REGION
Bluegrass Region whitetail chasers managed three excellent bucks from last season, down a bit from the season before.

"There can always be an off year here and there. Not every season is going to be a chart topper either in trophy deer taken or harvested," said Brunjes.

"The Bluegrass has been much too good for too many seasons to be concerned that trophy buck potential here in many counties doesn't still exist," said the biologist.

"We did see a couple of lesser known counties give up some trophies two seasons ago, and again last season, when we checked what hunters had reported to us. I like to see that because it means the opportunities are more widespread. I think hunters appreciate that."

I suspect Jason Abell, who dropped a dandy 189 and change non-typical out of LaRue County, and Blake Jeffries with his Madison County muzzleloader typical 165-plus B&C buck probably appreciated good management a good bit. Neither of these counties put much on the board in recent seasons as far as exceptional bucks go, but perhaps things are going to change for the future.

Good old Oldham County, a veteran trophy producer, continues to make a routine showing on the big-deer lists for two consecutive seasons and numerous other times in recent years. Something good is happening just north of the Louisville metro area, which Mike LeClair learned in 2008 when his arrow found the mark. He harvested a true trophy measuring 192 7/8 net inches for the fourth biggest non-typical in Kentucky last season.