"If you've got good soil like the areas in the Black Belt, you're ahead of the game," Cook agreed. "But a deer that any hunter would be proud to harvest can be grown just about anywhere."

Let's take a look at what the different areas of the state have to offer for the trophy deer hunter this season.

NORTH
North Alabama doesn't have the numbers of deer that either the central or southern portions of the state possess. But, it continues to be a leader when it comes to quality bucks.

Ron Eakes is the state's district biologist in the northwestern corner of Alabama. His territory covers Lauderdale, Limestone, Madison, Colbert, Franklin, Lawrence, Morgan, Cullman, Winston, Marion, Lamar, Fayette and Walker counties.

"We're seeing a lot of bigger deer coming from Marion, Lamar and Fayette Counties," he noted. "They're producing some really nice deer."

For public hunting grounds for bucks, he likes Sam R. Murphy and Black Warrior WMAs. Both are ranked in the top 10 WMAs in the state for producing numbers of 2- and 3-year-old bucks.

QUALITY BUCKS FROM WMAs IN 2004-05
WMA	2 1/2-year-old	3 1/2-year-old or older
Blue Spring	61	29
Oakmulgee	45	32
Barbour	43	32
Mulberry Fork	35	24
Sam R. Murphy	29	24
Cahaba River	31	19
Black Warrior	21	24
Lauderdale	33	8
Scotch	21	17
Covington	30	7
Lowndes	20	15
Freedom Hills	19	8
Coosa	15	12
Choccolocco	11	15
Boykin	15	7
Martin/Skyline	10	15
Wolf Creek	9	5
Hollins	10	4
Escambia Creek	8	3
Kinterbish	8	3
Autauga	5	4
Little River	4	4
Swan Creek	0	1

Two other WMAs with quality buck potential in the district are Freedom Hills and Lauderdale, which both require a buck to have at least three points on one side to be legal.

"There was a little bit of fussing the first year we went to that type of management, but hunters seem to like it now," Eakes said. "They realize that it gives them an opportunity to hunt a better class of deer."

The northeastern corner of the state is made up of Jackson, Marshall, DeKalb, Cherokee, Etowah, Blount, St. Clair, Calhoun, Cleburne, Randolph, Clay and Talladega counties. This region can boast that it has more entries in the Alabama Whitetail Record Book than any other part of the state.

Jackson County leads the number of entries with 64, followed by Madison County with 50.

Keith McCutcheon is the biologist in the district. He likes Little River WMA in DeKalb County and James D. Martin-Skyline WMA in Jackson County as public land places where hunters have an opportunity to pursue quality bucks.

"If you want to get a better quality deer, you go to where the deer densities are lower," McCutcheon reasoned. "These WMAs don't have a great number of deer, but the quality is there."

CENTRAL
The central portion of the state remains one of the top places in Alabama to take a high-quality buck. The soil is the reason. The so-called Black Belt -- named for the rich color of the earth -- has the most fertile soil in the entire state. As a result, it supports plenty of deer and they can grow big.

The central western portion of the state is comprised of Pickens, Sumter, Greene, Marengo, Tuscaloosa, Hale, Jefferson, Bibb, Perry, Shelby, Dallas and Chilton counties. Mike Sievering is the biologist.

"Anytime you have Black Belt soils, you're going to have a lot of deer and some good rack deer too," he asserted.

As for public land places to hunt, this region has three good ones: Oakmulgee, Cahaba River and Mulberry Fork WMAs. Those three areas are half of the top six WMAs for quality buck numbers in the state.

"We're seeing some really good quality animals come off Mulberry Fork and Cahaba River," Sievering said. "The population is still expanding at Cahaba River and we've got some older deer in the population."