A measure of buck-producing potential in each county has been undertaken for many years. This is the antlered-buck harvest per square mile of habitat. Areas without deer, principally cities, large lakes and other barren habitat are removed from the calculation. While this statistic is reported, it is also unreliable. A county with a short either-sex season but long antlered-buck season may show a larger harvest of bucks as a result of the regulations. Hunters may also select more bucks than does in certain areas.

"The antlered-buck harvest per square mile was in effect long before I came onboard with the commission," Stanford said. "Basically, our statistics show hunters must focus on harvesting antlered bucks. The antlered bucks harvested per square mile statistics aren't that important to a biologist, but hunters like to use it. However, it has flaws because, for example, a western county can have a lot of area and have a low buck harvest. It has been reported in the regulations digest since long before I became a deer biologist."

Some of the top 10 counties in terms of overall deer harvest don't show up on the radar of antlered-buck harvest per square mile. Of the top 10 doe harvest counties, only three made it into the top 10 for buck harvest. Halifax County was No. 5 for antlered bucks per square mile and No. 1 for doe harvest. Northampton County was No. 3 for antlered bucks harvested per square mile and No. 2 for doe harvest. Alleghany was No. 1 for antlered bucks per square mile and No. 7 for doe harvest.

Here's how the potential buck harvest looks and some potential hotspots to get in on this season's action, based on the top 10 counties for antlered-buck harvest per square mile (ABHPSM) in 2006-06.

Alleghany was the top county, with 1,002 antlered bucks taken and an ABHPSM of 6.97.

"Alleghany is above the escarpment," Stanford said. "It has plenty of deer and a good mix of habitats. There are some big deer there. I checked in a 170-pound doe from Alleghany a couple of years ago. There are some big bucks because they get bigger as you go north. It's not true mountain-type habitat and it has good soils."

While hunters looking for public hunting areas in Alleghany won't find anywhere to go, just to the south in Wilkes County is the Thurmond Chatham Game Land. Two state parks bordering the game land act as sanctuaries to allow bucks to grow old and relatively good soils and habitats grow decent sets of antlers. However, the going can get rough, with about half the game land consisting of difficult mountain terrain. The game land covers 6,276 acres.

Caswell County was No. 2, with 1,663 antlered bucks and an ABHPSM of 5.31. Caswell is still a rural county with plenty of open land, agricultural land and forest habitats. Caswell Game Land offers excellent hunting opportunities for high-quality deer. The game land has 16,704 acres of habitat, with some of the area planted in food plots or otherwise manipulated to produce some excellent deer-hunting potential.