In District 4, Bladen and Columbus counties topped the district's bucks-per-square-mile stats. Both counties have ample rural lands in timber and agricultural production. Bladen County borders the Cape Fear River, which has excellent quality habitat. The county also has public hunting available at the 32,263-acre Bladen Lakes State Forest Game Land and the 9,588-acre Suggs Millpond Game Land. Columbus County has a profusion of prime bottomland habitat along the Waccamaw and Lumber rivers. The Columbus County Game Land has several separate tracts of bottomland totaling 9,377 acres.

In District 5, Alamance and Caswell counties led in buck harvest density. These counties have mostly rural areas in timber and agricultural production. Nearby towns like Burlington produce high hunter effort. The Haw River provides fertile habitat. The commission's 17,198-acre Caswell Game Land is a traditional big-buck hunting area.

In District 6, Rowan and Stanly were the top counties. These counties have large forested areas along the Yadkin River chain of lakes, which provide excellent deer habitat. The 8,372-acre Alcoa Game Land and the 126-acre Linwood Game Land offer excellent hunting in these counties.

In District 7, Alleghany County yields an astounding number of big bucks for its small size. It has a long deer-hunting tradition and fertile farmland and timberland soils. The Yadkin River floodplain is excellent habitat. Davie County has plenty of timberland and farms, and is also located along the Yadkin River. The 982-acre Perkins Game Land is a good place for hunters to try their luck for a nice buck.

In District 8, Lincoln and Catawba counties lead the pack. These counties are located along the Catawba River and have forested habitat and open lands cover types. The Catawba Game Land offers 1,189 acres of hunting area along the Catawaba River.

In District 9, Polk County always stands out in terms of buck density and harvest. It is more of a foothills county than a high-relief mountain county, with low-lying and relatively fertile habitat along the Green River. The 14,308-acre Green River Game Land gives up some nice bucks every season. Madison County is typically the No. 2 county in District 9. It has a huge amount of public hunting territory in the Pisgah National Forest Game Land. The French Broad River bottomlands are likely the key to the Madison consistently producing many antlered bucks.

"After several years of increasing buck harvest, it now appears that a lot of hunter preference is changing in favor of harvesting antlerless deer, and that's good in most areas of the state," Stanford said. "We are even getting asked by some hunters to liberalize either-sex seasons in the mountain regions. Obviously, if the buck harvest stabilizes or if the doe harvest continues going up, hunters could see more antlered bucks across the landscape of the state."

Still, it's hard to tell if the trend of increasing harvest of antlered bucks has finally peaked and hunter preference truly is shifting to favor the taking of antlerless deer. If these shifts continue, an increasing number of trophy bucks will come from the key areas of the state along the Virginia border, the southern Coastal Plain and the Yadkin River corridor. But it will take time to confirm if this major shift is actually a trend, or merely an odd year for statistics.