Whitetail365: The Deer Hunting Blog From Field & Stream

Field & Stream reporter Steven Hill spent two months interviewing state game agency officials, deer biologists, and whitetail experts to identify the absolute best public whitetail hunting grounds in the nation. No membership fees, no meetings, no permission, no special rules -- just deer, and plenty of them.

Choose a state from the pull-down menu at right or just scroll down through this page to find Hill's recommendations for an area near you.

Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest
Location: north Wisconsin
Size: 1.5 million acres
ZIP: 54552

More than half the land in Wisconsin’s northern quarter is publicly owned, and much of it is prime trophy buck country, says big-game biologist Keith Warnke of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Great swathes of national forest, like the Chequamegon-Nicolet, which sprawls across 11 counties, present vast areas with only limited access. “When you get away from roads and people, those bucks can get very large, and they’re all on public land,” Warnke says. A recent string of mild winters that boosted nutrition and lowered stress means conditions are ripe for a banner crop of mature bucks, but there are no shortcuts for finding them. “For big bucks on public land, I first recommend scout, scout, scout—people have to know where those deer are moving,” Warnke says. Second, contact the U.S. Forest Service in Park Falls, Wis., for a list of road closings that limit access, and pore over maps to identify some of Chequamegon-Nicolet’s many swamps, wetlands and roadless areas that might discourage less determined hunters.

Fairystone Farms Wildlife Management Area
Location: southwest Virginia
Size: 5,321 acres
ZIP: 24055

Virginia has ample public land: The National Forest Service alone holds 1.7 million acres, several military bases grant hunting access, and a number of Fish & Wildlife Service areas support good whitetail populations. But for big bucks, options are far fewer. Fairystone is one of only two wildlife areas in the state that use antler restrictions to boost the number of older bucks. Four antler points an inch or longer on one side make a buck legal at this Virginia Department of Game an Inland Fisheries-managed area, which is on the border of Patrick and Henry counties (both among the top 10 counties in the state for Boone and Crockett and Pope and Young bucks). This is the eastern foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains; oak, hickory and pine forests cover steep slopes broken by small patches of bottomland. The adjacent Philpott Reservoir and Fairy Stone State Park add another 9,000 acres of deer range open to public hunting.

Featherfin Wildlife Management Area
Location: central Virginia
Size: 2,800 acres
ZIP: 23901

Even before the state bought Featherfin from private landowners in 2005 and created Virginia’s second quality deer area, this wooded tract in rolling Piedmont country was managed for trophy bucks. “A private club that hunted the property used antler point restrictions,” says Nelson Lafon, deer project coordinator with Game and Inland Fisheries. “So even though it’s a new acquisition, there should be some carryover in the quality of deer from that site.” Featherfin is now under the same antler restrictions as Fairystone, and it features ridges forested in hardwoods and loblolly pines, 300 acres of open fields, and marshy lowlands bordering more than 10 miles of Appamatox River access.

Chaparral Wildlife Management Area
Location: south Texas
Size: 15,202 acres
ZIP: 78001

The vast majority of Texas public land deer hunting is controlled by lottery draws, and the Chaparral is the Lone Star State’s hottest ticket. Every year some 2,500 hunters apply for 60 $125 permits, but those who get drawn get the bargain—and just maybe the buck—of a lifetime. Fertile red-sand soil and a diversity of native high-protein Texas brush country plants like gran jeno, mesquite, guajillo and guayacan allow deer to reach their full potential, says David Synatzske of Texas Parks and Wildlife, who has managed Chaparral for 24 years. “We see a lot of 150- and 160-class deer,” he says, “but a good 140-class is representative of our mature deer.” Hunters can take two bucks on their five-day hunt, and one must have an inside spread of ear-width or better, a harvest restriction that protects 85 percent of 2 ½-year-olds and 60 percent of 3 ½-year-olds. The result is buck-doe ratio in the range of 1 to 1.5 and a mature age structure: 50 percent of bucks harvested each year at Chaparral are 4 1/2 years or older.

Phillipston Wildlife Management Area
Location: central Massachusetts
Size: 3,383 acres
ZIP: 01005

Worcester County has produced more Boone & Crockett bucks than any county in Massachusetts: its most recent trophy, a 172 1/8 typical shot with a recurve bow last October, is the new Massachusetts archery record. Phillipston, in north-central Worcester, ranks among the county’s best public lands because its lowland bogs and upland hardwood forests interspersed with apple trees get relatively light hunting pressure due to minimal road access. Michael Morelly, a wildlife technician for the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game who’s spent three years at Phillipston, says most hunters mount small drives to flush deer out of the area’s thick cover. “But if you do your homework and spend a few weekends patterning deer,” Morelly says, ”stand hunting is your best bet.”