2015 Trophy Deer Forecast: Mississippi

October 21, 2015 By Cliff Covington

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Some Mississippi hunters are only concerned with seeing deer and putting a few in the freezer, but most dream of huge bodies and heavy racks associated with trophy white-tailed bucks. Trophy deer can show up any place in the Magnolia State, but some areas are in a class by themselves when it comes to producing big whitetails.

Now the Webster Dictionary defines a trophy as a memorial given or gained in victory. It is, in simplest terms, something worthy of being remembered. For deer hunters in Mississippi a trophy buck can mean many different things.

For a youngster who has yet to take his first buck, anything with antlers might be a trophy. On the other end of the spectrum, a veteran hunter with a number of fine whitetails to his or her credit may consider anything less than a 140-class buck to be unworthy of trophy status. Then there are those that fall somewhere in the middle.

Right or wrong, for the majority of deer hunters in Mississippi, or any other state for that matter, a trophy buck is determined by three antler characteristics — spread, points and mass — and size matters in the whitetail world.

"A trophy buck is truly in the eye of the beholder," said Lann Wilf, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Deer Program coordinator.

"While I would consider a high 120-class deer taken anywhere in Mississippi to be a trophy, any hunter taking a three-year-old buck is doing good. Harvesting a four-year-old buck is a great accomplishment.

But killing a five-year-old or older buck, especially on public land in Mississippi, is big medicine! Those age class bucks used to not be out there, but they are now."

Trophy bucks harvested in Mississippi are eligible for entry in three different record books. As is the case throughout North America, the Pope & Young Club recognizes trophy bucks taken with archery equipment, and the Boone and Crockett Club keeps records of the state's trophy whitetails harvested by any legal method, including pick-ups (antlers from bucks that are found dead).

Back in 2000, Mississippi combined the best features of the Pope & Young and the Boone and Crockett to create the Magnolia Records Program. All three of these record systems have a separate category for non-typical and typical racks.

In order to make the Pope & Young record book, a typical rack must score 125 points, while non-typical racks are required to score 155 points. The minimum requirements for entry into Boone and Crockett are higher with 160 points for a typical rack and 185 points for a non-typical.

The Magnolia Records Program utilizes the same minimum scores as Pope & Young (125 inches for typical and 155 inches for non-typical), but follows the Boone and Crockett guidelines when it comes to method of harvest.

And to top it off, the majority of these bucks were harvested within the last decade, many on public land. In fact, over 276 bucks in the Magnolia Records have been harvested on public land (wildlife management areas, national wildlife refuges, national forests and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land).

In 2002, Ray Barrett of Leland harvested a 201 3/8-inch buck, which remains the largest non-typical taken in Mississippi from public land.

With outstanding deer like this being taken with increasing frequency, it is no wonder that the Magnolia State has become known as one of the top states for taking a trophy whitetail.

PRODUCING A TROPHY

When it comes to producing record-class bucks, a combination of fundamental elements must be present. As any deer biologist will say, there are three key factors that determine antler size — age, genetics and nutrition. Hunters and biologists have little control over the genetics in a wild deer population; so they play the hand they are have been dealt.

Once genetics are eliminated as a serious consideration, the factors that determine antler quality are age and nutrition. According to Dr. Harry Jacobson, noted whitetail biologist and Professor Emeritus at Mississippi State University, most bucks in Mississippi don't realize their true antler potential until they reach 4 1/2 years of age.

Fortunately, Mississippi hunters have answered the call in recent years by allowing younger bucks to reach older age classes. There was a time when most of the bucks harvested in the Magnolia State were yearlings, leaving few bucks to ever realize their true antler potential.

Thanks to the efforts of the MDWFP Deer Program and organizations like the Quality Deer Management Association, this is no longer the case.

Nutrition is the other critical factor in antler production. A high-protein diet is a necessity during the antler development period (May through August). And since antlers are a form of bone, bucks must also have adequate levels of calcium, phosphorus and vitamins A and D in their diets in order to produce large antlers. Despite an overpopulated deer herd in most areas of the state, much of the habitat in Mississippi supplies adequate nutrition.

While the Mississippi Delta is known worldwide for its rich, fertile soil, another area of the state is made up of what has to be some of the finest deer-producing soil to be found anywhere.

Made up of a soil type known as "loess," this dirt is extremely rich in calcium and phosphorus and has the ability to produce high-quality, high-protein feed necessary for bucks to produce massive antlers.

This is evident by the impressive numbers of record book bucks that have been harvested from this area. Dubbed the "Great Divide" by state biologists, because it divides the state in half from north to south with the Delta to the west and the plains, prairie and flatwoods areas to the east, this wide swath area of fertile soil is the largest contributor of bucks to Magnolia Records.

And if that isn't proof enough, more than 40 percent of the state's Boone and Crockett bucks were harvested in the "Great Divide." That is over twice the number of Boone and Crockett entries that have come from the fertile Mississippi Delta.

"The abundance of very fertile river bottoms found in this region, like the Big Black, Bayou Pierre, St. Catherine Creek and the Homochitto River, create a more diverse habitat that provides everything necessary to produce big bucks," Wilf noted. "And the abundant agricultural crops that are found along these river bottoms are excellent supplemental food sources for the deer."

OTHER TROPHY FACTORS

Although hunters have little control over the weather, it can certainly have a major impact on the upcoming deer season. Weather events can affect such things as deer movement, hunter access, rut activity, habitat quality, food availability and antler development, as well as other factors.

Hunters also need to take into account, even though it isn't necessarily weather related, the peak of the rut for their particular areas, as concentrating efforts around the rut is an excellent strategy.

The average breeding date can vary as much as six weeks from north to south across the state. For example, the average breeding date for parts of Greene County in southeast Mississippi may be as late as February 1. In the Desoto County area the breeding date is December 15, while it is the end of December for Yazoo County and around Christmas for the Jefferson County area.

Identifying the peak of the rut for particular areas is now much easier thanks to MDWFP biologists. After collecting almost 30 years of biological data on deer, biologists have created a map — available at www.mdwfp.com — of the average conception dates for each area of the state.

Since hunters typically observe rutting activity about two weeks prior to the average conception date, all one has to do is subtract two weeks from the average conception date for a particular area to obtain the estimated peak rut period.

Of course, accessibility is another factor that should be taken into account when selecting an area of the state to hunt. The vast majority of the prime trophy hunting areas across the state are privately owned, making access to hunting land a major hurdle.

Without owning land in these areas, or shelling out a few thousand dollars to join an exclusive club, hunters must consider public land, but that isn't necessarily a bad option. There are numerous public tracts spread across the Magnolia State in the form of national refuges, WMAs and national forests that offer quality public hunting opportunities.

TOP TROPHY HOTSPOTS

Although a trophy buck can come from any part of the Magnolia State, the locations with the best habitat and most fertile soils have a leg up on the competition when it comes to producing bucks with massive racks.

And no other areas of Mississippi have better potential than the Delta and the area known as the "Great Divide," which runs from Desoto County in the north, down the Big Black River in the central part of the state and includes the majority of the counties in southwest Mississippi.

Counties in these areas that have been, and should continue to be, the top trophy buck prospects include Tallahatchie, Issaquena, Warren, Madison, Claiborne, Jefferson, Adams and Yazoo. Even though these locations are the best for trophy deer, hunters should never count out any of the Black Prairie counties for producing a number of record book bucks.

"We have high hopes for an exceptional 2015-2016 season statewide," said Wilf. "Last year was a lean year on big bucks, which should result in a greater carryover of mature whitetails this season. We feel certain that the quality will be better."

According to Wilf, deer movement will ultimately determine the actual number of trophy bucks harvested this season. A heavy acorn crop could have the same negative impact on deer movement as the practice of feeding corn. A mature buck that has access to an abundance of acorns or can feed at night at a feeder is much less likely to be seen during legal shooting hours.

Buck age structure management has finally caught on across the Magnolia State, resulting in trophy bucks being available statewide. With the increase in older age class bucks, especially in areas that have just started to manage for quality deer in recent years, 130-class deer can now be found in nearly every county in the state.

Obviously, there are plenty of big bucks out there to be had. By doing your homework, and with a little luck one of these Magnolia State monsters can be hanging on your wall.