Top Places for Whitetail Deer Hunting

As every fall season approaches, deer hunters throughout North America are well aware of the fact that this means hunting for whitetail deer. With literally hundreds of thousands of deer hunters in the US and Canada today, bagging a trophy whitetail buck requires considerable preparation. Part of the preparation should involve investigating the area you want to hunt as well as scouting of the current population.

What you want to remember is that the formula for successful whitetail deer hunting involves several ingredients such as hunting techniques, marksmanship, and quality equipment in addition to the above. Those hunters that typically come home with trophy whitetail bucks all have two things in common; they hunt every time they have an opportunity to do so and they spend considerable amounts of time in the stand.

Remember that no matter how skilled of a whitetail deer hunter you are, if the area you hunt does not have a sufficient buck population, your results will be disappointing. The following are some of the most recent statistics on the states that consistently give up record numbers of whitetail bucks as well as key areas within some states and record seasons of the past.

The following is a list of our top states for whitetail deer hunting in Canada and the US and any significant areas worth noting within those states have been mentioned as well:

Colorado

Diverse mule and whitetail deer habitats are the key characteristics of Colorado with significant populations found from the open grassland areas to the mountain areas. You have better odds of drawing deer tags here than in many other states as well. Whitetails are the most prolific in the eastern plains region as well as some of the river bottoms.

Iowa

Ranked as the #1 state for whitetail bucks from 1830 until 2001. You can find them just about anywhere in the state as well. An accumulation of preference points is necessary in order to draw a deer tag.

Alberta, Canada

The entire country has always been recognized as a deer hunting haven for numerous species. The best areas for whitetails are in the eastern and southern farmlands as well as the river valleys.

Arizona

Arizona is the home to the elusive Coues whitetail. The downside is that it can take up to 10 years (or more) to get deer tags in this state. The deer season is open later in Arizona than in the northern US states and Canada with excellent opportunities for trophy bucks in December and January.

Texas

In 2008, Texas had a record year for bagging whitetails with 619,650 kills recorded in 2008. Overall, Texas is rated as one of the top 5 deer hunting states in the US and was ranked #5 from 1830 until 2001 (according to the Boone and Crockett Club).

Interesting whitetail deer hunting statistics worth noting:

The top 5 states – record season harvests since 1999 (current through 2009 – according to HuntStats.com)

#5 – Alabama – 535,092 (2003)

#4 – Michigan – 541,701 (2001)

#3 – Michigan – 544,895 (1999)

#2 – Wisconsin – 618,274 (2000)

#1 – Texas – 619,650 (2008)

Top 10 states – average season harvest (according to HuntStats.com)

#10 – Louisiana – 247,800

#9 – South Carolina – 274,890

#8 – New York – 276,696

#7 – Mississippi – 311,676