Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Best state or province to shoot a 300 pound whitetail?

Ultimately that'd be my first choice too..I've only hunted Manitoba and there's some brutes there...it's kind of a sleeper and much less expensive than Sask. or Alberta.

Those processors are dreaming. The deer I saw when I was at Ft. Benning reminded me of German Shepherds. They do have transplanted Wisconsin deer they brought down there but as mentioned, the odds....a 300 lb isn't common and it's a special buck to break that weight...IMO, less common nowdays than a B/C buck.

Agree
There "might" be a couple that make it to 300 in a decade statewide but I would say not many at all

if you want to do it reasonable. put in to draw a tag in for se mn ne iowa or sw Wisconsin. if your coming to iowa I would recommend late muzzleloader no crowds and deer are pretty easy to pattern because its cold. if you decide to come to iowa hit me up and I will point you in the right direction. I have a picture of a buck I never weighed but I got it mounted and they couldn't find a neck the was big enough....

I agree 100% with the muzzle-loader idea. I shot some big-bodied deer in central MN in the cold and snow.

Thanks for the offer. If I would go that route I'll look you up.

Are 300 pound Mule deer as uncommon as 300 pound whitetails? I mean an apples to apples comparison not comparing average whitetail habitat to mule deer country but say Canada for whitetails compared to good Mulie country?

A 300 pound mule deer is still a big one.

But taken across their range I think the mule deer seem to run a bit larger on average based on what I have seen myself. I have seen a few in Wyoming and in northern Alberta that were stupendous. Kind of a visual shock for a moment after looking at more normal-sized deer.

Here is an excerpt from an artile in the Duluth News Tribune from a few years back, as to how some heavy body's get taken every year. These are dressed weight bucks.

Brimson Sportsmen�s Club (Hugo�s)1. 229.6, Mike Cuppy, Two Harbors
2. 224, Lyle Highland, no hometown listed
3. 223.2, Rodger Staples, Two Harbors.

Buck�s Hardware Hank, Grand MaraisBy weight:
1. 245, Treg Axtell, Hovland
2. 233, Paul Swearingen, Buffalo, Minn.
3. 231, Joey Pederson, Grand Marais
By outside spread of antlers:
1. 21 5/8, Treg Axtell, Hovland
2. 21� inches, Paul Swearingen, Buffalo, Minn.
3. 20 inches, Mark Rosbacka, Grand Marais


Deer River Sportsman�s Club/Deer River Vets Club1. 236�, Loretta Kloster, Cass Lake
2. 234�, Ryan Fox, Deer River
3. 231�, Tanisha Kuck, Deer River
Biggest doe: 160�, Rick Serfling, Deer River

Fisherman�s Corner, Pike Lake
1. 254, Dale Nikko, Proctor
2. 238, Clint Deraas, Gnesen Township
3. 237, James Benko, Cloquet

Fredenberg Minno-etteBiggest buck � 240, Clint Deraas, Gnesen Township

Here is another one from the same paper. The snippet is from 2008.



This are usually from the 1st weekend (of 3) but the contests run all season.

tzone thanks. Those weights are very similar to what we would see in Maine.

Maine would be a fun hunt. I read a couple of books by Hal Blood that were interesting.

I would hunt Ontario. A bunch of open public land. A lot of big bucks, my buddy has killed 3 over 240 dressed in 6 years. Its also very cheap, as you don't need a guide for hunting.

I've talked to so many guys who have gone to Maine for deer and almost every one said it's just a big empty woods. These guys book hunts to Maine and spend their money their just to not even see a deer. I don't know but that doesn't sound like a good time to me. I go through that in northern VT when I deer hunt there but I'm not paying good money to a guide so it doesn't really matter if I sit in the woods for a few days and don't see a deer.

That doesn't surprise me, Maine only has a deer population of around 200k. Quite a bit of what I've read is they still hunt them.

Maine deer harvest is 21,000 deer???? They have a 200k deer numbers and that is only a 10% harvest. No doubt the big boys are up there but man,, that is a lot of land for 200 k deer. I read a whole bunch on Maine deer hunting. Hunters say the woods is not logeed much due to bunny huggers. Real sad, I hear it is some real dandy country. I've only been as far as Speculator NY. , in the Adirondaks. Very rough beautiful country but seems really hard to hunt. I think you would be better in the Adirondaks than Maine. Not that I would know.

Read the truth about northern Maine anyway.

http://georgesoutdoornews.bangordai...nd-unattainable-report-forestry-experts/

Just as an FYI, the tagging station in Ashland (central Aroostook County) tagged over 220 deer in 2013 with 40 dressing at over 200 pounds. That is a big increase.

I was within 100 yards of a buck that I just found out dressed at 260 this year. I jumped him with a few does and tracked him for about a mile and a half where he bumped into a guy on another ridge. Having an 06 go off towards you and close is eye opening especially since I never saw another human track in that entire distance. I never saw that deer alive but he sure was impressive dead. My point is that they are there. seeing them is a whole other game.

Anyone who comes here to see a lot of deer should either spend their $$ elsewhere or stay home.

Remind you of anywhere esle ihookem?

Ashland/Price Co, WI comes to mind. Chequamegon, where we hunted quit getting logged in about 2002 or 2003. In 04/05 there was tornado that cut swath right through most of our stands and blinds. Beautiful oaks, maples, red pines, spruce, popple...all laying in a big twisted mess for about a mile. We were in there cutting fire wood and trail to get in and see if we had any stands left (we didn't) and talked to the USFS lady about when they'd have it logged. She said never. By the time they could get the permits through the Feds to and "environmental impact" studies completed, the wood would be long lost for logging.

There was literally millions of dollars of timber on the ground for the picking.

I know I talked to a guy on a jobsite I was working once and he told me his crew had switched to the ADK after years of hunting northern Maine every year and they were a lot happier with the results in the 'Dacks.

It's true but most of them migrated all over the place. There have been some bucks killed that were supposedly of the "Wisconsin Variety" but it's been a few years since the latest reporting of that.

Georgia has a lot bigger bucks and merely crossing the state line seems to get you into a lot larger deer than you see in Florida. I think it's the farming and better soils. I hunt both Florida and Georgia and love hunting in both but we certainly don't have the big herds that the midwestern breadbasket states have.

It's not uncommon to see less than 3 deer a day for several days then watch the parade of them for a day or two around here. For some reason our herds in both states have been on a steady decline for about 3 years and it's got everyone mystefied as to why.

I miss Colorado but I've heard it's changed a lot since I was last there in the early 90's.

I have friends in Virginia that are constantly sending pics of really dandy bucks they've killed and a buddy with a lease in SC has done the same... We're certainly suckin' hind tit down here when it comes to big deer and big herds. LOL

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