Biggest Deer in the Untied States

[Regular Guy]

Hello, I'm trying to find out where the biggest deer in Untied States live, (Not the most population of deer)

I live in Illinois and my out of state friend claims, My state has the largest deer in North America, I searched the internet and couldn't find a answer, So I came here.

[KwackWacker]

Biggest body size or biggest bucks?

[amteurhntr]

iowa and illinois have really big bucks but it can also depend on the land and how the deer are managed if the deer are managed and have a proper nutritious food source they can become monster bucks so i dont think there is really a state you can specifically say has the biggest bucks

[Runner]

In general, the further north one goes, the larger the sub-species (in weight and height) of whitetail. Age and overall health and habitat, of course play a huge role. For instance, in Northern Maine, a typical mature (4-5 -year-old) buck will usually run over 300 pounds (live weight) in early fall, before it has put on any winter fat. -Runner

[cjg]

In general, the further north one goes, the larger the sub-species (in weight and height) of whitetail. Age and overall health and habitat, of course play a huge role. For instance, in Northern Maine, a typical mature (4-5 -year-old) buck will usually run over 300 pounds (live weight) in early fall, before it has put on any winter fat. -Runner

I don't know about usually running over 300, but they occasionally do and if he doesn't have his winter fat on by early fall he's not going to put any more on once he starts chasing does. They usually don't get to put much weight on after the rut because it has already snowed enough they are headed for yards and marginal food. That's why we have big deer with not the crazy big racks like warmer states. When the deer are recovering from a rough winter during the spring/early summer is when they are growing racks, the worse the winter the smaller the next falls racks will be, generally speaking. Deer have to be big anywhere they have deep snows for extended periods of time just to survive. 2 bad winters in a row have decimated the deer population in northern Maine and it will take years to recover.

[nissen121523]

Iowa, Iowa, Iowa, Iowa

[backwoodsman]

Yep I agree, Iowa, Iowa, Iowa, maybe farther north, Missouri, Florida, anywhere but Illniois, lol.

[DocHolladay]

If you are talking about rack size, you can visit the link below and it shows how record deer are by the numbers.

http://www.boone-crockett.org/bgRecords/records_whitetail.asp?area=bgRecords

This link doesnt have a map, but lists states in order of record book numbers. Pretty good and Wisconsin seems to top most of the lists.

[backwoodsman]

Record keeping like that is great but many arent entering their deer anymore into the different organizations/groups that collect such data.

[jeremykohler]

I looked on google and found out there was a buck that went 355lbs on the hoof hard to swallow but they said it came from Nebraska

[KwackWacker]

I looked on google and found out there was a buck that went 355lbs on the hoof hard to swallow but they said it came from Nebraska

They get much bigger than 355. Look for a 400 pounder out of Cananda and Maine.

[backwoodsman]

Theres been quite a few over 400 taken and some approaching/ surpassing 500 in the "Old days" of heavy northern bucks. Nothing like that around here, bucks score 100, weigh 100 . Indiana and Missouri got good one's, look there.

[NYBuckhunter]

Yep, you get enormous body sizes up in Maine. Ive seen some ridiculous pictures come out of there.