Why? The answer's simple: food sources. This is the cropland of the Arkansas delta, and the same nutrients and minerals that go into those crops go into the deer that feed on them. If you look at the various national record books you will find a vast majority of the bucks being entered today coming from just such agricultural regions. In states such as Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, all the way up to the windswept prairies of Saskatchewan and Alberta, deer are what they eat.

Current trends are important when looking for a wall full of "horns." For most of the 1990s, Cross County was the hot place for big deer in Arkansas. In that one decade alone, eight deer were either taken or found there (B&C accepts picked-up deer) that were large enough to make the all-time record book.

Today, no single county shines to that degree, but one stands out. Monroe County has come on in recent years to the point where it has joined the Top Five in terms of Trophy Club listings, and has also produced four B&C bucks since the turn of the century! Last fall, Coty Bones took his B&C buck there, while Roy Lee Grayson, Coty's uncle, took a huge buck that scored 155 1/8 points only a short distance away from where Coty killed his!

Figures are nice, but even in the face of all the evidence in the world, big bucks are still where you find them. To find proof of that you only have to look at Thomas Sparks' state record typical, taken in 1975, which was for more than three decades the highest-scoring whitetail ever taken in the entire Southeast. Mr. Sparks' buck, taken up in Crawford County, not all that far from his home in Natural Dam, is the only buck from that county to ever be entered into the Trophy Club!

So hope springs eternal. But before we begin this look at some of the better big-buck honeyholes in our state, let's debunk a rumor. I used to hear about the quality of big-buck hunting available on Arkansas' public land, but that's mostly a myth. Over the last 15 years the ratio has run about 7:3 in favor of private lands (WMAs and NWRs being deemed public) for B&C buck production, slightly lower for Trophy Club standards.

So where would I go if I had unlimited time, cash, and a wife that didn't think I should spend at least a few hours at home during deer season?

Well, even after all my doom and gloom about public-land hunting, I just might stay home and hunt the Ozarks. Why, you might ask?

Because of the spot I'm going to pinpoint: White Rock WMA, And I admit that I'm singling it out because of some negative reasoning rolling around inside my head. The first point to ponder is that White Rock is a huge area, encompassing some 280,000 acres stretching north of Interstate 40 over five northwestern counties -- Madison, Franklin, Johnson, Crawford and Washington. The second is that during the past three seasons, the kill for this area has been down drastically -- only 269 animals in 2005-06.

Lots of country, few deer: On the surface, that might sound like a good place to avoid, especially since the steep draws and ridges of the area also make it a real bear to hunt. But remember that seldom do high deer numbers and good buck quality mix, and that is especially true in the mountains, where food sources are limited.