THE BEST OF THE BEST
Statistics from the 2007-08 deer season indicate one specific certainty: The Gulf Coastal Plan reigns supreme among Arkansas' deer hunting regions.
ARKANSAS' TOP 5 COUNTIES
(Total Deer Harvest, 2007-08 Seasons)
COUNTY	TOTAL KILL
Union	6,814
Cleveland	5,501
Dallas	5,493
Ouachita	5,308
Clark	5,261
ARKANSAS' TOP 5 COUNTIES
(Deer Killed Per Square Mile)
COUNTY	KILL/SQ. MILE
Cleveland	9.19
Dallas	8.22
Bradley	7.45
Ouachita	7.18
Grant	6.80
ARKANSAS' TOP DEER ZONES
(Total Deer Harvest, 2007-08 Seasons)
ZONE	TOTAL HARVEST
Zone 12	68,967
Zone 13	13,444
Zone 6	11,599

Keep these definitions in mind as you continue through the remainder of this article.

ARKANSAS' TOP COUNTIES FOR TOTAL DEER HARVEST
Refer to the list of top five counties in total kill that accompanies this article. Union County near El Dorado has now led the state in total deer harvest for the past eight years; unsurprisingly, the remaining four too are perennial favorites. Also note that each of the top-ranked counties is part of the Gulf Coastal Plain, the flat timberlands lying south of Little Rock. This is Deer Zone 12, which takes in all or part of 22 counties, and where last year 68,967 deer were taken, or approximately 40 percent of the state's overall total.

Possibly even more illuminating is the list of top five counties in deer killed per square mile. Not coincidentally, all of those counties come from the Gulf Coastal Plain too.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. When I was a young man in the 1970s, southern Arkansas was the place to go if you wanted to kill a deer. That's as true today as it was then.

In many deer forecasts, too much emphasis is placed only on the overall harvest numbers from any given spot or area. But deer density -- not harvest numbers -- should be among the prime considerations when selecting a hunting spot.

For instance, White Rock Wildlife Management Area had a total kill of 176 animals last fall, while Trusten Holder WMA had only 95. If you consider only these numbers, White Rock would seem the better of the two. But those 95 deer FROM Trusten Holder were taken on only 8,173 acres, which figures out to an average of 1 deer harvested per 86 acres. White Rock, on the other hand, encompasses more than 280,000 acres, and that same ratio figures out at 1 deer killed per 1,590 acres there. Which of the two is really the better choice for collecting your backstrap?

THE DELTA REGION
In next month's Arkansas trophy forecast you'll hear me talk in different terms about the delta, the swath of fertile cropland covering the eastern third of the state from the Missouri border to the Louisiana line. Like most predominantly agricultural areas, this region is geared toward the production of bigger deer rather than of more deer -- the same situation seen in states such as Iowa, Kansas, and the Dakotas, and even the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Deer densities in the delta are the lowest of any region in our state. Add in the facts that most of the land there is private, much of it in the form of large farming operations, and that cover is somewhat limited, and you see why this may not be the best area for taking a deer.

However, there are spots where hunters can go in the delta. White River National Wildlife Refuge, the 160,000-acre facility located along the White River in Monroe, Phillips, Arkansas and Desha counties, annually leads the state in overall kill. Last season, if you add the north and south units together, there were 944 deer taken there, and that figure is slightly lower than in preceding years! Dagmar WMA, which consists of some 9,720 acres in Monroe County, is another possibility. Cache River NWR, whose 54,000 acres lie in Jackson, Monroe, Prairie and Woodruff counties, has permit blackpowder and modern gun hunts.