Where's the best place to kill a big buck in Arkansas?

Some years back, I coined the phrase "Arkansas Trophy Triangle." Get an Arkansas map and draw a lop-sided triangle with its apex at Little Rock. Extend one arm northeast up through Jonesboro, the other southeast down more or less through Pine Bluff. Within those boundaries more than 70 percent of the state's all-time B&C record-book bucks have been taken!

Need more proof? Take a look at the attached list of top Arkansas counties in terms of B&C buck production. You will see that every single one of those falls within my so-called "trophy triangle." Big bucks have been there for decades; they are there now; and they will be there in the future.

Why, you ask? The answer is simple -- food sources. If you take a look at the various national record books of B&C, Pope & Young (archery) and Buckmasters, you will find that a vast majority of the bucks being entered today are coming from 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. The same minerals and nutrients that go into the crops go into the deer that feed on those crops, and the more the better. The Arkansas delta, which lies roughly east of Little Rock, and all of which lies within the "triangle," is just such a region.

Current trends are important when looking for "horns." Deer killed 20, 30 or 40 years ago are certainly nice to look at, but they don't tell you much about what is going on in the area where they were taken today.

In the 1990s, Cross County, located along Crowley's Ridge in the eastern part of the state, was the "hot" place for big deer. In that single decade, eight deer were either taken or found (B&C accepts "pick-up" deer) there large enough to make the all-time record book!

Today, Cross has cooled off slightly, and Monroe and White counties are probably the "hot" place to be for big deer. Last fall, Daniel Baxter of Biscoe continued Monroe's upward march on the records lists when he took a 197 5/8 non-typical there during gun season, while Eric Jones added to White County's state-leading numbers with a 195 4/8 non-typical, also a gun kill. If I had the opportunity to hunt both, my nod would probably go to Monroe, since five of its seven B&C bucks have been taken since 2000.

Now while figures can be helpful, big bucks are still where you find them. To find proof of that, look no farther than Thomas Sparks' state-record typical, taken near his home up in Natural Dam (Crawford County) back in 1975. Sparks' buck, one of the largest ever taken in the entire Southeastern Region, is still today the only buck from Crawford large enough to make the Arkansas Trophy Club, which requires a minimum of 150 B&C points for typicals and 170 for non-typicals!

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

As it was in last month's best hunting areas article, Felsenthal NWR is listed here in the trophy article, but for different reasons. The primary one is that the backside of this 65,000-acre refuge consists of marsh turning to deep swamp, which is the one of the prime types of cover old bucks will move to when guns start booming in other areas. In wet years, there are hillocks within this swamp that are virtually surrounded by water, which makes access both difficult and noisy. But wearing hip waders and slowly easing from spot to spot can pay big dividends, particularly late in the season. Watch for the occasional black holes, especially if the weather is nippy!

Another reason I mention Felsenthal is because it is a large block of managed-public land lying in Ashley, Union and Bradley counties, and if you read last month's forecast, you know that all of those annually rank among the state's leaders in overall kill. Good numbers mean increased opportunity, but even better news is that even in the midst of quantity, Union County especially has shown a trend in recent years toward producing bigger bucks.

Gun hunting on Felsenthal is limited to a two-day muzzleloader season in mid-October, and a pair of two-day modern gun seasons in November, with permits required. Since this is a federal facility, antler restrictions do not follow state guidelines. State Highway 82, running between Strong and Crossett, provides access. For more information on hunting Felsenthal, contact the refuge office at (870) 364-3167.