It's no mystery why antler quality is improving.

"The animals' average body size is bigger, the mass of their antlers are much greater, the tines are longer and the spreads are wider. We obviously have the genetics, and the mast is out there to sustain them."

Deer densities have been lowered in most areas, but are still not down to goal levels everywhere.

"In some areas they're going to be up, and in some areas they're going to be down -- noticeably down. You're going to have to work for them. It's making us all better hunters."

Probably the best chances for tagging trophy bucks on public land in this region is on the state game lands that contain swampy habitat.

Relatively few hunters venture into this type of habitat. But those who do get away from the roads are seeing bigger deer.

SOUTHEAST REGION
No doubt, some of the better trophy buck hunting in Pennsylvania is in the heavily populated Southeast Region. But there is a hitch. Virtually all the better trophy-buck habitat lies on private lands where access is difficult.

Bowhunters and crossbow hunters might have better chances of getting permission to hunt private lands.

NORTH-CENTRAL REGION
The big woods counties are seldom mentioned for their trophy buck potential, but McKean County has historically been one of the leading contributors to the upper end of the record lists.

"Deer weights are up and antler size is better now than what was usually found over the past 20 years," according to John Dzemyan, Land Management Group supervisor for McKean County and Elk County.

Dzemyan is seeing better bucks, and better bucks are being harvested. But he stopped short of saying there are "a lot" of big bucks in the North- Central Region.

"To be accurate, there are a higher percentage of larger bucks in the remaining deer population than there used to be -- for sure.

Opponents of antler restrictions frequently mistake the motive behind them as being solely to produce trophy bucks. In fact, big antlers are just a secondary benefit.

"It used to be, a hunter could hunt a few days and see 10, 20, 30 deer and maybe see no bucks, or only one or two bucks. Now, in many areas a hunter may hunt a few days and see only five or 10 deer total. But two or three of them are often bucks with a nice rack of 8 points or more."

Dzemyan is realistic about deer densities in the region. Yet he is optimistic.

"If the weather cooperates this deer season, and with a bit of snow on the ground, hunters will find more deer in Elk and McKean counties in most areas than they did in 2005 or 2006.

"If more hunters show up, they will move more deer around."

SOUTH-CENTRAL REGION
Perhaps the South-Central Region is not a top destination for trophy bucks. Yet local hunters who devote time to scouting should be able to locate some respectable animals. As elsewhere, the better bucks tend to be on private farmlands. These bucks can often be ambushed as they move back and forth between state game lands or state forestlands and farms.

Public lands along the ridges are often used as bedding areas for bucks that feed on farms in the valleys.