It comes without much surprise that Illinois, in a number of nationally recognized hunting polls, is a top destination for trophy buck hunters. Super-sized whitetails are harvested throughout the state, fulfilling the dreams of many hunters each season.

According to our biologists, the reason is simple: The Prairie State is a large food factory.

"Illinois' reputation for growing trophy bucks results from its complement of food and cover," deer program manager Tom Micetich said. "Corn and grain fields yield plenty of high-protein and high-energy food in addition to other mast, such as acorns and browse from intermittent forest and woodland."

That poses something of a problem to isolate the best areas of the state to hunt. Each county has the potential to grow big deer, and each one annually chalks up a few super-sized racks. Regardless of where you choose to hunt, the potential to connect with a trophy is good. To narrow your search, however, we've taken a look at recent harvest data and entries into different trophy recognition programs to arrive at a projection of the hottest areas of the state to hunt.

DATA COLLECTION
To determine where most of our trophy bucks are harvested, we've examined the figures from six distinctive areas. The first is data from the overall history of the Illinois Big Buck Recognition Program. The 25 counties with most entries statewide received a mark. The second area is trend data into the BBRP from 2006 and 2007 in which the top 25 counties were considered. The third area focused on the top 25 counties for new entries into the BBRP for 2007. The fourth descriptor is historic data into the Boone and Crockett Club. Because of lower levels of data, we considered only the top 15 counties in the state. The fifth area for data collection is 10-year trend data for B&C. Here, we considered the top 10 counties for both typical and non-typical bucks statewide. And the final descriptor of trophy buck analysis is harvest density. We gave a score to the top 25 counties statewide.

ALL-TIME BBRP ENTRIES
To date, Pike County leads all counties in the state for entries into the BBRP with 333. Adams County is not far behind with 326. Fulton County has an impressive 244; Vermillion has notched 236; and Peoria County has a respectable 225.

Creeping up into the 200-entry-plus club this year are LaSalle, Knox, McLean and Brown counties, and rounding out the top 10 are Randolph and Montgomery counties, each with 187 cumulative entries.

TWO-YEAR TREND 2006 AND 2007 SEASONS
Closer to the present, Richland and McLean counties have led the state with 24 respective entries taken together in the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Knox County is one to watch with 22. Bureau has come alive recently with 20 entries, including some top 10 bucks. Champaign County also has 20 entries. Both Woodford and LaSalle chalked 19. Macoupin County charted 18 entries. Fulton had 17 and Randolph, Sangamon and Menard rounded out the top 10 with 15 respective entries.

NEW ENTRIES FOR 2007
McLean County led all counties last year with 16 new entries. Not far behind, Woodford, Champaign and Fulton notched 15 new entries. Bureau put up a respectable 13 new bucks. Richland and Knox tabbed 12, and Macoupin, Marshall and Sangamon rounded out the top 10 with 11 entries in 2007.