Here ya go Atlas. P&Y typical entries from 1979-1980 till 2007-2008

Damn the rest of the country sucks compared to my great state of Wisconsin

 

Fletch, it is all relative based on your individual hunting location. Heck, there are spots here in Prince William County that I believe I could realistically kill a Pope and Young buck every year if I were granted consistent access, and a 125 inch buck in this county is an absolute monster.

But overall, the numbers are striking when you compare states of equal size.

 

Agreed. Never argued that. In fact, if my only goal was to kill a P&Y deer every year, I would be done after the first 4 or 5 sits on a normal year. Most years the first or second time out. Not bragging, just stating the facts. We dont have huge amounts of 150" and bigger deer, but 125's are everywhere. My point is, I bet no more than 1 in 5 from Iowa is entered. My guess is that there are other states with similar reporting. Other states, like Wisconsin, tend to enter a very high percentage of their deer killed. Makes the whole stat thing kind of meaningless to me.

 

We have P&Y behind every fourth tree LOL :D . You just need the skill set to aquire the right land to hunt .

 

I understand what you are saying but lets play with the stats for fun. Lets assume Virginia and Iowa are around the same size in terms of land mass. Lets also assume that Iowa over reports its P & Y stats by 30% comparitively while Virginia under reports it stats by 30%.

Virginia's 20 year total = 375--readjusted upwards by 30% or to approx 500 total

Iowa's 20 year total=3425--readjusted downwards by 30% or to around 2500 total

Even by readjusting at a pretty significant level, Iowa still enters 5 times more P and Y bucks than Virginia, while they both have similar land masses. Statistically significant any way you look at it.

 

True. I know what you are saying and your point is spot on. My point is that some guys spend countless hours looking through these books to pick out a certain state and county and I think it can be quite misleading at times. Some counties, especially if they are full of outfitters will enter a huge percentage of qualifiers and other states or counties may actually offer a better chance at P&Y deer on public do-it-yourself ground that never get reported.

 

I like my odds

 

I hear you Fletch and I have always respected your honesty in terms of accurately reporting what you have seen over the years, and what you pass when you hunt in Iowa. Thank you.

Brett

 

I agree Brett!! He's a good **** on here!!

 

I might be a little more accurate reporting with you guys than I am with my friends Pope and Young.

 

Wow, look how superior the Wis. hunters are! It also makes sense that Ill. isn't far behind. Them Ill. people spend so much time in Wis. they're finally learning how to hunt!

Disclaimer: This post was an attempt to be funny. So don't go reading too deeply between the lines. Maybe the Chic. Bears should spend some time here too. Maybe they would learn how to play ball?

 

While the Books do give a fairly good idea of what's where it would be nice to see the accurate numbers of what is really killed in states like IL, WI, IA, etc.

I know several every year that are killed here and never entered. I've never entered one myself and never would. I have had a few officially scored for anyone that would doubt the score. I won't say score is unimportant to me but I don't use it as the only guide to judge a Trophy.

It's like I was told years ago. If you think he'll look good on the wall, He will look good! The State I'd really like to Hunt and never have is IA. Even though P&Y numbers are Lower there I'd pick it over IL or WI, just my opinion.

Also IMHO Montana is a much better state than those numbers indicate.

Dan