Southwest Region
The 17-county Southwest Region came in fifth across the state in numbers of antlered deer taken in 2006 with 15,189. This territory had no counties in the top 20. The top three counties here were Laclede 1,314 (30th statewide), Hickory 1,279 (36th) and Cedar 1,215 (44th). A noteworthy fact is that this region did have five counties in the bottom 20 statewide. These five counties were Greene 688 (96th statewide), Lawrence 614 (100th), Dade 599 (102nd), Christian 582 (103rd) and Stone 508 (106th).

Kansas City Region
The 12-county KC Region came in sixth place statewide in antlered deer harvest last year with 14,386. This region had three counties in the top 20. These counties were Benton 2,228 (second statewide), St. Clair 1,743 (10th) and Henry 1,576 (18th). The bottom three counties included Lafayette 735 (88th), Platte 689 (95th) and Clay 644 (98th). Platte and Clay finished in the bottom 20.

Southeast Region
The 16-county Southeast Region finished in seventh place out of eight regions with 11,604 antlered deer taken last year. Wayne County finished in the state's top 20 with 1,633 (16th). This region's bottom six counties finished in the bottom 20 statewide. These counties were Iron 631 (99th), Scott 243 (108th), New Madrid 167 (109th), Dunklin 164 (110th), Mississippi 163 (111th) and Pemiscot 86 (112th). All of the bottom six, except Iron, are located in the Bootheel of Missouri.

St. Louis Region
This eight-county region finished in eighth and last place in antlered deer harvest last year. Keep in mind that this is the smallest region of the state, so the total harvest numbers are somewhat skewed. Despite its small size, the St. Louis region had half of its counties finish in the top 20 statewide! These top four counties were Lincoln 1,772 (eighth statewide), Jefferson 1,662 (13th), Franklin 1,654 (14th) and Crawford 1,634 (15th). The bottom county in the region was St. Louis with 744 (87th).

TOP TROPHY BUCK HARVEST REGIONS/COUNTIES
A trophy buck is really whatever a hunter wants it to be. It could be a spike or it may be a Booner. However, for this article, we designated the trophy buck standard to be 140 inches of antler or above. We also went back five years to give you the most up-to-date trends in trophy harvest numbers.

Die-hard trophy deer aficionados in the Show-Me State know that Missouri's major deer record-keeping club, the Show-Me Big Bucks Club, is experiencing difficulties at this time. The records were not current at press time, and it may be some time before they are updated. The bad news is that we were unable to use any current trophy buck firearms data from that club in this article. The good news is, that the Archery Big Bucks of Missouri has kept their records updated and that's what we are basing the statistics below on. Although the trophy archery data base is much smaller than the overall database that the other club offers, I am confident that the trends will be the same, just on a smaller scale.

Central Region
The Central Region led the state in total number of trophy buck entries 140 inches and over, during the past five years with 44. This region also boasts the top three counties in trophy buck entries statewide! The top counties were Callaway 11 (first statewide), Boone with none (tied for second) and Howard with seven (third). The rest of the region finished as follows: Audrain with three, Cole, Maries, Miller, Montgomery, Osage, and Saline each with two, and Camden and Gasconade each with one.

Twelve of the 15 counties in this region had trophy bucks entered into the record book that scored 140 inches or above. Of these 12 counties, seven of them are in the state's pilot antler point restriction program, which limits hunters to shooting bucks with 4 points or better on one side of their rack. These seven counties were Boone, Howard, Cole, Gasconade, Maries, Miller and Osage.

It might be noteworthy that Callaway County led this region in number of trophy buck entries over the past five years even though it is not in the antler point restriction program. However, it is bordered by three counties that are in the pilot antler restriction program.