Pearl River County has produced the most inches of antler on any one deer in the form of a non-typical 20-pointer that netted 184 7/8 Boone and Crockett Club points back in 1985. Three other counties, all split between Zones 1 and 2, have produced non-typicals. Those are Jeff Davis (170 3/8 B&C), Marion (159 6/8 B&C) and Covington (155 4/8 B&C). Records do not indicate which zone actually produced those deer.

No Boone and Crockett qualifiers for the club's all-time record book been produced in Zone 2 counties, although two have produced typical deer that grossed over the minimum net of 170 inches. A Perry County buck taken in 1994 grossed 185 inches, but the 12-point netted just 165 2/8 B&C. In 1995, Forrest County produced a gross buck of 170 7/8 that netted 165 1/8. Those are Zone 2's two largest typicals.

George County has the toughest time producing top-quality bucks, perhaps as much because its remoteness in relation to the Pascagoula River swamps makes its big ones hardest to find and kill as for any other reason. Only one deer that beats the Magnolia Records minimum of 125 inches has come from George, a 126 6/8 taken back in 1950. Hancock County too has yielded up only one Magnolia Records buck, a 141 7/8 B&C from 2003.

Jones County, which is split between zones 1 and 2, is a county coming on strong. Of the six bucks that have qualified for Magnolia Records, five have been taken since 2000. The top three that scored 148 3/8, 138 7/8 and 134 6/8 were killed since 2005.

It's likely that many other deer have been taken that would qualify for the state's record program that just haven't been entered. "I think it's more likely that we're going to see a lot more in the very near future," said Sutton. "Giving us the opportunity to hunt bucks during the peak of the rut is certainly going to help. You know, we'd probably have seen a lot more Magnolia Record bucks in the past if we just could have hunted them when they needed to be hunted.

"Now that hunters can take muzzleloaders and archery equipment to the woods all the way through to Feb. 15, I think you'll be seeing more of the bigger bucks -- hadn't been for Katrina, I think you would already see that happening. The only thing I think they need to do now is give us rifles and shotguns at least through Jan. 31, if not all the way through to Feb. 15. Last year, on Feb. 15, our bucks were running hot and heavy."

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