Deer hunters have different reasons for hunting -- some prefer a tasty tenderloin of venison, while others pine for a huge rack to hang in the den. If you fall into the latter category, the good news is that Wisconsin is a terrific state for hunting big whitetails.

Keith Warnke, big-game specialist with the DNR, said, "Just about anywhere in the state you have the possibility of a trophy buck. If you look at Pope and Young and Boone and Crocket, you'll see that every county in Wisconsin is either orange or red. Orange stands for 11 to 30 trophy bucks registered and red means 31 or more trophies registered."

So how do you increase your odds for bagging a trophy? Well, there's the easy way and the hard way. The easy way is to pay for an outfitted hunt on private land. If you want to be nearly guaranteed a trophy whitetail, private preserve hunting is the way to go.

If you want to get a deer the old-fashioned way, your only choice is to work really hard. That means scouting and hunting in secluded places, far away from roads and ATV trails. It means putting in your time in the woods beginning as early as February looking for sheds and other sign. You should find and pattern a big buck well before the season, then leave him alone. Constant disruption will cause that buck to change his behavior leaving you high and dry when the season starts.

Once you have made the commitment to do the scouting, you should decide what counties and zones you are going to hunt in.

"Your odds at a trophy are highest in deer management units that have been in Earn-A-Buck (EAB) for the previous two years," Warnke said. "This would include all chronic wasting disease units, many western units and Fox River Valley units. Hunters in these units are required to shoot an antlerless deer first before hunting for antlered deer."

What this policy has done is reduce the mortality of big bucks -- hunters are unable to take a buck until they fulfill their tag requirements -- and hunting pressure. Often, after a hunter has a deer in the freezer, he or she hunts less.

But what makes a big buck in the first place? The joke is that it takes three things to make a trophy buck: age, age and age. But in reality, it takes age, proper nutrition and habitat. Most Wisconsin hunters would be hard-pressed to pass on a 3-year-old buck walking under their stand if they had a buck tag. However, in recent years, the EAB has forced hunters to do exactly that. They have to pass on the bucks, which gives many animals the chance to get older and bigger.

If you do see a 3-year-old buck or older, chances are he is big and healthy. Wisconsin's many agricultural fields provide good nutrition for deer. This coupled with Quality Deer Management units and increased awareness in food plots, has provided an outstanding food source for deer.

One exception is the Central Forest region. In counties such as Wood and Juneau, the land is not farmed as intensely. Instead, there are large tracts of pine forest and the nutrition sources can vary from place to place.