Upon viewing the records from 1914 to 1959 (prior to deer management), you will gather that the majority of trophy whitetails recorded fell along the Mississippi River delta. Of the 16 trophy deer taken during that period, 13 were clearly noted as having come from the river-basin parishes of Madison, Tensas, Concordia and Pointe Coupee. And one of those trophies is the all-time No. 1 typical taken in Louisiana; harvested in Madison Parish in 1943 by Don Broadway, it scored 184 6/8 B&C points). Another impressive whitetail trophy taken at this time was a 184 2/8 B&C typical yielded up in 1914 by Franklin Parish taken in was by Dr. H.B. Womble in 1914.

Regarding non-typical trophies taken during the same period, Dr. Joseph Shields is recorded to have harvested a 252 2/8 B&C non-typical in 1948 in Concordia Parish. Two other Concordia Parish non-typicals are noteworthy -- one at 216 7/8 B&C points and the other scoring at 214 7/8 B&C points.

Two other trophies arguably could have been harvested from river basin stock -- a 218 4/8 B&C non-typical taken by Drew Ware in St. Martin Parish (Atchafalaya River Basin); and a 170 3/8 B&C trophy taken by Stephen M. White, Sr. in 1945 in Morehouse Parish (Ouachita River Basin).

Reviewing all of the records listed from 1914 to the present, another river system appears to have delivered its share of trophy whitetails to Louisiana records. The Red River, coursing through parts of Caddo, Bossier, Red River, Natchitoches, Grant, Rapides, Catahoula and Avoyelles parishes, is associated with some 48 additional trophies listed -- 29 of which were taken by modern firearms, eight by bow and 10 by muzzleloader.

Of the trophies taken along the Red River, one of these is the impressive 184 6/8 B&C Bossier Parish typical taken by modern firearm in 1961 by Ernest McCoy. Another is W. D Ethredge's 219 6/8 B&C non-typical, taken in Caddo Parish in 1988.

OUR BIGGEST BOW-KILLED BUCKS, 1990-2004
Archery-Typicals
Score	Parish	Hunter	Year
170 3/6	East Carroll	David Roselle	1996
163 1/8	Tensas	Joe Hatton	1995
162 1/6	Caddo	Danny Coffey	2001
161 5/8	East Carroll	F. Lane Mitchell	1993
156 7/8	East Carroll	Brian Arceneaux	1996
156 7/8	Concordia	Clay Cooper	1996
156 2/8	East Carroll	Robert Jarvis	2000
155 2/8	Ouachita	Tony Fontenot	2002
Archery --Non-Typicals
186 4/8	Concordia	Johnny Warren	1993
182 2/8	East Feliciana	John Schmidt	1994
174	East Carroll	Gary Carr	1996
166 5/8	East Carroll	Tim Harrell	1997
157 3/8	St. Tammany	Milton Johnson	1991

One impressive trophy from Avoyelles Parish is a 181 1/8 B&C typical 11-pointer taken in 1998 by Donald Riviere of Moreauville. What's interesting about this buck is that it has received only little attention, yet is probably the most impressive whitetail trophy taken recently, other than the immense 281 6/8 B&C McMurray non-typical taken at Big Lake WMA in Tensas Parish in 1994.

Since the inception of archery hunting in the 1970s, there has been much addition to the Louisiana Big Game Records. This is important since the majority of listings now ranked in the Louisiana Big Game Records are in the archery division.

Certainly, private lands along the Mississippi River rule the roost in delivering trophy white-tailed deer to Louisiana hunters. Private lands such as the Willow Point Islands and Big Rack Hunting Club are quite noteworthy in the state's records. Of course, West Feliciana and East Feliciana parishes also surrender their share of record-book archery trophies taken on private lands.

Public lands of interest here are Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge in Madison and Tensas parishes (11 archery trophies above 125 points) and Lake Ophelia NWR in Avoyelles Parish (two archery trophies; seven muzzleloader trophies).

Thistlethwaite WMA in St. Landry Parish also has delivered its share of trophy whitetails to the record book -- two modern gun trophies, two archery trophies, and two muzzleloader trophies.

Some may be quick to point out that Thistlethwaite doesn't appear to be associated with a nearby river bottom, but the fact remains that deer were stocked here from Chicago Mills, and that Thistlethwaite WMA is probably one of the best hardwoods areas in the entire WMA system.

Thistlethwaite WMA's 11,000 acres in St. Landry Parish near Washington are managed very well by the LDWF for high-quality whitetail hunting. New from the LDWF for 2005 is an experimental management program aimed at increasing the quality of the area's bucks.

According to Tony Vidrine of LDWF District VI, hunters at Thistlethwaite will be able to take only spikes or bucks with at least 4 antler points on one side. This type of "slot restriction" on antlered bucks is an attempt by area biologists to move at least 50 percent of the bucks usually taken at 1 1/2-years of age or younger into the older-buck segment of the deer herd. The taking of any buck not meeting these restrictions will be prohibited.