This impressive 9-pointer fell to Mike Smolicz and is among the top 10 archery bucks taken in New England in 2006. Photo courtesy of Mike Smolicz.

Year after year, many of New England's best bucks fall to the region's bowhunters. Archery hunters enjoy extended seasons that range from September through January and in many cases, particularly in southern New England, also include liberal bag limits.

In addition, archers in most New England states may hunt during the peak of the rut, providing great opportunities for mature bucks.

Archers also enjoy access to suburban properties that are often limited to bowhunting only, improving the bowhunters' odds of bumping into a big-racked monster!

According to the Northeast Big Buck Club, the region's record-keeping and scoring organization, archers harvested more than 125 bucks that make the NBBC record book during the 2006 season (bucks that score at least 100 gross Boone and Crockett points).

In 2006, new state-record typical archery bucks fell in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Here's a roundup of the best bucks of the most recent bow season.

NEW ENGLAND'S BEST ARCHERY BUCKS FROM 2006
It's important to note that all scores and rankings reflect Northeast Big Buck Club records, with supplemental information provided by other local scoring organizations.

What follows is the final tally of the best bucks from the 2006 archery seasons -- at least as of the close of the NBBC's awards period (June 2007).

Although the NBBC scores deer from New York, Pennsylvania and other states and Canadian provinces, this article will focus primarily on New England.

It seems that every season for the last several years, at least two new archery state records have been set. In 2005, we saw new non-typical bow records for Maine and Massachusetts.

And in 2006, we set new typical bow records for Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

The New England region produced some very impressive bucks during this past archery season. During the previous season in 2005, the top-end bucks consistently scored in the 170- and 180-inch range.

It should be mentioned that the number of entries for the most recent season is typically the lowest, given that it generally takes a year or two for the majority of the entries to surface. During the last two years, five of the six New England states have placed bucks in the Top 10.

It's also interesting to note that over the last two years, Massachusetts has produced more top archery bucks -- eight of the top 20 -- than any other state, continuing this state's long-standing trend of producing many of the region's best archery bucks.

Here's a state-by-state roundup of the best bow bucks from 2006:

MASSACHUSETTS
The Bay State set a new state record for archery typicals in 2006. In Worcester County, Paul Buccacio arrowed an unbelievable 185 7/8 gross and 172 1/8 net 10-pointer.

This massive typical beat the previous state-record typical bow buck -- Mark Thomas's 175 6/8-inch 10-pointer from Norfolk County in 2004 -- by over 10 points.

Buccacio's buck is impressive, but the story is even more impressive!

Just before the 2006 season, the hunter switched from a compound bow to a traditional recurve.

While in his stand on Oct. 23, he shot over the back of a big six-point. (That buck, later killed by one of his hunting buddies, scored 105 6/8.)