In mid-November last season, John Page Sr. took the biggest bow buck of the year in Rockingham County.

His buck scored 156 3/8 gross and 150 6/8 net Pope and Young points. This impressive 9-pointer had main beams over 26 inches, bases over 5 inches and an inside spread over 20 inches. To complement the massive rack, the buck dressed 210 pounds.

This exceptional trophy was the eighth-largest archery buck from New England in 2006.

Another impressive 9-pointer was arrowed in Hillsborough County by Greg Carchidi and scored 147 gross P&Y points.

The year before in Cheshire County, Joe Belcik shot the best archery buck from the state, also a 9-pointer, scoring 156 3/8 gross P&Y.

CONNECTICUT
Once again, the Nutmeg State produced some of the best bucks taken by the region's archers. From the 2006 season, in fact, four of the top 10 bucks came from this densely populated state.

Bowhunters do particularly well here because they can get access to smaller tracts of private land more readily than can gun hunters.

And the bow season is quite liberal, running from mid-September to late January in some zones.

In 2006, three different bucks were taken that grossed over 160 inches.

The largest was taken in November by Ted Reutter in Fairfield County.

This non-typical 13-pointer scored 165 4/8 gross and 153 net Pope and Young points and ranks No. 8 all-time for Connecticut's archery non-typicals. Reutter also owns the No. 11 buck in that category!

The largest typical bow buck taken in the state last season was shot by Tim Hogan in Hartford County.

This buck scored 164 2/8 gross and 157 1/8 net. This 10-point typical ranks No. 5 all-time in the state for typical bow bucks, and dressed out at a whopping 247 pounds!

A third buck worth mentioning was taken by Mike Smolicz in New London County. This 9-pointer scored 162 gross P&Y points. It had main beams of 28 and 27 3/8 inches, and G-2s of 12 6/8 and 11 5/8 inches. What an impressive 9-pointer!

When it comes to bow-killed bucks, this state continues to shine. And you can bet that 2007 will bring more of the same!

VERMONT
Though Vermont is not the trophy whitetail hotspot it was in years past, hunters continue to harvest a number of big-bodied, big-racked bucks, including some very good deer harvested during the archery season.

For example, in 2005, Ben Morse arrowed a new state-record typical bow buck in Bennington County.

Morse's buck scored 150 5/8 gross and 142 2/8 net Pope and Young points, and currently stands as the largest archery typical buck taken in Vermont according to NBBC records.

In 2006, no new records were set or challenged. However the NBBC scored a nice 8-pointer entered from Orange County that grossed 129 5/8. It was arrowed in early October by Mike Dempsey.

Let's hope this is just the start of Vermont's resurgence as a strong producer of trophy bucks!

MAINE
No state in the Northeast can match Maine's long-standing reputation as a prolific producer of 200-pound trophy bucks. This state has more entries in the Boone and Crockett record book than any other in New England.