Photo by Mark Werner.

Minnesota may not lead the nation in the number of big whitetails killed every year, but there are definitely some trophy-racked bucks in our woods, swamps and fields.

There are two kinds of hunters who shoot a buck qualifying for trophy status -- those who get lucky and those who are willing to put in plenty of hard work.

Dumb luck is hard to come by these days, and you can't really rely on it when afield. The odds of shooting a big white-tailed buck are still better than winning the lottery, but in the end, it is not a safe bet to make.

The only other option is to put in a considerable amount of hard work to create a trophy-hunting opportunity. Hours and hours of scouting throughout the year must be done whether on public land or private land. Those of you hunting public land have to find an area far enough away from the crowds. Those of you hunting on private land have the added work that goes into effectively managing the land for trophy bucks. But in the end, there is no guarantee that all that sweat will pay off with the kind of buck on the covers of magazines.

"A lot of people aren't willing to put out the work required to get a trophy animal, and many who put out the work and don't get one are so disappointed that they give up," said Mark Johnson, executive director of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association.

Johnson said many hunters forget that a large part of trophy hunting is the effort that goes into creating that opportunity. Some hunters even seem to think that simply because they go deer hunting and put some work into it means they are entitled to a big buck.

"Many hunters fail to recognize the fact that a trophy buck is that way because there aren't very many around," Johnson added.

This is assuming, of course, that all hunters want a wallhanger rack. Despite what some hunters believe, deer are more than just antler-delivery systems.

"It's a loaded topic, and the overwhelming response from our members is that they don't want to be restricted from shooting what they want," Johnson said.

The only way for trophy deer hunting to improve in Minnesota is through management geared at creating big-racked bucks. The Department of Natural Resources has conducted surveys of deer hunters about this very situation, and the responses revealed the controversial nature of trophy management.

"The survey showed us that 65 percent want more mature bucks in the deer population, but none of the regulation options received more than 49 percent support from hunters," said Lou Cornicelli, the DNR's big-game program coordinator.

The DNR is currently conducting a research project looking at different ways of killing deer to provide for increased numbers of mature bucks. The public is able to participate in this project, and a check of the regulations shows that several state parks are included in this experiment.

For the last several seasons, hunters have had the opportunity to hunt in several select state parks with specialized restrictions. Some state parks have earn-a-buck programs where a hunter is required to tag an antlerless deer before killing a buck. Other state parks have antler-point restrictions requiring a buck to have a minimum of 3 or 4 points on one side, depending on the park. Cornicelli said the results of this research should come out sometime next year, but whether or not it will result in regulation changes is still undetermined.

Johnson said hunters want to make the decision themselves.

"Antler restrictions might be socially acceptable, but one thing that many are in favor of is allowing people to voluntarily limit themselves to harvesting only mature animals," Johnson said.

The issue is very controversial, and while some hunters want whatever it takes to create more mature bucks in the woods, the vast majority of hunters simply want the opportunity to shoot a buck of any size no matter what. They especially want young hunters, new hunters and elderly hunters to have all the opportunities available to kill a deer.

"We are pounded by some hunters about big bucks, but when you talk about what to do about it, people don't want many of the changes that would make it possible," Cornicelli said. "It's long been a frustration for me, because which regulation do you use?

"Just because we're not managing deer for a small percentage of people who want to kill a trophy doesn't mean we aren't doing a good job managing deer," Cornicelli added.