The County That Kills the Most Deer Isn't Always Top per Square Mile

In each of the five states we checked, one county or two habitually top the list of total registered deer: Clayton in Iowa, Franklin in Missouri, Coshocton in Ohio, Marathon in Wisconsin, and Harrison with Steuben in Indiana. We tested each leader against a second measure, registered deer per square mile averaged over 2020 to 2024. The leader stays at or near the top of that list in Iowa, Missouri and Ohio, and drops to 26th of 60 in Wisconsin, where nine different counties have led the state's total since 1960.

A state's list of top counties by total registered harvest answers one question: where did hunters register the most deer this season? It also favors big counties, because more land leaves more room for kills. The second list divides each county's registered deer by its land area in square miles and averages 2020 to 2024, which puts small and large counties on one scale. It still counts kills, so it mixes deer with hunter effort. Forest, Not Corn explains that measure and what it tracks.

The table sets the two lists side by side. Land area comes from the USDA Cropland Data Layer county summaries, and Indiana has no matching land layer in our data.

Clayton led Iowa in total registered harvest in each of the 24 seasons from 2001 to 2024 and was the only county to do so. Its latest total was 4,318 deer in 2024. Per square mile it ranks 3 of 99, with Van Buren first at 5.28. Van Buren did not lead the total in any of those seasons. Clayton has held first place through a long statewide decline in the harvest, which Iowa, County by County traces.

Ohio's Coshocton led all seven seasons from 2019 to 2025 and is also first of 88 per square mile at 13.20, so in Ohio the two lists agree. Two cautions apply. A seven-season streak is a shorter claim than Iowa's 24. And Coshocton's 2025 total of 8,530 sits in county totals that Ohio's weekly and final reports had not fully reconciled when we ran this analysis.

Franklin led Missouri in 9 of 11 seasons from 2015 to 2025, with Texas and Howell one season each. Its latest lead was 6,751 deer in 2025. Per square mile Franklin ranks 2 of 113, behind Jefferson at 7.72. Missouri's habitual leader is close to the top of the second list, but the two lists name different counties.

Indiana's record runs from 2013 to 2024. Harrison led 6 of 12 seasons, Steuben 5 and Noble 1, and Steuben led in 2024 with 3,261 deer. We cannot run the per-square-mile test there. Indiana's list is the raw one this paper warns about, and we would not read it as a ranking of county quality.

Wisconsin's record is the longest here, 66 seasons from 1960 to 2025, and it has the most leaders. Marathon led 21 seasons, Jackson 15, Marinette 14 and Waupaca 10. Clark led two, and Buffalo, Iowa, Sauk and Shawano one each. Marathon also led in 2025, with 12,041 deer.

Per square mile Marathon ranks 26 of 60. That is inside the top half and a long way from the top. Marquette leads Wisconsin at 15.15 and is not among the nine counties that have led the state's total. Marathon is also the largest county in Wisconsin by land area, and total harvest favors big counties, so part of its habit of leading the raw list may be size. These data cannot split size from everything else.

Two Wisconsin counties sit near the top of both lists. Waupaca led 10 seasons and ranks third per square mile at 12.93. Shawano led one and ranks ninth at 10.74. The full ranking is in Forest, Not Corn, and Wisconsin's 85-Year Arc covers the longer record behind the leader counts.

Each season's leader is the county with the highest total registered harvest in that state's agency record. Record lengths differ: 24 seasons in Iowa, 12 in Indiana, 11 in Missouri, 7 in Ohio and 66 in Wisconsin. Counts of how often a county led can be compared over time inside one state, and they cannot be compared between states. Ohio's 7 of 7 covers far fewer seasons than Iowa's 24 of 24.

The per-square-mile ranks use only 2020 to 2024, while the leader counts reach back years or decades, so the two lists do not cover the same seasons. Registered harvest is not population, so we report where hunters registered more deer and make no claim about where more deer live. Per-square-mile figures correct for county size but still reflect hunter effort, so a crowded county can rank high on them.

Use the per-square-mile list to compare counties of different sizes, and use the total list to see where registered kills pile up. A county that ranks high on both, such as Coshocton, or Waupaca in Wisconsin, has volume and a high rate behind it. A county that leads only the raw list, such as Marathon, is worth checking for size before you treat it as a hotspot. A county that leads only the per-square-mile list, such as Marquette, Van Buren or Jefferson, is one the raw list hides, and it deserves a look before you settle on the county everyone names.

Neither list measures how much ground you can hunt or how many hunters share it. Check both for a county you like, then test its reputation against the records the way Buying Deer Ground does for land buyers.