Working Paper 110 · Trophy GeographyKentucky · 120 counties · Trophy Index · October 2026 snapshot
Kentucky Deer Counties Ranked: Kenton Leads the Trophy Index
FDR Research Desk · Published FDR county analysis · Agency sources and methods linked below
Kenton leads Kentucky's Trophy Index at 99. Trimble and Oldham follow at 97, then Robertson, Campbell, Todd and Pulaski at 95. The depth of the list is as useful as its winner: 36 counties score at least 90 on the national scale. Kentucky offers many high-scoring county comparisons before a hunter has to chase the first name on the list.
KEY FINDINGS
- Kenton leads at 99. Trimble and Oldham occupy the next positions with displayed scores of 97.
- Robertson, Campbell, Todd and Pulaski display 95. The underlying ranking is retained before rounding.
- 118 counties receive a Trophy Index. Fayette and Jefferson are unrated because this habitat model maps no qualifying bow-huntable acreage there.
Kentucky county finder
Where does your county rank?
Derived FDR scores on a national 0 to 100 scale. History: 2011 through 2025. Captured October 5, 2026. Order uses the underlying rate before rounding. Zero is a valid score. Not rated means the model has no qualifying bow-huntable acreage.
10 of 120 entries shown
| State rank | County | Trophy Index |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenton | 99 |
| 2 | Trimble | 97 |
| 3 | Oldham | 97 |
| 4 | Robertson | 95 |
| 5 | Campbell | 95 |
| 6 | Todd | 95 |
| 7 | Pulaski | 95 |
| 8 | Bracken | 94 |
| 9 | Boone | 94 |
| 10 | Henry | 94 |
01County comparison
Kenton leads a deep group of high scores
Kenton's 99 reflects documented trophy history per estimated bow-huntable acre. Trimble and Oldham are next at 97. Robertson, Campbell, Todd and Pulaski all display 95, although the underlying rates preserve that order before rounding. The first seven counties occupy a four-point displayed range.
Bracken, Boone and Henry complete the first ten at 94. Logan sits just outside in eleventh with the same 94. That is the first reason to use the complete county finder: a top ten cutoff would exclude a county whose displayed score is indistinguishable from the three directly ahead of it.
02County comparison
The counties at 93 are worth reading by name
Shelby, Scott, Woodford, Grant, Clinton, Meade, Spencer, Pendleton and Harrison occupy positions twelve through twenty. Every one displays 93. That is a wide choice of counties within one narrow scoring band, not a reason to treat twelfth as a meaningfully different hunting prospect from twentieth.
Todd and Pulaski both score 95; Spencer and Pendleton both score 93. A hunter with an established opportunity in any of those counties already has a high-scoring county context under this measure. The model does not establish that moving among them improves the particular hunt available.
03County comparison
Spencer looks different when the question is harvest density
FDR's Kentucky harvest-density report compares a different outcome. Spencer leads that five-season analysis, with Pendleton next. In this Trophy Index snapshot they rank eighteenth and nineteenth, both at 93. Their lower ordinal positions here still sit inside a strong national scoring band.
Anderson is twenty-eighth on the Trophy Index at 91, and Hardin thirty-second at 90. Those numbers give readers of the harvest report a concrete second view of familiar counties. The reports use different harvest histories and different area bases, so a changed leader is not a contradiction.
The official Kentucky harvest application is the place to inspect a particular season's checked harvest. Preserve the selected season and category when comparing it with either FDR report.
04County comparison
Why Fayette and Jefferson remain in the table without scores
The Trophy Index rates 118 counties. Fayette and Jefferson are listed as not rated because the model maps no qualifying bow-huntable acreage there. Dividing by that missing denominator would be invalid. This is a model limitation, not a finding that either county contains no deer or no hunting opportunity.
The county list keeps those gaps visible alongside the scored counties. Use the score to compare historical context, then check the property and its permission. Modeled habitat is not an access inventory, and the many counties sharing a rounded score are a good reason to avoid treating each rank as a separate quality grade.
05Basis of this report
Sources and method
This derived ranking was captured October 5, 2026. Trophy history covers 2011 through 2025, normalized by estimated bow-huntable acres and compared nationally. Reporting bias and habitat-model choices affect interpretation. A score is a relative historical indicator; neither a kill probability nor a count of deer is implied.
Compare the other states in the FDR county report series.
NOTES AND SOURCES
- Derived FDR scores on a national 0 to 100 scale. History: 2011 through 2025. Captured October 5, 2026. Order uses the underlying rate before rounding. Zero is a valid score. Not rated means the model has no qualifying bow-huntable acreage.
Fully Drawn Research is an independent data analysis desk, not affiliated with any state wildlife agency, transportation agency, mapping provider or outfitter. FDR county scores and interpretations are independent analysis. A county ranking does not evaluate an individual property.
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