For the bowhunting ground available, Indiana's documented trophy history is densest in six southern counties. Floyd and Clark score 99 on FDR's Trophy Index, and so do Jefferson and Scott. Ohio and Switzerland score 98. Five of the six line the Ohio River from New Albany up to Rising Sun.
How the Trophy Index works
The Trophy Index adjusts each county's documented trophy history for the modeled bow-huntable acres in that county and scores the result from 0 to 100 against every county we cover. Indiana has 91 rated counties and the middle score among them is 87. Marion has no rating because the habitat model maps no qualifying bow-huntable acres there.
Trophy scores vs. the overall county rank
The trophy order and FDR's overall county ranking disagree a lot. Ohio County leads the provisional FDR Index at 78.7 and Switzerland ranks sixth. The other four rank lower. Floyd is 15th, Jefferson 26th, Clark 32nd and Scott 53rd of 92 counties.
That gap comes from what the composite includes. It weighs trophy history together with herd and harvest indicators and habitat. It also counts change over time and roadway evidence. A county can stand out for big bucks and still land in the middle once everything else counts.
Raw harvest points somewhere else again. Indiana DNR's 2024 report puts Steuben first among counties in deer reported, at 3,261. Steuben scores 97 on the Trophy Index and ranks seventh on the composite.
A single giant can come from almost anywhere. Boone and Crockett lists Wes W. Nicley's 2024 Boone County non-typical at 297 6/8 points. Boone scores 79 on the Trophy Index and sits 75th on the composite.
One record buck shows a county can produce a giant. Documented trophy history shows where big bucks have been densest for the amount of bowhunting ground available. Those answer two different questions, and the second one is the better guide for deciding where to start looking.
Limits of the index
The index has limits. The top four all display 99, and the rounding does not settle an order among them. None of these numbers converts to a hunter's odds of killing a buck. Modeled bow-huntable acres also give no one permission to hunt a property.
Every score in this piece is on FDR's live Indiana rankings table. The Trophy Index has its own column beside each county's composite rank. Each county name opens a county page with the same two scores, such as Floyd and Boone.
For a bowhunter deciding where to look in Indiana, the southern cluster is the place to begin. Steuben and Washington are worth a look too since both show 97 on trophy history and sit in the composite top ten. After the county comes the ground itself, and that means access and cover and who owns the farm next door.