Outside the Memphis metro, Madison leads Mississippi's Buck Index at 79, followed by Hinds at 77. Inside the metro, Tunica leads at 62. Issaquena and Claiborne share a displayed score of 71 in fifth and sixth place. No county in the state reaches 80, and the median county scores 44. The county order compares documented big-buck history per estimated bow-huntable acre on a national scale. That gives hunters a specific county comparison, while leaving permits and the actual property to be checked separately.
KEY FINDINGS
- Outside the Memphis metro, Madison leads at 79. Inside it, Tunica leads at 62. FDR names the leaders on each side of the line, and a big metro means a Census metro area of 1 million people or more.
- Madison, Hinds and Warren are the top three, at 79, 77 and 75. Yazoo is fourth at 74. No county reaches 80 on the national scale.
- Issaquena and Claiborne share a displayed score of 71. They hold fifth and sixth place because the underlying order is retained. A displayed tie should not be read as a measured difference.
- All 82 Mississippi counties are included. The score is a Buck Index on a national scale, not an official county harvest rate.
Mississippi county finder
Where does your county rank?
Derived FDR scores on a national 0 to 100 scale. History: 2011 through 2025. Captured October 17, 2026. Order uses the underlying rate before rounding. Zero is a valid score. Not rated means the county has no qualifying bow-huntable acreage or is mostly inside city limits. Counties marked metro sit inside a Census metro area of 1 million people or more.
10 of 82 entries shown
| State rank | County | Buck Index |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Madison | 79 |
| 2 | Hinds | 77 |
| 3 | Warren | 75 |
| 4 | Yazoo | 74 |
| 5 | Issaquena | 71 |
| 6 | Claiborne | 71 |
| 7 | Holmes | 69 |
| 8 | Leake | 67 |
| 9 | Copiah | 65 |
| 10 | Humphreys | 64 |
01County comparison
Madison leads, with Hinds and Warren next
Madison holds first place at 79 and Hinds second at 77. Warren's 75 holds third place, ahead of Yazoo at 74 in fourth. The national scoring frame matters: Madison's 79 sits on a 0 to 100 scale built for the whole country, so the score reads against that wider comparison.
The denominator is modeled bow-huntable habitat. A county with less qualifying acreage can rank high when its documented big-buck history is concentrated relative to that acreage. The score does not identify which parcel produced that history or whether a hunter can gain access to it.
02County comparison
Fourteen counties score 56 to 64 in places eleven through twenty-four
Holmes is seventh at 69, Leake eighth at 67 and Copiah ninth at 65. Humphreys and Adams share a displayed score of 64 in tenth and eleventh place. Washington is twelfth at 63, one point below Adams.
Tunica is thirteenth at 62, the highest county inside the Memphis metro. Lee, Bolivar, Coahoma, DeSoto and Sharkey share a displayed score of 58 in seventeenth through twenty-first place. Benton ranks forty-second at 44, and Marshall ranks sixty-seventh at 35.
03County comparison
Lowndes, Pike and Jones sit at three different points in the table
Lowndes ranks twenty-second at 57. Pike is twenty-ninth at 50, and Marion shares that score in thirtieth place. Jones is sixtieth at 37, and Jefferson Davis shares that score in sixty-first place.
Lowndes's 57 is above Jones's 37 under this measure. The score measures a documented difference in county history after the acreage adjustment, and it does not say why that difference exists.
04County comparison
Check the unit and the property before choosing a county
The state wildlife agency publishes its hunting rules and regulations, which are the reference to check before a county becomes a trip. This report does not allocate management-unit harvest totals to counties.
The agency's wildlife management area page is the next reference for the land itself. A move from Madison to Hinds changes the displayed score from 79 to 77. Access may matter more than that gap.
05Basis of this report
Snapshot, history window and scaling
FDR derived this October 17, 2026 snapshot from the 2011 through 2025 history window, estimated bow-huntable acreage and national scaling. Scores run from 0 to 100 and are not harvest odds, population density or guaranteed access.
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 17, 2026. Order uses the underlying rate before rounding. Zero is a valid score. Not rated means the county has no qualifying bow-huntable acreage or is mostly inside city limits. Counties marked metro sit inside a Census metro area of 1 million people or more.
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.
Keep reading
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