As large and rough as the area can be, the Osceola is a prime area for getting lost. Experienced hunters take a compass and it is probably not a bad idea to invest in a hand-held GPS unit that allows you to back track on your trail.

In the Northeast Region the No. 1 area noted for big deer is Ocala WMA, with 39 racks on the FBR. Among those was a buck that scored 153 Boone and Crockett Club points and was taken by Robert McIntyre in 1996. That 12-pointer tied for No. 15 on the all-time list of typical bucks to come from the Sunshine State.

Ocala is large by any standard, stretching over 382,400 acres. Deer dog-hunting is still popular in north Florida and most of the Ocala is open to running dogs. The exceptions are the Hopkins Prairie and Lake DeLancy Units.

Wildlife biologist Mike Abbott knows the Ocala area as well as anyone and said portions of the area have good soils, which should mean bigger deer. The trouble is, hunting pressure is such that it is a fairly young deer herd. But, even the young bucks tend to be loaded with fat reserves.

"Probably 70 percent of Ocala is what we call sand pine scrub, which is sand pine, scrub oaks and scrub palmetto," Abbott said. "Whether it's acorns or palmetto berries, deer typically have plenty to eat."

Abbott noted that one thing that is clearly good for the Ocala deer herd, but is generally despised by hunters, is clear-cutting. Most hunters look at the forestry practice as creating worthless landscapes, when in reality they provide young succulent browse for deer, plus fertile ground for scrub palmetto and scrub oaks to grow.

To hunt during the general gun season from Nov. 12 through Jan. 8, a quota permit is necessary only for the first nine days of the season.

Unlike most WMAs in the state, camping is allowed at designated sites during the hunting season. Some of these campsites are so popular they resemble small communities.

If you're looking for the best big deer public area in the Southwest Region, that honor goes to Green Swamp WMA. A total of 28 bucks from the area are on the Buck Registry. It was 16 hunting seasons ago that the record Green Swamp buck was killed, a huge typical buck taken by Pete Wyrosdick that scored 150 7/8 B&C points.

Wildlife biologist Victor Echaves works Green Swamp and said with its proximity to Lakeland and Tampa, it gets a lot of hunting pressure.

"I think the area has shown in the past that it can grow big deer, but the way things are now they simply don't get a chance to mature," he opined.

Still, there is no plan to cut back the daily quota of 750 hunters, but he said it would have to be drastically reduced to give the bucks the chance to reach older age classes and have trophy antlers.

Green Swamp is composed mostly of pine forests, with pockets of cypress and swampy bottoms. The Withlacoochee River traverses the WMA on the south side. Some hunters who know the area well choose to hunt the edge between the river and pine forests.

The hunting is first-come, first-served after Nov. 20 for the 750 daily permits during the general gun season on Green Swamp. The action then continues through all of December, ending on Jan. 8.