Camp Blanding is comprised of mostly sandhill habitat and pine flatwoods like Osceola. There are plenty of planted pines, mature pines, turkey oak ridges and bottomland hardwoods. This WMA is divided into two sections; the smaller northern portion is set aside for dog-hunting for a pair of one-week hunts. The remainder is for still-hunting.

"You can do your scouting over at Blanding and find these little oak groves," Johns recommends. "On the south range there's a lot of them, and over there, the deer are really tuned into the mast production. When the acorns start hitting the ground, they get really active.

"If I had to kill a deer to stick in my freezer, I would be at the gate at Camp Blanding waiting to get in. There are some really nice deer that come out of Camp Blanding. In fact, we have a 6-point rule over on the south post: not a 6-point, but a three-on-one-side rule. We have that area hunted under a quality deer format."

Some bragging-sized deer have come out of Camp Blanding. Among those listed in the Florida Buck Registry are Lester Culver's 125 6/8 B&C from 1984; Steve Roy's 125 7/8 B&C from 1987; and the 125 1/8 B&C buck taken in 1988 by Roy Aguilar Jr.

BIG BEND WMA HICKORY MOUND UNIT
This 14,427-acre tract located in Taylor County is 20 miles west of the city of Perry and has not produced any FBR candidates over the years. In fact, FWCC biologist David Nicholson labels its deer population as average for the state.

"Quantity would outweigh quality there," he says. "Quantity would probably be fair because sometimes you do get fairly good hunting pressure. So sometimes the deer don't obtain that older age-class.

"Hickory Mound would not be your first choice if you're trying to kill a big deer."

This unit of the Big Bend WMA consists of pine flatwoods, coastal hardwoods and cypress swamp. It is mostly hardwood hammock areas with lots of oak trees. The bottomland, hardwood forest-type terrain is usually pretty wet.

Dog hunters primarily use Hickory Mound, although some still-hunters scout out prime locations for their tree stands as far away as possible from sportsmen running dogs.

BIG BEND WMA, JENA UNIT
At only 12,522 acres, Jena is the smaller sister to Hickory Mound, but has produced at least one buck that made the FBR. Nancy Olson shot a deer there in 1985 that scored 108 7/8 B&C.

Nicholson is not high on still-hunters' prospects on Jena, though, because of the high dog traffic and poor overall deer population.

Jena consists primarily of coastal hardwood, cypress swamp and pine plantations.

"Jena has a fairly diverse mix of habitats, ranging anywhere from pineland forest to upland oak habitat to bottomland hardwood habitat," he notes, adding that the areas the deer utilize vary, depending on the time of year, weather patterns and food availability.

"In a year where you've got a good acorn crop, they are going to be in those hardwood hammock areas. In a year when you don't have a high mast crop, then they may be more concentrated in either upland or oak-pine habitats that are burned on a frequent rotation."

BIG BEND WMA, SPRING CREEK UNIT
At 14,600 acres, this Taylor County public hunting property is similar in size to Hickory Mound and Jena, but supports a better whitetail population.