"Northern New Castle County is so heavily urbanized that many refuge areas are off-limits to hunting," said Rogerson.

"With that lack of hunting pressure, deer are able to reach those older ages. So a hunter who knocks on the right doors and gets permission to hunt some of those areas -- that have had little to no hunting pressure for years -- will have a good chance of connecting with one of those older-age deer."

"Conversely, Sussex County gets much higher hunting pressure. Its landscape is dominated primarily by agriculture. Miles upon miles of woodlots mixed with corn and soybean. You can't get a whole lot better as far as habitat and nutrition go.

In areas where antler restrictions have been applied, they've met with varying results and hunter acceptance. Delaware has experienced positive outcomes from the 15-inch minimum stipulation bestowed on two of its larger wildlife areas.

"We have two wildlife areas bordering each other that have antler restrictions," said Rogerson. "One is in Kent County and the other New Castle, with the two separated by a river. The Woodland Beach Wildlife Area covers around 5,000 acres, while Cedar Swamp entails around 3,000 acres. There are some private parcels mixed within the two, so neither is a contiguous tract.

"Any legal buck on those two areas must have an outside spread of at least 15 inches. The exclusion is for hunters 16 and younger and senior hunters, where 'normal' bucks are legal game. But for the general hunting population, the rack must be 15 inches wide -- which is roughly from ear tip to ear tip."

This antler restriction, coupled with the toughness associated with hunting this marshy area, adds up to plenty of older, trophy-caliber bucks.

Last season, hunters in this area discovered remains of two extraordinary bucks that apparently had succumbed to epizootic hemorrhagic disease. One buck was in the 180- inch category; the other reportedly sported a 26-inch spread.

"Hunters hate to see that or hear about that," notes Rogerson. "But it's certainly evidence that deer of that caliber are out there."

Indeed, some of the all-time largest bucks to come from Delaware were harvested during the past few years.

Neal Dukes bagged the No. 2 typical in October of 2006. He used a muzzleloader to down the 182 0/8-inch New Castle County buck.

The top all-time non-typical was harvested in January of 2005. That 208 4/8-inch trophy from Sussex County was taken by Keith Lee.

The No. 2 and No. 3 all-time non-typicals were also harvested during the Past five years.

Another component that plays in favor of older age-class deer is the agency's buck permit policy, which limits the number of younger bucks that any hunter can take.

"In Delaware, a hunter is allowed one buck of any size," explained Rogerson. "We call it our 'hunter's choice tag.' It can be used on a buck or a doe, a spike or a 20-pointer.

"The second tag is a quality buck tag that can be used only on a buck with an inside spread of at least 15 inches.

"So essentially, we've limited the number of bucks a hunter can take to two. That's the most you can take. You can't by any additional buck tags. And if you harvest two bucks, at least one of them is going to be 2 1/2 years or older.