Utah was, at one time, noted for having big mule deer. In sheer number, the 1950s and 1960s would appear to have offered the best hunting.

One of the best hunts on record was in 1985, when 82,552 bucks were harvested. The highest number of hunters afield was in 1983, when 228,907 bought licenses. The highest number of deer ever harvested in a single year in Utah was in 1961, when more than 132,000 were taken.

In the way of records, Boone and Crockett rankings of big game animals, in its 1981 book, showed the late 1960s and early 1970s produced the biggest records.

Utah had eight records in the top 100 for typical mule deer and 16 in the top 200 in Boone and Crocketts Records of North American Big Game.

In the 2008 records, Utah placed 13 in the top 100 and 23 in the top 200. Some were new, within the past decade, and some were old records only recently registered.

Many are filling in the gaps. The No. 7 entry under typical mule deer in 1981 dropped to No. 12 in 2008. The deer was shot by V.R. Rayburn in 1973.

By comparison, there were no Utah entries in either typical or nontypical elk in 1981. There were 13 entries in the top 100 in 2008 and 22 in the top 200 for American elk typical. Under nontypical, there were six in the top 100 and 13 in the top 200. And, what is now the No. 1 world record for nontypical elk was taken in Utah in September of 2008.

The elk, called the Spider Bull because its antlers sprayed out like spider legs, was tagged by Denny Austad of Idaho. The elk was taken in the Monroe Mountain unit and scored 478-5?8 points, 13 inches over the previous world record.

Also in 2008, Ron Skoronski recorded the fourth-largest typical elk taken between 1830 and 2008. It scored 428-1/2 points. The previous record was 442-5?8 points.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation recently reported the top 20 elk counties that have produced the most recent record-book animals.

Combined, the top 20 provided 602 record-book bulls.

The No. 1 county was Coconino County, Ariz., which accounted for 61 records.

Garfield County in Utah was No. 10 with 27 bulls and Millard County was No. 19 with 19 bulls.

Records show that the predominant big-game animals when pioneers entered the valley were elk and bighorn sheep. There weren't many deer. The hillsides were covered with grasses back then, which are good foods for elk and sheep, but not for deer.

Overgrazing turned what were lush fields of grasses into a barren wasteland, which allowed browse and forbs — main foods for deer — to grow, and deer numbers increased, as did the size of the deer.