Why does TN not produce as many booners as the Midwest? Soil and nutrition.
Those two (soil & nutrition) may be the biggest two,
but there is a 3rd reason which may be 2nd to nothing else.
The 3rd reason is LESS deer hunting in the Midwest,
or should say less effective deer hunting.
THIS leads to
LESS ANTLER HIGH-GRADING compared to a state like TN
as well as most Southeastern States.
In most Midwest States, their "gun" deer seasons are less than half as many days annually as is TN's. What's more, many these states only allow shotguns or muzzleloaders during their "gun" seasons. You don't legally hunt deer with a centerfire rifle in many "big buck" states such as Illinois.
Looking a little closer to home, look at Kentucky.
Why do so many more larger antlered bucks come out of KY than out of TN?
1. Better Soil
2. Better Nutrition
3. Less Deer Hunting (therefore less antler high grading)
Although KY does allow the use of centerfire rifles, KY's "gun" deer seasons are less than half as many days annually as is TN's. KY also has a 1-buck annual limit whereas TN has a 2-buck limit.
Although the differences between TN & KY's "potential" are closer today than in times past, the difference in potential will always be dramatically more in KY than in TN, even if deer regs were exactly the same in both states.
If you think it's bad now, go back to the mid-1990's when TN had an 11-buck limit vs. KY's 1-buck limit. Our TN buck buck limit going to 2 or 3 has certainly helped us produced more older bucks in TN (as a percentage of bucks) compared to times past. But there's no way we can have twice-plus the gun hunting days, double the buck limit, with less fertile soils, and ever compete with our neighbors in KY.
And along a similar vein of thought, KY (statewide) will never be able to compete with the antler growing
potential of it's neighbors, like Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Illinois will always have better statewide soils & nutrition than does KY. Kentucky can only somewhat mitigate its potential vs Illinois' via differences in regs, such as KY's 1-buck limit vs. IL's 2-buck limit.
I'm sure some of you think I'm crazy to say this, but most TN hunters have a better chance at a 150-plus class buck on most public lands in Illinois than they have on most very expensive private land leases in TN.
In fact, I've found some of the more expensive TN private leases have more antler high grading than TN public lands. How could this be? Because the costs are so high, more hunters, and mostly very avid hunters (who hunt a lot) go in together just to be able to pay for those expensive leases.