Well I just don't see that bow hunter’s or hi tec muzzloaders are thinning the population... Just likeyou stated, the Anti's fighting for things they don't know about, lack of cougar hunting is what is hurting the population... If we as hunters are not able to control the population ofanimals and that goes for all animals’ cougar, coyotes, deer, elk, ect... They will go extinct though starvation, diseases, ect... Hunters and conservationists help the populations of animals, and animals need to be harvested tokeep populationsunder control... Sounds to me like the Anti's have gotten to your area and changed something that is drastically effecting your deer population...I am sorry to hear that, and it's ashame that someones ignorance is able to effect so much...