Yes, but maybe the habitat is not the same as 20-30 years ago??

Carrying capacity changes.

My father used to hunt VT from the late 50's to the very early 80's. From 58-68, he said he would see allot of deer. Some 15-30 a day, sometimes more. Back then, VT hunters would rather kill there mother then shoot a doe, so very limited doewhere taken. In 1969, a hard winter killed offthousands and thousandsof deer statewide. When the herd rebounded slowlyafterwards, the huntersagain would not control the does.All the while, the habitat grew, and had less wintercarrying capacity every year. In 1978, the big blizzard smashed the Northeast, crashing the herd again. While the next 25 years had its ups and downs on the herd.VT never again regained those "golden years". You go to these same covers now and you would be lucky to see 1 deerin severaldays ofhunting.It had nothing at all to do with herd reduction/ doe permits. It was because the habitat could notcarry that many deer through a tough winter anymore. They had the hard winters in 58-68 too, but the capacity of the land was there to carry them at that time.

VT never had a herd reduction ever. In fact, they are still allot of old timers who insist that all doe permits be stopped. In some zones they did just that, and the herd did notincreasemuch at all. If anything, the quality of the deer declined. (weights and racks)

My point is,what a cover could carry 10, 20, 30 years ago, may not be what it can carry now.