I think I actually rated mine a little high. I am from Rowan County in NC. I have 3 stands that I normally hunt. 2 of them are in areas where it is over hunted. At one location it seems like 25-50% of the time you will hear something in the morning before you are able to see, by the time the sun rises you will be lucky to see a few squirrels. The one stand that is not in an over hunted area it is still rare to see a deer but when you do, it is usually a nice deer. It is very easy to get discouraged in my neck of the woods. There have been seasons where the only deer I have seen have been what I have harvested, which like I said before are nice deer...not younger deer. That particular year I only took 3 deer, 2 really nice buck and one nice doe. I still continued to hunt after getting the bucks as we try to do our part in managment hunting. Our rule is that if we harvest a buck we should do our best to equal it out and harvest a doe as well.
I have not yet had a season in bow hunting, but the stories my husband and relatives bring back it is not much better during bow season. I guess I will find out next year.