In NC....I can count on one hand the number of deer I saw as a child. Though I didn't hunt deer....I small game hunted from the time I was 10 and had a pellet gun.

I remember being on the Blue Ridge Parkway on the way back to college and seeing my first wild turkey. I was 20.

I see hundreds of turkeys every year, now......and hundreds of deer (maybe over a thousand).

In my state....the numbers have gone up 450% in the last 20 yrs (deer herd pops). I would assume (though I don't know....I'm basing this assumption purely on sightings) the turkey numbers have equalled that.