It also didn't hurt that the deer pops grew by astounding proportions.

In NC....our deer population has grown 400+% since 1977.

I don't think we'd have NEARLY the amount of bowhunters we have now if the pops were still at their >30yr levels. "Success", today,is achieved much easier than it was "back then". I knew NO ONE who bowhunted for deer when I was growing up. I grew up in very rural NC (on a farm) and I can count on ONE hand the number of deer I saw before going off to college.