First time onthis board, and I wanted to share some observations from the last few years and see what you all thought.
I'm fortunate enough to hunt on private land in 5c. Lots of new brush due to cutting operations.Historically, on the three properties that we have to hunt we would (pre AR) would take nine bucks for eleven or twelve hunters. There were some nice ten's and elevens, but the norm was a four to eight 1.5 year old buck. There were quite a few doe as well.
I relocated to DE (Now THERE are some big deer!) and returned home to hunt during the advent of HR and AR. We anticipated seeing quite a few yearling bucks running around that we either couldn't see whether they were legal, or were under the 3pt limit. In a few years of AR and HR we went from seeing quite a few small bucks and does, to seeing virtually no deer at all. Mind you, this is private land, surrounded by agricultural properties and other woodlots, laced with oak and beech. No tracks, no trails, it's kind of sad, actually.
The whole hunting fabric of the community has changed, as well. Very little hunting pressure (perhaps that's why we don't see as many deer). Just wondered if anyone else had seen anything like that in their neck of the woods. Things have sure changed since I moved!
Thanks in advance.