In rifle season I hunt public land in 5A so I can spend some time hunting with my brother. We have been successful the past 4 years in the area we hunt with little problems with other hunters anywhere close. This year we have seen 3 doe the entire first week, and that is hunting there Monday-Saturday. Very little shooting anywhere close. I did help a fella load up a nice 7 point Friday morning as we we leaving, he shot it about 500 yards from where I was on stand but even he said this was one of only 4 deer he saw all week. I'm really trying to figure out whats going on up there. Every year it seems like less and less people are hunting the area but for it to turn from productive to a vast waste land in one years time is mind boggling for sure. Time to start scouting the area again and stop saying tommorrow will be different. Saturday we had a little snow and we walked from the top of the mountain all the way to the truck straight down through the woods and we didn't cut one deer trail. That's 3/4 of a mile with no sign.