Well spoken. It is good to see that you considered science, land use changes and hunter behavior in your rebuttal. All too often, we fall into the trap of using our personal experiences (or expectations) to draw conclusions. I often find myself fighting the emotion of frustrating outings for fish and deer. If you fished Lake Erie for walleye this year you know what I mean. Last year in NY, deer hunting in most of our higher elevations was simply awful with few sightings. I am sure this was partly due to multiple years of record kills and a couple of tough winters, but it was also a rare year with no mast crop (acorn or beechnut), poor apple production and low hunter participation due to frustration and bad weather. However, in the valleys and flat lands, the hunting was the exact opposite and we saw winter yarding in many areas, which is not common in WNY. I videotaped a yard of 100+ deer in the vineyards between the Allegany Mts. and Lake Erie basin last March. I bet the wineries were not pleased. No deer for me yet this year. I will be in the Allegheny National Forest tomorrow.