I read that article as well about deer numbers.

Bow season was very busy. I hunted strictly afternoons during bow due to other obligations(11 total afternoon hunts), and saw more deer than both of the two prior seasons put together. Ironically only one doe and one buck came in close enough for a shot, but no success. I personally saw at least 5 different bucks, 7 afternoons. On two of those occasions I witnessed multiple bucks, and on the last Friday before opener, I jumped the largest Buck I have seen in the woods in my lifetime. He was tending a doe.

Come opening morning of shotugn, I saw a small buck come into the lane as expected, but he turned last minute, and failed to offer a shot. I later took a doe on the evening of opener, and have yet to see another deer in the woods.

However someone hunting the area property is not very ethical. A fellow hunter informed me of two bucks that had been shot and scalped for their antlers and the rumps cut off. The ermaining bodies were thrown into a gully with a small creek off the side of the road. Sure enough, I checked it out, and it was true.

It has been absolutely and scarily quiet in the woods after opening day, well beyond the normal expected "quietness".