"I used to see 30-40 deer"
 

I keep seeing/hearing these statements with all of the NY and PA deer "discussions". I find them quite amusing. I do not doubt that tere were times when you could see that many deer in a day. But, what I find amusing, is that the people that say that actually think it is a good thing. No I am asumin that they are speaking about deer season (and usually early deer season) so yarding is not taking place. I can think of many reasons why I would argue why that is not that good. The biggest is plain and simple - over population. That many deer together (and all the others in the area) are certainly putting a big strain on the food supply. More that likely this strain has/will cause the deer to be somewhat smaller in size and racks will tend to run smaller becuase of poor nutrition.

I say the days of the 30 deer a day were not all that great for overall herd health and I think the current days of 3-5 deer a day (sometimes) and maybe no deer on some days and maybe 6-10 on a really good day are much better. I think the deer herd (at least in NY) is in fine shape. There are plenty of deer and the deer are healthier and bigger. This is my belief and has been my experience over the past few years.

RE: "I used to see 30-40 deer"
 

not in my neck of the woods, friend.

i'm sure theres lots of reasons , but we've all been down that road before.

lets just hope for a mild spring thats easy on the critters.

-moose

RE: "I used to see 30-40 deer"
 

Yep and down the road to Iowa I can see 50 deer a day and it seems to work there even though the winters are hard. Monster size deer out there.Wonder why ???

RE: "I used to see 30-40 deer"
 

here in western NY the deer are not better than they were a few years ago 30 or more deer a day is a bit much but 10-15 wasn't uncommon . this past year i saw a total of 10 all season somethings wrong here

RE: "I used to see 30-40 deer"
 

doughboysigep,
The last 2 years I have had about 10 sightings during the year, no doubt some the same. I get out about 20-30 times a year. Deer are not around in my area. I've heard all the excuses of weather(heat, fog, cold, wind), food source changes, hunting pressure, deer going nocturnal, etc. The one thing I can't figure out is when these deer learned to cover their tracks, cause there's none of them!

RE: "I used to see 30-40 deer"
 

Iowa is a bit different than NY. It probably has a bit higher carrying capacity seeing how it is 90% agricultural (i am guessing - probably overestimating) and NY is 75% forested.

I don't doubt that people may not see as many deer (last year, year before, etc.) but next year you may (or year after that). Locals go through that. Populations are cyclical. If I based my hunting year on the season after the first to days of gun (which many may seeing how they don't get out until the 1st weekend) I would have said "there are no deer". We saw 0 deer from the second day till the end of gun. To many that means there are no deer, right. But we did have snow and the deer were there and lots of them - tracks everywhere. They did go nocturnal, in a big way! No factor in bow and ML and my overall season was great (oh, by the way, I didn't get a deer). Saw many nice bucks in bow and saw 15 deer on the ML weekend (and this is in a DMU - 7M - with a "low population", ie no DMP). The deer are there. Yes, some places may have lower numbers this year and last, but there are still deer there. Hunt hard, if you don't see deer, hunt harder.

RE: "I used to see 30-40 deer"
 

And I found your post quite amusing.

RE: "I used to see 30-40 deer"
 

I did not see deer after the opening day of gun either, but I could clearly see tracks all around my hunting grounds, so I knew they were and are still there.

RE: "I used to see 30-40 deer"
 

i am fortunate to be self employed , and my business is "nocturnal", so i get lots of time to hunt.

by lots i mean that i hunt EVERY SINGLE DAY from september right on through to the end of small game. 75% of the time it is from sunup to sundown. throw in a couple of unaviodables (doctors visits, broke cars, etc) , but i at least take a quick hunt on those days. i have not missed a day of deer season in nearly 14 years.

i get lots of critters, take lots of pictures, scout year round, i am a hunting idiot. (ask my first wife);)

so i think i "hunt hard"....

please explain to me where the abundance of deer in NY is. I'm sure that there are good herds "localized" in certain areas, but they are not in the "home base" i mostly hunt in .

i know the routine about food sources, going nocturnal, etc.., but the numbers are down.

i hunted through the "haydays" when deer were like rabbits, and i never saw a sickly one, or carcasses from winter kill, or any other indication that the herd was over its capacity.

see, now i've rambled so much i don't remember what we were talking about...

DEC has just reported the take this year was down 40%. i read this in a magazine is it true?

besides declining license sales, no new hunters, ticks, Scott Peterson, lack of food, nocturnal patterns, SUV's , Solar flares, etc....what is the reason?

I write an outdoors column for a small town newspaper, so i get to talk to LOTS of hunters, and when HUNDREDS of people (in my area) say they havent spotted hardly any deer, well, i gotta question whats going on. and i don't think the answer is "Hunt Harder".

my .02
-moose

RE: "I used to see 30-40 deer"
 

Maybe in some areas 30-40 deer would be too much. But I'm figuring 3-4 is too little in those same areas. THere needs to be a better balance. If the habitat is bad, how about making an effort from both ends to reduce the deer AND improve the habitat. Instead they leave the habitat poor and just kill all the deer.