Question about deer numbers
 

I am just wondering if the guys & gals that say they still have to many or just see a lot of deer if they still have quite a few farms in the area they see all the deer.
Also where few deer are seen have the farm all gone & building big.

Reason I ask this is in the one area I hunt we have some weekend farmers that don't plant a crop every year.
The years they do we seem to have a lot more deer as the fawns seem to have a better survival rate.
Another area has full time farms & they seem to have a good sized herd.
Yet in another area I also hunt there are no farms and the are just a very few deer and there building houses up the b.
What I am working on in the areas where I hunt we do see & seem to have less deer than before Dad [85 years young]says he sees less deer at his apple trees in the fall & early winter.
Is less food & loss of habitat the biggest reason we are not seeing the big
deer herd of yesteryear in some areas.
I can remember that if you did not get your buck opening day they thought you were a fool & they always were 4 point or more & most of the time 2 years & older as no body shot the spiky.

RE: Question about deer numbers
 

I don't know where your from or where your getting your numbers information, but there are more deer today than ever in the US going back to when we started counting.

Uncle Matt (in IL)

RE: Question about deer numbers
 

I'm not using numbers as per say just what I see and what I hear friends & other hunter are saying.
I agree that there are still more deer today than before just some areas
don't seem to & I'm trying to find out (for myself) if food & habitat are the major reasons or something else like over hunting.

RE: Question about deer numbers
 

I noticed the same thing
Where I live in Seagrove NC.
Theres no farms close and there isn't many deer to see.

I know where the farms are there are a lot more and bigger deer.

Thats just what I saw in the woods.

Number of farms and numbers of deer do seem to go hand in hand.

RE: Question about deer numbers
 

There are way more deer for sure in farm country. Where I live there is a lot of winter wheat. Its planted in the fall and comes up before the first freeze. It looks like thousands of acres of lawn grass. This give the deer a very good source of food at just the time that everything else is turning brown and drying up. Before the winter wheat there were almost no deer in our area. The population is now huge. They can graze the wheat until into Jan. It also provides a good food source during the breeding season and keeps the doe in good shape for the birth of the fawns. When you have a good food source near excellent cover like we do in out cedar filled river breaks, then you have everything it takes to build a deer factory. I assume that the deer thrive in most farm areas in this country.

RE: Question about deer numbers
 

The deer all seemed to move in to the burbs around here. They are sleepin under porch decks bedding in flower patches and swimming in pools. I've seen deer packed in to estate yards and standing on the curb all the time. No hunting allowed of course/ They flock to the bird feeders/ Then out here in the country the deer are hard to find.they all moved