Dube, don't know where you are or how long you have hunted. But in my area, Bedford and Somerset counties, the peak was before the 90's. Our peak was probably late 60's through early 80's.
And this is why I noted that different parts of PA have had good numbers at various times and may now have gone in the other direction?
The point could even be made (and perhaps should be made) that one part of a county might've had good numbers over a period of time, yet 15 miles in another direction, different ballgame?
I started hunting in '73 on the family farm south of DuBois. A buddy hunted east of DuBois near the resevoir. It wasn't uncommon for him to see nearly 100 deer in a day while I figured it was a good day to see 20. My cousins told me they only started hunting the farm area in '66, before that they went to the 'mountains' where there were more deer. We peaked in the early 90's, dropped down, and are back to about where we were at the peak.
Almost all my hunting has been and still is done on private ground that is open to the public or on Gamelands.
Statewide, I wonder if most of the folks complaining about few deer started hunting during the era of peak numbers and thought that was the norm and the way it should be?
