If it's habitat related,how come I have so many deer around my place in a rural residential area. Habitat sure isn't decreasing around here. In Colorado Springs, over populated deer are becoming a big nuisance. CPW is trying to figure up how to cull them.
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SS,
You answered your own questions. All those well taken care of, well watered lawns and plants, and ag land make great deer and elk food! These days, it's some of the best habitat in the state.....
Declines of the total population in the SW is not the same as access to deer and elk. The change of ownership from working ranches to these "gentleman's ranches" have changed the whole access equation. What used to be a phone call to a rancher neighbor or friend (come kill ALL the SOB's, they;re eating all my grass!!!!) is now no longer available to the average guy.
Now that deer and elk have become a "economic value" and both the working ranches and gentleman's ranches are either leased up, or in some cases only hunted (underhunted) by the wealthy "gentleman's" friends from Silicon Valley or Wall St, is another matter and one maybe even more vexing. In some ways that economic value is working against the average hunter.
