This thread popped into my head at work yesterday.
Not a F'ing chance.
I know that, it's been demonstrated.
1980s, the our first firearms deer season was bucks only, daylight to about 9 there were constant shots. It often sounded like scattered battles. From noon on, shots every few minutes. Walking, driving, standing...you couldn't help but see 10-20 deer a day, minimum.
Often groups of 5-10.
We had the gamut of seasons, but 1 tag for the year.
Early 90's they started including a doe tag with the license.
That allowed 2 deer,
and provided the opportunity to kill a deer and keep hunting. With the used, unmarked
tag hidden. Tags would be used over and over. By some.
In a couple years there was a noticeable decrease in deer.
Early 2000s PGC got on the quality bandwagon, and I'll leave the rest out of this.
Now guys can buy unlimited tags through a controlled system.
They can kill 4 maybe 5 deer without even breaking the law.
Where I could have easily killed 4 deer on most days in the 80s, you can now
hunt all day and not see a deer. The first day used to sound like a Trap Shoot.
Now, it's a few scattered shots per hour. Despite now being able to shoot any
deer except spikes and forkhorns(brow tines count), some first days I'll hear under
20 shots. There used to be more than that just from the public land within earshot.
Based on that.
With most deer killing coming in season, legally, regulated, and only by people
hunting as a past time,
as opposed to desperate, unregulated slaughter by
anyone with a chance to kill a deer.
Anyplace without enormous blocks of unpopulated land would soon eliminate
the animals.
