anyone else NOT seeing deer?

[Tioga]

Not going to start the QDM debate- but have you guys put out any trailcams to really see how many deer are in your areas?  

I have 4 cameras going 24/7/365. I have a pretty good grip on what's going on, and what the ballpark figures are on deer numbers in the vast areas that I travel. The herd is down. Waaaaaay down. The blanket approach of allocating doe tags on large WMUs such as 2G has really put a hurting on the herds occupying state lands.

[Paul WA]

During elk season it was in the mid 80s, wasnt looking too hard for an elk as the late season runs mid Nov thru the first week in Dec, on the few occasions I was out I only saw deer once a doe with 2 fawns...PR

[Swamp Pygmy]

different areas need different management. I'm sure what works in some areas doesn't work in others.

But its definitely true we know that deer have home ranges and some people are acting like lowering the population will lower problem deer. As if they are herds of caribou. If there is no hunting where there are problem deer and excess or even mandatory doe harvests on open lands it doesn't help anyone.

Here in Louisiana we have so many pigs that is much more of an issue than doe numbers from the loss of habitat but people talk about QDM much more. I guess its more interesting conversation. And nobody wants to clean ten wild hogs.

Anyway I'm just saying different strokes for different folks. You're probably both right in your areas.