Deer population in USA

[Pat B]

Has anyone seen a national study on deer populations; decline or rise? I've wondered over the last few years whether with all the hunting pressure over the last decade and beyond if the overall deer habits haven't changed to more nocturnal. We all know that as the season continues and the pressure increases with gun hunting, etc(more people in the woods) the deer move into a more nocturnal pattern. Could this be happening as a general rule for deer activity instead of just during the later seasons each year.
  A ride down country roads at night seen to show as many deer as ever. Deer are creatures of habit and are excellent at survival so if they change their habits over a season it seems to me that over the long run they would move into a more safe environment of nighttime activity.

[ArrowAtomik]

Bighornangler
My experience was south jersey farmland.  A completely different world from North Jersey.  I think Northern PA is similar to your experience in that there is less vegetation in some areas for the deer compared to years/decades ago.  Also invasive species that are not very palatable for deer can hurt some areas more than others.  

Every area goes through natural cycles... some are years, some are centuries... then you throw man into the equation and it is quite complicated and a bit more volatile behavior I think.  My experience across the country though is that numbers are still increasing overall and I think most of the data out there supports that to be the trend.

[maineac]

Populations will always fluctuate. There are lots of factors that can affect them, most already mentioned.  Deer themselves can be a huge factor.  They can degrade the browse in their habitat badly enough to hurt their population. Most states have been working hard to lower their deer densities, not just for business interests (though that is also a factor) but for the health of the herd.   This was also a unique year in terms of rut timing and intensity from what I can tell.  Our population is coming back from two brutal winters in which we lost up to or over 30% of the herd.  If you went by my season our numbers are still way down, but I know some people who saw plenty and took multiple deer with appropriate tags, or multiple family members.  Perception of herd density can often be based on our own perception rather than real statistics.

[John Scifres]

About the only way deer populations are judged in IN and KY (the two states I am familiar with)is from harvest stats.  Unfortunately, there isn't much of a way to take a census on deer.  

Indiana's liberal harvest rules have been in place for many years and we still set records so I don't think that has much impact.  I study this all pretty closely and I am convinced our population is still increasing.  Every year hunters bemoan lower numbers but every year the harvest stats prove otherwise.  Some even believe that DNR is faking the numbers.  Go to hoosierhunting.com and see all the posts on deer numbers.  You'll see what I mean.

Very, very few deer hunters (less than 1%) in Indiana kill more than 2 deer per year even though, theoretically, if you had a place to hunt in every county, hunted every day of the season and had a deer processing factory, you COULD kill around 400     We have a one buck rule and each county has from 0-8 bonus antlerless tags available.

We still don't have as many big deer as other midwest states because of the timing of our gun hunts.  But we have decent numbers.  I prefer that over horns anyhow.

[Dirty Bob]

The deer numbers are way down from where they were last hunting season. Coyotes combined with a lot of snow have made a huge difference in this area. Last bow season I saw four does. Four.

[wildwood]

Calif. pop. are down. Mountain Lions having protected status is a big part of the problem.

[NC BowBender]

It really depends on habitat

I had 5 feeding in front yard last night...20 feet from the front of my house...and due to town limits, can't hunt them.

My uncle lives in the mountains near Sparta, NC. Really remote. They used to be covered up in deer. They have really massive clearcuts all around him now, and have had really snowy, bad winters 2 years in a row. That and coyotes now moving in...all they've seen are the coyotes, but NO deer or even tracks