MJY65 wrote:I realize the population comes and goes due to weather, predators, etc. What I'm talking about is the combination of deer numbers with an ever dwindling area in which to hunt.
It seems like the opportunities for non-landowners are pretty much non-existent compared to a few decades ago. The price of land is so high that it is quite a stretch for a few weekends of hunting.
I've finally reached a point in my career where I could potentially devote a bit more time to hunting and get back into it, but it doesn't look like the hunting I remember exists anymore.
Is my perception accurate?
No, your perception is not accurate. Not certain which zone you are looking for so of course I can only speak to zones I have hunted in but from my perception here is where you are flat out wrong.
1) Deer numbers are much higher than they were several decades ago.
2) Public land is readily available and while it has it's challenges those challenges existed 20 years ago and still exist today. Pressure ebbs and flows in areas and the Saturday of the firearm opener is going to be the busiest but pressure can be used to your advantage as well. I hunted public land most of my hunting career and know how to successfully do so. Now I am in woods in lower zone 1. Deer are not trophy quality but I have taken several very nice 8 pointers on public land over the years. I always preferred river bottoms and the heart attacks and strokes that accompany pulling a big buck up a 300 yard long steep embankment, but I understand what is fun for some is not fun for all. I did lose a hunting buddy that way when my "ATV" to haul out dear consisted of a chain link fence post with a dear strung "Indian style". Tends to dig in to the shoulder after a mile or so.
3) The price of land has dropped significantly from where it was prior to 2008 and is really a bargain I think. I do now hunt my own because I have kids and I wanted to control the experience for them.
I had good times and bad times on public land. There are good people there and jerks but I knew how to deal with that. Always have, since the first time I walked into a piece of public woods after school to get into my stand for some bow hunting when I was about 14 and ran into a guy walking out with it. It was a crappy stand compared to todays, as it was the cheapest, heaviest portable I could afford from saving up my pocket gopher money. He did give it back with an excuse that in the public woods anything he finds he could have. From then on, my stand had a bike lock on it. Until the last season when a meth head stole my ATV from the parking lot of the hotel. That said, I would not trade my years hunting on those lands back in. The good times and great hunts far outweighed the bad.