Would you still be motivated to hunt with a significantly lower deer population?

I was reading the history of Virginia Whitetail deer hunting and came across this paragraph....

"Since the 1940’s, Virginia’s deer herd has demonstrated exponential growth as a result of protective laws, deer restoration efforts, and habitat changes. From a low of 25,000 during the Depression, by the early 1950s, Virginia's statewide deer population was estimated to have expanded to 150,000 animals. By 1970, Virginia's statewide deer population was estimated to be approximately 215,000 animals. The 1980 statewide deer population was estimated at 422,000 animals. The 1987 statewide deer population was estimated to be approximately 575,000 animals. Current population reconstruction computer models estimate a population of approximately 900,000 deer in Virginia."

In the 1950's Virginia's deer population was 1/6th the size of what it is today. I average seeing around 20-40 deer each year where I hunt. So if I were hunting in the 1950's, I would average seeing around 3-7 deer each year. Goodness. That is pretty rough for one's motivation to be in the woods.

So would you be motivated to hunt if you only saw say 3-7 deer in the woods each year? Would you continue investing your time and effort if you only saw 1/6th of the deer you see today? Would you switch back to using firearms due to the infrequency of deer sightings and with the increased chance that you would not kill a deer in any given season?

 

I would be even more motivated and I would stick with my bow.

 

Yes I would. I honestly would still be out there if I knew there was only 1 deer in my area! I just need to be in the woods.
I live in NW Ohio, in Van Wert County. My Dad, my Grandpa, my uncle and my Dad's Uncle and cousins all hunted. My Granpa died about 10 yrs ago, and I got some of his stuff. I have a gun/bow rack of his with 2 feet and a little skull plate of a spiker. One side is about 4" long and the other about 6". It is one of the very first deer taken with a bow in this area. Well, by a white man with a tag!
Anyhow, grampa said that in those days, you would go weeks at a time without ever seeing a single deer. He said that if you even SAW a deer, the word would get around town and there would be guys stopping by just to hear you tell the story. He said that when he killed that little buck, he was the absolute hero amongst all the hunters in our area for weeks. That just blows me away to think of that. I remember when he was still alive, and I would be bummed out just because I didn't see a deer for one night on stand. He would laugh and call me a "spoiled little tree dweller". Then of course, like old people do, he had to tell me the stories about how it was when he was my age.!
But, even if it was still like that, I guarentee you I would still be out there trying.

 

Yes and I've done it.
Some areas of NH can leave a little to be desired, compared to the high deer density states/regions...
The last 10-15 years our numbers have been better, so maybe the tide has turned!

 

Yep, it's not about killing things for me. In the very least it's about being out there with the chance of killing something, but it's a lot more than that too.

 

Agree.

 

Cool stuff guys. Proff..your grandpa sounds likes a good man. In 2007 I saw about 15-17 deer the entire year. luckily 3 of them came within range of my bow. I would go 5-7 hunts without even seeing a deer. I think it made me better.

 

Yes I would still be out there.

 

Yes as I already do.

 

Last year was the fewest deer I've seen in 15 seasons of bowhunting and I am as motivated as ever for this coming season.

 

Yea, but I would just travel more to states that had better opportunities.

 

Without question I will always need the therapy of the forest. And the 3-7 animals unfortuanlely falls right in to all I saw last season. Hopefully this year will be better.

 

I have witnessed the deer numbers in my area drastically drop over the past 10 years. 10 years ago, it would be nothing to see 25-30 deer in a day during archery season, that number is down to about 2-5 deer per sit. Rifle season was a whole different ball game, I can remember seeing well over 90 deer in one morning when I first started rifle hunting 13 years ago. We hit up 4 different patches of woods and did some deer drives.... the crazy part is that maybe 6 of those deer were bucks, half were probablly spikes and only one would have had more than 6 points.

Now, as far as being motivated goes, I am always motivated, but it is definetly alot less entertaining now than what hunting was 10 years ago. I don't care what I am shooting as long as I am watching deer, and it was nice to sit in stand and have deer around you the entire day, I never got bored!

 

The low deer population per square mile is one of the reasons I don't deer hunt in New York. I gun hunted in the Adirondacks for 5 years and never saw a buck. not saying I'm the best or anything, but even in the off season never saw any.

 

I guess it depends on how bad is bad. If I go more than 7 or so sits without seeing "a" deer, my motivations may suffer a little. Honestly, I'd be moving a LOT and finding deer, but it would be frustrating.

 

I'm facing this dilema right now. Here in my area of Ontario our deer population is about 1/3 what it was 2 years ago. Am I motivated to hunt here, yes....but I have better opportunites elsewhere and will probably spend more time at those places.

I guess we'll find out this fall......

 

Dan--that is rough. Why the big time drop?

 

Two hard winters in a row, record wolf population that coincided with the record deer population and a lot of the lichen that is high in protein is gone. There was a balsam die off in 1984 and with it the lichen grew on those dead trees like crazy. When they fell, it provided great wintering food for the deer. Also, with the logging around our camp, the natives were able to shoot a lot of deer at night with spot lights and the white guys would shoot any buck that moved. Man as a whole is terrible at managing deer....but that's another topic.

So, lots of things happened at once. :computer:

 

Dang Dan that stinks...don't people realize that if we play the deer hunting game as a team that we all benefit?

 

I hunt in a very low density area now. I have much better places to hunt, but its my own land and I enjoy the challenge. In the last two years I have killed 2 deer on this property with only a handful of opportunities.. So to answer the question, yes, I would still stay motivated.