Heck if I know? I sure haven't hurt the herd, except for the one doe I hit with the truck...

Most of the hunters that I have talked to, could have killed 3
bucks, but they didn't. I wonder why? Could there be some kind
of self imposed limit going on......on baby bucks?

Bigger bucks being killed every year now. I wonder why?

I think it comes down to bigger horns and we can't change that... If we closed hunting down for 3 seasons, we still couldn't compete with these one buck limit states that everybody wants to compare TN too.

I think one of two things is happening, either we are still seeing the negative effects of the 2007 year where so many things were bad, EHD, Drought, late freeze, no mast crop, etc. Or maybe TN has topped out and is now leveling back off in terms of Total harvest, as this appears this will be the 3'rd year in a row of declining total harvest. We have had so many things change in the last 3 years its hard to compare them to the past. For example, all the negative affects I mentioned earlier, paired with increased opportunity for hunters, as well as increasing the buck limit, and in some parts of the season and state it was increased by a HUGE amount. It would appear the harvest should have increased, but yet its decreasing. Question is, are these changes due to hunters being more selective and using self restraint (which I think is happening) or is it due to the deer herd???

I hunt in Unit L where the perception is there's a deer behind every tree. Four of us hunt two farms, one is 240 acres, the other is 350. Any buck over 1 1/2 is fair game if he turns you on. This is the worst year we've ever had on these two farms. We weren't any more selective than any other year, the deer simply weren't there. My honest opinion is too many things have been going on the last couple of years to make a solid case as far as harvest numbers go. Hunters being more selective (the state as a whole), EHD, drought, regulation changes, lengthened seasons....all these things, in my opinion, make it very difficult to nail down any one factor as to what exactly is happening. I think after a few stable years, we'll have a better understanding.

Maybe because there were less yearlings to kill. I saw fewer than I've ever seen. Fewer does to get bred during the 07 EHD outbreak, would equal fewer 1 1/2 year olds this year. Just a thought.

Heck, all I saw this year WAS yearlings, with the exception of the 2-1/2 yr old I took during ML opening day. Maybe all the mature bucks have been killed?