I started hunting in the mid 70's. As a quick summary I'd say that overall deer numbers here in northwestern lower Michigan are similar now to what they were then. What has definitely improved is the quantity of 2.5 to 4.5 year old bucks and a leveling of the buck to doe ratio.
More detail . . . In the 70's the deer numbers locally weren't great but were rebounding from what I heard from older hunters were absolutely dismal numbers in the 60's (for example: don't tell anyone but I saw some tracks by the pines south of town
). Bow hunters were pretty rare in those days and a bow hunter pretty much had the woods to themselves in October/early November. Then the rifle army invaded the woods on Nov. 15th and there was someone sitting on every stump available. Because does were considered the means to rebuild the herd it was largely considered bad form in those days to shoot does (an early imprint I still struggle with to this day) and in fact the DNR issued very few doe permits. However, anything with an inch of bone was considered a score. All of this pressure on the 1.5 year old, uneducated bucks meant that very few got to the ripe old age of 2.5 years.
In the 80's and early 90's the does multiplied and the deer numbers hit unprecedented numbers although the herd consisted largely of does. In those days it wasn't uncommon for me to see 60-70 deer on the opening day of rifle season as the herds of does were run around by the influx of the orange army. Bowhunting also became more popular as it was easier to locate and get close to deer with the higher populations. Note, this was before the legalization of cross bows but us "darned compound guys" were definitely cheating in those days.
As the 2000's rolled in crossbows became legalized and bow hunter number increased a bit for a while but I don't think it was really a significant factor. Bow hunter numbers have stayed pretty consistent in my opinion and actually may have decreased slightly over the last five years or so (not counting the 2020 Covid year when everyone seemed to rediscover all outdoor activities). At the same time QDM became more advertised and the hunting shows started showing "influencers" actually passing smaller bucks to target larger bucks. That made it cool to let them grow for the younger hunters. I see this in some of my younger buddies (in their 20's) who routinely pass legal bucks to get a chance at something better. When I was in my 20's I was killing anything with antlers. These guys now shoot does for venison, and are extremely encouraged to do so by the DNR as doe permits are readily available (I think you can buy 10 doe tags per hunter right now in Michigan). Also during this time APRs were implemented in the NW 12 counties of the state (local for me). This has virtually eliminated killing of most of the 1.5 yo bucks in those counties. The bucks gain the benefit of at least another year of antler development as well as improved survival education from more hunter encounters.
I will say in my discussion with hunters, even those who were the most critical of APRs when they first came out now agree they like what the APRs have done to the buck quality available. Are there a bunch of booners running around? No. However, there are a significant number of nice 8 pointers around when they were really pretty rare before. The increased pressure on the doe herd has dropped the overall deer numbers but the herd is in better shape as far as a closer to even buck to doe ratio.
I actually think, from my perspective as a guy who likes to shoot better bucks, that the local herd/hunting is at the best that it has been in my lifetime.
