Here in Clarke County we had Headmill (Soterra), Scotch, Marathon/American Can, and several others, along with very generous landowners also. This provided free Permits for well over 100,000 acres of Public land to hunt at will. Deer were very plentiful in our area! But, they just did not hold the Trophy status/allure of later. It was mostly small game, turkeys and deer drives as a child in the 70's. Then, as time passed, Companies began to charge fees for Permits. People began still hunting and hunting slowly became more about ME than US. By the late 80's, the land was all leased up, food plots and shooting houses all over the landscape and the deer were not near as numerous as before. This trend held constant through the 90's with the biggest change being the land lease prices slowly creeping up and doe harvest increasing. The 2000's held ample opportunities, just at a higher costs as lease prices climbed and people wanted more acreage per hunter to 'manage'. Does were hammered in the quest for trophy bucks for all! This brings us to the current financial plight and diminished deer herds of today....we pay WAY more for LOTS less. As I sit here and think about all the bucks I have killed and seen killed, along with the huge shift in the overall deer population from seeing literal herds of deer to struggling to see deer on 'average' land......and sacrificing huge amounts of money and sacrifice to build up herds on certain properties to usually getting outbid once improved........to my current situation of being extremely fortunate to have family access to prime property......while others scream for Governmental Help to control 'others' in a dire effort to allow them to kill a Trophy Buck.......

I can assure you that while I have enjoyed the Ride......the Good Times are past!