I have heard similar stories from family members and guys i work with. They said for years they never saw a deer. I found this article from 2004 on the forestry site. Deer Restocking

According to this article in the 1930's and 1940's many counties in Al didnt have deer. Major state sponsored restocking efforts began around 1950 it looks like. Pretty interesting read. Around the time it was written it appears the deer population in AL was booming. I was living in GA then. Seems like the population today, at least in my area, is on the decline again.

My papaw has some good hunting stories from growing up around oak ridge Tennessee. When I go visit him and hunt with him he still seems to know everybody and thanks to some good hearted folks we get to experience a little bit of the old days of being able to hunt with different folks on different land all over that area.