White-tailed deer apparently love "civilization." Somewhere I have read the white-tailed deer population is much larger than it was when the first Europeans landed on our Atlantic shores.

I remember when there was no doe season, and one buck per regular gun season was the legal limit. Gun season usually ran for about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks, starting Thanksgiving weekend.

This year, the bag limit for bucks during the regular gun season is 5. The season opened last week and will run until the end of December.

Good thing. These days, I work with more and more families for whom that deer meat in freezer represents food for the year they otherwise would be without. Hunters in my area who are prosperous and knowledgeable of the circumstances of folks in their communities are also very good about showing up at a distressed family's home with a butchered deer, ready to be packed into the freezer. Makes a real difference.