Back when I was a stone cold doe killer during the "2 a days" a few years ago, I would do my doe killing as early as possible so as not to be shooting them when I was looking for a buck during the rut. It could be that people are doing that now that they can again and slack off later.........could be.
Come on brother... you know this post doesn't fit the narrative here.
The fact is, there could be ALL KINDS of reasons why harvest could be up or down. Lockjaw mentioned one above - maybe more people are hunting this bow season because we've actually had some colder weather and people are more interested in going. Maybe it's because the acorn crop is heavy/light (it's heavy around our area this year) and deer numbers on specific properties are different from last year. Maybe it's because processors have become more strict on mandatory reporting... or maybe it's because some processors have advertised that they're taking deer to help people who's lost SNAP benefits (two in my area are doing that). Mark it down though... if any numbers are higher this year it's GOT to be because of the increased doe harvest.
