That's not my experience on Long Island. It's built up so there's less habitat for critters (and more for people) - but we go for a walk at dawn, we occasionally see deer. In a suburb.
"No worry....pretty soon hunting will be gone.....the animals are almost all gone.:
Apparently you have no concept about the INCREASE in game (translate for you: animals) in this country. Try driving a road at night...almost anywhere. If you don't hit the deer, you'll more than likely hit a rabbit, stray dog, or other animal. Maybe a coyote.
I'm not sure what planet you live on, but animals are populating so fast, the licensed hunters can't get rid of them.
p.s. Please come to Amarillo or Lubbock...the prairie dogs are taking all of us over. Not to mention the racoons, possums, squirrels, and coyotes that are coming into town.
I guess that explains why my dogs chase wild turkeys around my yard in metro Atlanta. It also must explain the elk, bear, etc... that regularly cross my property in northern New Mexico.
There are more deer now than there ever were ... and a lot more than there should be. Moose, Elk, Caribou? No problem.
Upland game bird populations are cyclical depending upon the weather ... and yes on the pace of rural development.
Canada Geese? Pest Proportions
Black Bear? Zooming populations
Mountain Lions? Try having a picnic in the Santa Monica Mountains.
And if Dick Cheney really likes shooting lawyers, there sure ain't no shortage of them in these woods.