I dont know if we are losing hunters or not, but opening day of rifle season, me and wife were sitting together and we saw a ton of deer. But we only heard two shots by 10 am. I dont have cell service where we were - but we got worried we made a mistake when season opened. Normally we would have heard at 30 shots by ten am. Turned out, it was opening morning. The two shots could have been anything.
I think the ml season - now alternative weapon season allowing straight walled cartridge rifles - otherwise known as early rifle season - has reduced the excitement of modern gun season