I realize that the buck to doe ratio is all bucks of any size. If you want to know how many are 4 pt you have to look at harvest data to find that it averages 33% 4 pt or bigger (again for the SE region). So of the 33 bucks sighted, 11 are 4pts (or for pre-hunt numbers 19 out of 56). The biologist told me that when they do the flight surveys they do separate 2pt, 3pt and 4pt deer, I wish they would publish that data.
The highest deer harvest on record occurred in 1988 and 1989 at 82,200 and 95,200 respectively.
The average harvest during the 50's: 52,422 (high 71K, low 30K)
The average harvest during the 60's: 60,660 (high 78K, low 56K)
The average harvest during the 70's: 46,344 (high 77K, Low 25K)
The average harvest during the 80's: 59,098 (high 95K, Low 42K)
The average harvest during the 90's: 52,500 (high 72K, Low 38K)
The average harvest during the 00's: 47,825 (high 54K, Low 43K)
The earliest info I can find for hunter numbers only goes back as far as 1982. The average through the 80's was 135,000 hunters. Average success rates were 33-40%. That is a similar success rate to recent years. Obviously the 60's were really good but the 50's and 70's fluctuated widely, same with the 90's.
If I had to rely only on the deer I lay eyes on while scouting, hunting, trapping and shed hunting then I would have to conclude that the total deer population for the Southeast Region is ~500 deer in 2014. Which means that about 1,000 people who claim to have shot a deer during the hunting season must have been lying.
Why is Idaho at the the bottom of desired states to hunt? I have a couple theories:
1. Perception that only draw hunts are worth the time or hold trophy bucks. And because Idaho has mostly OTC hunts and doesn't offer bonus points in drawings the NR don't think it is worth their time/money to apply for Idaho drawings.
2. Perception that wolves have killed all the game in Idaho. At least that was one of the highest ranked reasons that NR's gave when surveyed about why they weren't planning to hunt Idaho.
Idaho ranks in the top 5 for Boone and Crockett entries for the years 2000-2010. (I don't have more recent numbers) The rankings are:
Colorado 220
Wyoming 66
New Mexico 54
Utah 44
Idaho 41
Unfortunately I don't think that Mule deer will ever reach the population levels of days gone by, exactly because of the reasons that oldhornhunter stated. The migration corridors and winter grounds are being broken up by suburban sprawl. In my opinion, the State should declare all known wintering grounds as protected lands and ban any and all development.