Addict, You forget about the late tags and the fact that the ,Rubies are a narrow range, 5 miles in is pretty far in the rubies. Also There are many more roads providing access there were when deer were more abundant in the 40s 50s 70s and 80 s. Heck I get lost in the south end of the range because they there are so many new roads. I don't get what your saying? The places that are wilderness have always been defacto wilderness?
I believe drought has the biggest effect on the amount of deer and overhunting has the biggest effect on mature bucks.
By late October those high country bucks are gone and moved on, snow or no snow, and a thousand or so hunters are finding easy access to bucks, the only exception is some of the private land.
I live right by the Wind rivers, the deer are close to the foothills there also, not because the high country is wilderness, but because it's to high too alpine, the habitat is lower.
The Rubies, the Salt rivers and the Wyoming range all have the right habitat in the high country, that's why they are there,
habitat, thats the key