There’s an undercurrent among longtime hunters and trained observers here in Massachusetts’ upper Connecticut Valley that the deer herd is not what it’s cracked up to be. So let’s examine the issue briefly.

If you believe MassWildlife’s deer-management team, the local deer herd has never been better. But talk to witnesses who’ve hunted the same woods or farmers who’ve maintained the same hayfields for decades and you’ll get an entirely different opinion. They’ll tell you without hesitation that there are less, not more, deer in our hills west of the Connecticut River.

So who do you believe?

Myself, I tend to listen to credible souls who have hunted the same woodlots and maintained the same mowings for a generation or two. They’re not counting deer turds in bedding areas, they’re counting animals they’ve seen from their treestands or the seats of their John Deeres, which seems like reliable evidence to me.

Who better to query when assessing the deer population than the men and women out there fertilizing and harvesting their fields. Not only can they tell you what they’re seeing from day to day, they can compare it to what they saw 10 and maybe even 60 years ago, when they were riding on their fathers’ laps. They can tell you how many deer appeared in the fields for the greening of March, and they can assess the fawn situation better than anyone. Why? Because they work the land, know it, live it.

So what do you say to these people when they tell you they’re not seeing the large herds or spring lambs they once saw? Do you tell them they’re misremembering? That deer have changed, no longer feed in rye and alfalfa fields? That the lambs are there, just not visible? Go for it if you want to play the fool. Myself, I listen and take their information to the bank. If they tell me there are less deer on Catamount or Cricket Hill than in 1970, I believe them, regardless of what the bean-counters say. I guess it’s just my way of processing info.

And here’s something else to chew on for a minute, a tough piece of gristle. Think about places in this state where deer densities are highest, places like Deer Management Zone 7, or southeastern Massachusetts, where multiple antlerless permits are sold like lottery tickets. There, many does are being harvested annually and the deer herds are out of control. Here in the upper valley, where permits have been scarce during the 21^st century, we appear to be experiencing little or no herd growth. How does that happen? Go figure.

So here I sit, perplexed, wondering if it’s my eyes or the experts who are deceiving me. It just makes sense to me that if the deer population in my neighborhood is expanding, then I’ll be seeing 10 deer this March where I was seeing eight last year and six the year before. But that’s not what I’m seeing. In fact it seems to be going in the opposite direction. We’ll see in a couple of months.

I’m not casting rocks, just being honest. But the experts don’t want to hear it.