Why does my mom think the deer numbers are down on her property because she is only seeing two or three on the game cameras?

Ellis county, your not far from my area. What I would suggest is contacting the parks and wildlife biologist for Ellis county. Ask what the average deer population for the area is based on property size and the average counts over the last five years.

 The feral hogs in your area have tripled in the last 4 years and that can affect the available grazing areas, water, and carrying capacity of the land. 

 And right now the coyotes in North Texas are in their breeding cycle and the does that are pregnant are getting close to delivery. Doe loss can be elevated due to predator pressure.

  Depending on the property size you may want to ask the biologist about lamps or MLD requirements to work on the deer habitat on your property.

I have heard that CTM is a poacher of all animals.  Kills and laughs and

leaves them where they fall.

How big is the property?

Sounds like she is a tree hugging nut case.  Obviously there will be as many deer on that property as it will support.  If it will only support 3 deer, if you kill 1, 2, or 3, more will come in to replace them when they are gone.  If she wants more deer, she needs to create more habitat for them.

Your mom thinks the deer population is down because she applies the fundamental attribution error to deer...the error is just because she doesn`t see deer numbers on camera at a particular time she concludes in her mind the situation is widespread. Deer are raising their young this time of year and limit their trips away from their young to eat. The extreme cold snap in Texas last month has been hard on animals as well as some humans. Next week there may be 25 looking into the camera when deer decide to run with a herd. Food will attract them.

FYI: Do not feed them only crummy cracked "deer corn" their bodies need more nutrition like Big & JBB2. Only a small % of dry cracked corn is processed in the digestive system....deer and other ruminants need a quicker boost in minerals and proteins! 

It doesn't matter if it's realistic or not. It's her land. Start feeding the deer and she will soon see her 25. Problem will be keeping the hogs in check and away from the deer feeding areas. Hogs make good sausage and pork chops by the way.

It may be due to hunting. Hunting is a cruel and unusual sport

Location, location, location. We need to know location to know what normal numbers to look for and such. I'm guessing you mom has lived on that property for some time. Life would tell her what she should be seeing or not seeing on her land. The critters we see give us an idea of what else is around.  So if she is thinking that she should be seeing more deer, than I'm going to assume she knows what she is talking about.

yes it is.............