Adam, your top photos really hit home - literally. They could have been any number of valleys here in western Massachusetts (the Pioneer Valley, the Mohawk Valley, etc),
First pic is how I remember much of the "country" landscape (10 miles from home) in the early - late sixties. The one on the right is NOW.
It's really disheartening. There are success stories - wild turkey numbers are so high they are practically nuisances, and the deer population is good. But a contributor to the success in many cases is the loss of wild habitat to humans. As our urban and now suburban neighborhoods become more and more wastelands filled with third generation welfare brats(regardless of race, so don't slap that on me) people want to live further out in "the country" (10 - 20 miles from my same hometown.)
Loss of natural habitat means bad news for a lot of animals. It's not uncommon for black bear, moose, deer and turkey to be encountered on woods walks where such would be unthinkable. When I walk my Brit in the off season in woods 5 miles or so from where I live I always carry a handgun in case of coyotes. Even the mutation "coydogs" have been spotted by some.
Things ain't what they used to be, and stubborn old me still clings to how it used to be. Sentimental or stupid. As much as I don't want to I feel my wife and I will have to move WAY out in the next decade.
