Animals tend to spawn everywhere, including right next to cities. As fun as it is to have bison and jaguars running through my living room, realistically human development should probably scare off certain species.

Or maybe hunting animals in one area (especially if they're on your lawn) drives them away. This could be tied to the "trampled areas" map, causing animals to avoid cities, roads, and areas where humans tend to hang out.

This would make hunting more of a specialized profession since you'd be less likely to see large animals in your backyard and they'd need to travel slightly (doesn't have to be far) to hunt game.

It would also play into habitat destruction (animals would spawn further away from civilization, but also removal of natural biomes should reduce the reproduction rate in that area).

Other considerations: animal populations should be more local. Over-hunting in one town/region would have a larger impact in that region (and ideally knock-on effects on the food chain) while another town that has more sustainable hunting laws might be a net exporter.