I think the argument can be summed up like this:
1. DCNR: The deer herd is overpopulated and therefore doesn't have enough quality food - Hunter response: This is only true in about 10% or less of the state. Deer are highly adaptable creatures with diverse diets.
2. DCNR: Bucks will grow significantly larger antlers if they have access to the food a dead doe would have eaten - Hunter response: This is likely a complete fallacy, but even if true only applies to 10% of the state
3. DCNR: If we allow doe killing (and limit buck killing), more people will kill does to fill the freezer instead of immature bucks, resulting in an older age class of bucks - Hunter response: There may actually be some truth to this, but my odds of killing a 130+ buck are still greater if I see 5 deer per hunt than if I see 5 deer in a season. Lots of bucks being born each year gives me better odds of seeing a 4 yr old than very few bucks born and hoping someone else doesn't shoot it until it gets to age four.
4. DCNR: A herd with equal numbers of bucks to does results in a more concentrated, more active rut - Hunter response: This also may be true, but who cares if the rut is active and concentrated if I still hardly see any deer during it because they don't exist?
5. DCNR: Humans are the only significant predator of deer and therefore their population inevitably becomes out of control if we don't kill equal numbers of bucks and does as a natural predator would have. - Hunter response: This theory is dead wrong. We were told coyote numbers were low and that they rarely prey on deer. Now we know the exact opposite but DCNR isn't spreading the word about the coyote problem nearly as fast as they advocated for the doe killing.
6. DCNR: We never forced anyone to kill does. We think each individual landowner should determine what their herd needs. - Hunter response: I hunt on 100 acres. I don't have any control of the deer herd in the 2 square miles around me. It is DCNR's job to manage the herd. That is why you exist. If I can manage the herd on my own land, why do I need DCNR?
My take: DCNR needs to have some humility, admit where they were wrong, and begin reversing the doe killing laws across most of the state. Most people will buy in to that logic. But the current stance of "Oh we weren't wrong, we just need to focus on habitat improvement in areas of low population" is BS that any average Joe knows is BS.
