deer populations are not intended or designed to be as high and inflated as hunters expect them to be? The boom in restoration years brought great growth and repopulation of deer into areas they hadn’t been in decades. Seasons were set up to allow limited harvest and encourage growth. The boom happened and should level off to a sustainable level the habitat can support. I think so many hunters became accustomed to watching dozens of deer per hunt, that became the standard. What if it’s not? What if under good conditions a square mile should hold 40-60 deer rather than 130? I think ppl need to reevaluate their expectations and rethink what’s “normal”. I don’t think a reduction in overall deer numbers in some places is a bad thing. Actually, I know it’s not. It’s a great move in some places.

Natural vegetation in some places is in awful condition for the way the landscape is being managed.