Pete, yeah I know about Roger's cattle and that whole mess. It's a sore subject (mostly the management efforts).
I did see more deer last season than I have for probably about 10 yrs though. My camera pictures from last year show more deer and encouraging numbers of healthy young bucks, a lot of which would have made many hunters very happy. I do think they are rebounding.
Less involvement from the dnr is what I'd personally like to see. It's my personal opinion that when it comes to nature, if you try to steer it in your desired direction, you almost ALWAYS put it in the ditch.
Obviously as seen in my post above, I get cranky when I figure folks want the state to "fix nature". I'm of the firm opinion that those that want to "manage deer quality" need to make it a personal priority and a personal effort. But don't force it on your fellow man. Work hard, buy land, possibly with like minded hunters as a group effort. Get your land and QDM the bejesus out of it. Then bitch about the neighbor that shot "your deer".
If that doesn't work, build a fence, buy some deer, buy the right genes, breed per your goals, supplement antler growth with your own personally engineered efforts, buy/sell/trade etc. Pick one out and shoot it.
I am however 100% onboard with reintroducing a wolf season. Why the hell wouldn't we want that? I don't know a deer hunter that doesn't want a season on wolves, horn and meat hunters alike.
