Farmers/landowners create most of the over population problems themselves by not allowing enough people to hunt. The hardest part of properly managing the deer herd is restricted access to private land.
Being a farmer and a landowner, I'm going to comment on this. Most landowners that I know just are not going to open up their land for anybody and everybody to hunt. Here in Kentucky, land that's not being hunted by family or friends is leased out. Most of the leased land is hunted by guys wanting a big buck, and they don't shoot anything else, even though the deer herd usually has too many does. Contrary to popular belief, most deer hunters are trophy hunters first, and meat hunters last. They've been programmed over the years to think that way because of all the big buck contests, and the TV shows that show the guys and gals hunting trophy whitetails.
I know the argument about how we need to shoot does is a good one, and in most cases it is a valid one. But, it's not always the farmer/landowners fault that it doesn't happen. I know several guys who lease their land out, and they have given specific instructions to the hunters to kill lots of deer............but that usually does not happen, as the hunters want a big buck and here where they're only allowed one buck a year, they aren't going to waste a tag on a small buck, and a lot of them won't shoot does until they fill their buck tag.
Having said that, here where I live the Mennonites keep the deer population in control because they are meat hunters for the most part. Still though, they're going after antlers just like everyone else, and often shoot bucks instead of shooting does. The fact that too many hunters won't shoot anything but a buck, which leads to overpopulation of the deer herd, is very rarely the landowners fault. Then when the farmer ends up culling the deer that are eating his cops, he gets criticized for not allowing enough hunting.
