My post as "Marshrat" (sorry, forgot my password) was an attempt to point out that in the real world of wildlife management, deer are not the only thing that matters. There are not many 'deer managers' anymore, those days are gone. 'Wildlife managers' are concerned with all wildlife, not just deer, and need to be concerned with the long-term implications of over-abundant deer populations on habitat. Populations are not 'over-abundant' according to most deer hunters; heck, deer hunters (including myself) want to see as many deer as possible.
But think of it this way; most of northern Wisconsin, Michigan, etc. are scattered with camp ownerships of 40 acres. Let's just say that three people hunt in each camp and each hunter would consider seeing 10 deer a good day. Let's assume that they probably wouldn't be the same deer, for the most part, since the hunters are on different parts of the property. That's 30 deer sighted per 40, times 16 (640 acres/sq mi) = 480 deer/sq mi. I know I'm simplifying this and there are larger ownerships, etc. But it puts a different spin on what's realistic from a population standpoint. Even a huge population of 80/sq mi would calculate to only 5 seen per hunter, which would be a pretty slow day. Just some more the think about...
