I don't know that "necessary" has anything to do with it. I think people fall into the trap of believing that every hunter out there is like the ones found on this board.............reality check........They are not. The VAST majority of fellas don't spend every waking hour of their lives consumed with the minutia of the state's deer herd. They get out a few weekends a year and yea, many of them are not as educated as they should be about a great many things.........but reality is that they are out there in HUGE numbers and they have every right to fill a tag as the guy who eats, sleeps, and craps deer 24/7---365. These guys DEPEND on the DEC to take care of things they don't have time for or simply don't care to do. They pay taxes, and they pay license fees.........all of which is supposed to get them a reliable agency with the best interest of the herd and the state's hunters in a nice balance. So when they are handed 7 tags it tells them there are deer numbers out the wazoo and it's a green light to fill those tags because they DEC wouldn't give them out if it would destroy the deer herd right?? So they went out to camps and filled their tags............thinking they were not only not hurting anything, but also enjoying the perks of an exponentially growing herd and actually helping to control it. Then as the deer disappear and didn't return they all sat there and wondered why in the hell they were still being given a pocket full of tags even though the deer numbers were way down........By then it was too late. The damage had already been done.

At least in PA they were TOLD that they wanted the herd crushed. They may not like it down there but no one can say they didn't know it was coming. In NY they destroyed the deer herd either through their own stupidity or by lying to everyone..........either way NY hunters were unknowingly used to slaughter and destroy what they love best. Now we all have to suffer for it for who knows how many years. At least PA has a plan and whether it works or not at least they were all informed and allowed to decide their role in the future there. In NY we are sitting in many areas with hardly any deer around and when you ask our DEC they lie and say "OH......THEY ARE OUT THERE IN RECORD NUMBERS........GO GET 'EM!!" or they just scratch their heads and say "OOOPS, WE REALLY SCREWED UP BY KILLING SO MANY DEER.....OH WELL, BETTER LUCK NEXT YEAR"

We were decimated by ignorant incompetence.........or greed. Blaming hunters for believing the DEC wasn't lying to them is pretty far fetched IMO.