Here is my take on this. I believe the dec is guilty of allowing the deer herds to over populate in many regions of nys. I think over 50 dpsm in the area I hunt.I'm not sure if they had the power to controlthe deer population or not. It may have to do with loweramounts of hunters in the woods.
In 2002 I use to see herds of over 150 deer concentrations. It is my belief that because the DEC didn't for see that a harsh winter was in our future and allowed the deer population to explode out of control. We are in this situation.before 2002 we had about 10 years of mild winters witch allowed the population to increase to a level that the DEC couldn't control with just hunters as tools. Or they could have and did nothing about it.Because of this we were setup for a harsh reality. Most of the deer are gone because of starvation. I witnessed this first hand. Believe what you want tobut I was there in Jan and Feb of 03 and saw with my own eyes what a starving deer looks like. The DEC should have never allowed the population to get out of control to the point that it wiped out most of the herd. If they were handing out 10 dmp tags before 02 today we wouldn't be in this position. The only good that has come out of this is that the quality of the deer, antler development, is much better and the buck doe ratio is much closer than it was. Since it is to late to do anything about it now we should concentrate on the future. Do your part when the DEC gives dmp's. Use them. It is clear that the tool (hunter) is depleting. Today there are better deer in the woods. I shot a niceeight point this year and my brotherinlaw shot a very large 8 point in the (Catskills). The deer are still there and are much bigger than before. It is our job to manage the land that we hunt. I know that when you see deer it makes you feel good but the fact is that when you see to many your going to get wiped out soon. A harsh winter in the Catskills can't sustain higher than 14 to 18 deer psm. Face the facts and try to keep this level of deer. They will be much healthier and you will see much better head gear.