We can argue which came first, chicken or egg deal.
No doubt that it is irresponsible to put high deer numbers in habitat like that but reducing deer to none would not make browse in that telephone pole forest. Understory will not grow in any amount as it is, period. Deer are not eating it because there is none and a browse line in most areas is a silly thought as there simply is no browse to put a line on. If you see a sickening browse line along an edge, it is because there is no food in that dead forest, and the few edges are getting all the heat. Large scale clearcutting is just what the doctor ordered here. Mother nature knows how to do it now and again: send a tornado or fire through the territory on occasion. The deerhunting heyday of the Northern region was a direct result of the widespread devastation of the earlier loggers. We have to make it ugly before it can become a pretty flower again.
Oh, and I'm glad you had a good time, Bob. Wish you took some pictures!