in most states, they try to break the state into units and use hunters to aid in population management...far from micro management(ie private farm) but better than say 1mill tags for the whole state. units with low population get less tags, higher that they want to lower get more.
if left unchecked, and noone killed them, hunters, sharpshooters anything, nature takes over. nature is cruel, but when things get out of hand at the very least, starvation will set in. if starvation dont do them in, disease surely will. not to mention vehicle accidents
hunters are just a part of wildlife management..1 form of population management. sometimes hunters are the answer...others they arent. i can see it coming in PA. more and more sharp shooters are being hired because people wont let us in to hunt. they will let sharp shooters come in, but not hunters, that will USE the harvest...hunters cant control numbers in areas they cannot hunt....just 1 example of how hunters arent ALWAYS the answer...
read "desert solitare" a couple semesters ago. theres a chapter in there about hunting the predators to extinction in the west so the muleys could thrive. found out that wasnt the case...hunters couldnt keep up..nature takes over.