There are a number of reasons for the smaller pop of deer. I do think the DNR is inflating it's numbers. Part of the number games is that there are a larger amount of deer on private/non-huntable land thanin the public lands. I'm not saying that there is no deer on public land, just less than there use to be. I hunt in Black River Falls every gun season,& yrs ago w/would see deer at night standing on the side of the road. Every night not uncommon to see 20-30 in a 5mile stretch. This yr. 1-2 maybe. Everyone hunting up there is not seeing as many. I saw 2 in 4 days. I took one of them. Out of our group if 6m we did okay. We got 4, 3 bucks & a doe. I don't know what truth there is to the urban legend of the insurance companies donating money to the DNR to insitute the T-zone & late anterless only hunts. I wish the DNR would learn from Colorado, & realize that they will never ever be able to erradicate the deer in lower Wisconsin. Too many private land owners won't allow them to take any deer off their property. I know for a fact, that 7yrs or so ago, when the T-zone was introduced in Black River falls, it decimated the herds. Hunting after that for 2 yrs absolutely sucked. No one seen any deer for 1 week hunts for quite some time. I wish we as hunters would be able to form a lobby, & get that power away from the DNR, so that the hunting would return to it's former status. Now it is getting very tough to take a deer on public lands, where the hunter population is high, such as the Kettle Morraine. I have taken one nubbn' on private land this yr. None on public. Don't see them as much.