ORIGINAL: DougE
1.The herd has not been wiped out.Unfortunately,in some cases it had to be greatly reduced to give the habitat a chance to recover.
2.Bucks in all age classes will breed.
3.Are you serious.The health of the herd is totaly dependent on the state of the habitat.Better habitat will prodice bigger more healthy deer and much better fawn recruitment rates.More high quality browse will most certainly invrease both boody weight and antlergrowth.
4.Protein has nothing to do with genetics.
You're right Doug. Bucks of all age classes will breed. With a reduced population and improved buck / doe ratio, there will be less breeding done per buck, thus reducing the stress on bucks and improving their health.
According to adog breeder I spoke with, breeding just wipes a stud out for a few days. I wonder if that's true with deer. If so, it would be better to have more bucks around to do the breeding, rather than one buckper ~10 does.