Germ,

Do you know the numbers of deer taken in Michigan by chance? I'm interested in bucks taken vs does taken.

What I'm getting at is even though people hunt for bucks, I'd be surprised to find out more bucks are killed each year than does.

If those deer died due to disease then so be it, maybe it happened for a reason? Maybe in it's own way it made the overall herd stronger. Sure the numbers would be low for a while but then they would rebound...they always have. We had deer at the brink of extinction at some areas by the turn of the century but they bounced back...once we as hunters were held in check.