Brian, this reminded me of an exchange I had with one of the DNR officials at one of the meetings a few years back. I was questioning the " boom-bust" deer management that we seemed to be witnessing. " Why no doe tags this year and then a whole bunch of crop damage permits the next?" I asked if anterless harvest was the goal, why not give out one free tag with a regular license? I was told " Too much lost revenue" . Two years later, unit 61 was a t-zone, and hunters could get free tags at a rate of two per hunter per day during all of gun and bow season!! Talk about a change of heart! Also talk about some questionable wildlife management...but that is for a different thread.

So we go from " Not enough deer" to " Shoot everything you see" . I understand the changes in population, but that much? And why suddenly is 15 deer the " magic number" when 20 or 25 was fine a few years back? There is less crop damage, car accidents are about the same in the unit, and there are definitely fewer deer in the area.

Back to the issue of whether the DNR can effectively count deer. My feeling is that the DNR is keeping goals like this around because they are coming up with estimates of total population that are higher than what is actually out there. So in our case, unit 61, the DNR sets a target of 15 deer because the beloved SAK says we are still at 20 or 19 or whatever. Set the goal low so that you can justify a higher kill requirement; hence t-zone or earn-a-buck. In reality, simply based on the statistical deficiencies of the SAK system, I' ll bet we are at, near, or below the 15 deer per sq. mile allotment that the DNR is aiming for. THAT, I believe, is the root of the problem.