When you have a blanket of ferns it also shades out maple regeneration. The area I referred has no ferns and little if any understory. It does have lots of 6" tall maple seedlings and a few saplings but you can see for 75 yds., even with the leaves on the trees. The seedlings aren't being browsed by deer but their growth rate is limited by the lack of sunlight. There are no oak or poplar seedlings or saplings because there isn't enough sunlight to support their growth.

Furthermore the experts all agree that in pole timber stands the amount of browse in the understory is limited by shading and not by over browsing.