I keep hearing people claim that hunting is great because it manages the deer population. But that's really only true to the extent that the does are harvested. It only takes a few bucks to breed all the does over a couple months.

At the same time, I hear people griping about Wisconsin using "Earn-a-buck" to enforce herd control. (You have to tag an antlerless deer prior to an antlered deer. If you tagged an antlerless the year before, that counts.)

Does this seem contradictory to anyone else? It seems to me that if hunters were genuine about herd control, they'd be willing to tag a few does.

(For the record, I've taken about an equal number of bucks and does so far in my hunting career.)