Even at the huge herd numbers of ten years ago WI had %100 recruitment of does during the rut(according to Keith McCafferty former dnr head big game biologist)
No offense, but this sounds suspect. Can you point me to a link that indicates this? How could this possibly be documented--100%? From what I've read, some doe fawns come into estrous after the first rut. If that's true, the 100% claim isn't true. (This is claiming that all of the does were bred during the first rut, correct?)
The only thing I can figure is the herd reduction impetus is crop damage and car accidents.
Aren't those very legitimate reasons to keep the herd size lower than maximum carrying capacity?