"This" is the quote I posted about browse recovery. Please explain why the browse does not recover when there are few deer.
Season length, bag limit, type of season (e.g., buck-only
versus either-sex) and weather have varied among years and
have affected total harvest, hunter success rates, and the
number of hunters in the field in a given year.
It doesn't matter what the ratio was in 1976 compared to 2006. The management needs change with the herd. Ratios will have to adjusted at times.
So your brothers were satisfied with shooting small 1.5 buck and fawns. That's just fine with me , but what is your problem with your brothers?
I have no problem with my brothers, I love them very much. Both of them have
forgotten more about deer management then
you will ever know. I was trying to point out that
your deer have been overpopulated for years. Puny bucks and undersized does. Son, some of the bucks they killed were 2.5-3.5, none compared in body size to deer in herds less than a hundred miles away.
They quit hunting the region because the deer weren't worth the $100 or so for tags.
Just because there is a high population of deer and they are not starving,
doesn't mean the herd is completely healthy. There are studies the prove this...lots of little deer is a BAD thing.