And they might be right about people not hunting after opening weekend.
Sure they are...it has ALWAYS been that way. Many more people hunt opening weekend than during the week. DUH! For the DNR to try to make this an excuse it ridiculous. Same with the "people don't do drives as much" argument. True as well, but that also has been true for years.
The problems specific to this year are:
[ol][*]The DNR greatly overestimated the deer population.[*]By overestimating, they also set the expectation among hunters to expect seeing many, many deer and having ample harvest opportunities.[/ol]
Given how winter has started off here (around Milwaukee we have about 16 inches of snow on the ground) I find it difficult to believe (barring a big warm up) that this winter will be any more amenable to a big increase in the deer herd next season. So, if the DNR does not want to further alienate hunters, they better be very, VERY careful about placing units into EAB next season.