secondly if you lived worked in that area
for 28 years you would know there are areas of rock ledge with very little
even able to grow there
If the soils are so shallow that you wouldn't expect anything to grow there , your observations regarding over browsing are irrelevant ,since nothing of value would grow there anyway. And, if the deer cleared out the multiflora rose , you should be one happy camper because clearing them is one awful job. Deer certainly aren't doing that in the rest of the county.