Something else of interest that is an important piece of the puzzle as well, is that 8 of those 12 wmus have had herds with declining trends from 2004 to 2007 with net losses of deer in that time frame. (illustrated on page 18 of the 07/08 annual report in deer density change chart).

I think that important since most of our reduction occurred prior to that.Even though we are now supposed to be in stabilization mode, some areas could be getting herd growth, otherscould be seeing decline. A herd that had grown above habitat capacity during the last data collectionperiod could concievably account for declines in breeding rates, at least the very latest of them. Though unlikely to occur in such a short time frame considering all the reduction we had previously accomplished...Anyway, Thats why I checked into and what I found was;

From 2004 to 2007 8 of the 12 wmus that showed embryo count declinehad their deer herdsfurther reduced during that time, not increased. And in that same time frame, Of the total 22 wmus, 14 hadalso had herdsreduced. Soherd increasewas not the case.