In 2000 when there were far too many deer throughout most of the state, it took less tags to generate one harvested doe becaue it took less effort or skill for hunters to harvest them simply because there were so many. Now that there are significantly fewer deer, it takes more doe tags to generate a havested doe than it used to.
Well let's see if a fifth grader can explain how that theory works in the real world. The herd in 2G was reduced by 40% from 2001 to 2005. After allocating 52K tags in 2003 and 2004 the PGC reduced the allocation by 70% to 16K. At the same time the statewide herd was reduced by about 40% but doe tags were only reduced by 13% even though over 30K additional DMAP tags were issued.
Of course it may takes more tags to harvest a doe as the herd is reduced ,but if the herd is reduced by 40% the number of doe that need to be harvested also drops by 40% ,so a lot fewer tags are needed to keep the herd stable.