Apparently you don't even realize what you are saying, because both you and RSB claimed that in areas of poor habitat ,the habitat was controlling the herd ,which means it couldn't possibly support any additional deer.

Did 40 DPSM in the 70's ruin the habitat for future generations and reduce the herd to next to nothing or did the herd rebound so that we had 1.6M healthy deer in 2001, which all the past experts claimed was simply impossible?

The herd crashed in the NC counties in 1979 due to heavy snow cover and ice storms which prevent the deer from accessing the available food supply.They did not die because the habitat couldn't support 40 DPSM.