I know that in my area, nuisance permits are sometimes just an excuse to be shooting at deer. Sometimes, two or three deer are taken on a permit. I hear farmers joking about misusing the permits all the time. While deer are plentiful in some areas, they have been decimated in others.

I know one farmer who has received nuisance permits for the last two years. He hands them out to his pals. None of them have killed a deer because there aren't any there! Some nuisance, huh?

I know another farmer who gives his nuisance permits to his pals and tells them not to kill a deer with less than 8 points. Is he really worried about his crops? I think not.

To get back to the original intent of this thread...if deer hunting were allowed year-round, I suspect that deer numbers would decline drastically.
I spend lots of time in the upstate woods in the winter. Deer herd up in certain areas when snow depth increases. They become hungry and spend lots of time looking for food. I often find the low pine needle brances of every white pine eaten off during winter. Hunger lessens caution when snows are deep. It would be just too easy to kill them. Not much sport in killing something that is hungry and too weak to run away from you in deep snow. But...to each his own.

Clint