It has to be a combination of both...

There are so many issues that cross lines. The needs of the habitat relative to the population and the impact on the habitat long term is an ongoing evaluation. The signs of habitat degradation are subtle and in early stages are not always apperant to the casual observer or hunter who is more interested in the game and less aware of the ecological issues.

Then there is the issue of the habitat ownership and the multiple uses of the habitat. The vast majority of habitat is private owned. And it has multiple uses...grazing, logging, and recreation as well as others like crop and pasture lands. So, the impact of an expanding or high population deer herd has to be looked at from a landowner perspective.

Aside from the economic and scientific parts of habitat management comes political issues of hunters vs. non hunters, insurance companies vs. everyone, economics of tag sales and tourism, and funding of conservation efforts as well as game law enforcement.

Politics will always play a role...

The impacts of population of woodlands and long term woodland health is a bigger issue than people want to give credit to. In the long term, we have to maintain a balance and seek a level where the timber can grow, mature, regenerate, and have the right mix of shrubs, trees, seedlings, species diversity etc. In some areas, deer have become so populated that the browse and the new sedling numbers and species have gotten in real trouble. There has to be a balance of all age classes of trees, especially in hardwood forests that grow and mature so lowly. When that happens today, the impact will be felt over the course of the next 100 years plus....Timber and forest management is a very long term management challenge.

We as hunters and fishermen need to continue to learn more about all areas of wildlife management, the various influences...scientific as well as political and economic. Only then can we be successful stating our points of view.

If we always have a one sided approach...more animals is good, nothing else matters, population is the only goal...well, then we end up looking uninformed and just another interest group.