The idea behind the early muzzleloader season is to thin the does before the rut and before food sources become scarce
I swear they are trying to wipe out the herd all together. That's plain and simply insane to me. Apparantely they are still under the impression that there are too many deer roaming around? Aren't the 7 zillion tags they hand out now enough? At this rate in a few years it will be like the old days when you got really excited if you found a set of deer tracks. Consider it a succesful day in the woods.