I am sure there is a handful of knowledgeable deer hunters that could objectively put some management scheme on the parcels they hunt. But to believe that the masses could is unrealistic.

I agree that the scheme in place, with the exception of limits on antlered deer, has become essentially a self regulating one. The only limits on does are the size of your freezer or your desire to kill another one. Hardly anyone shoots more than 2 does per year. And the few who do are likely limited by access to property that can sustain damaging doe harvest. In other words, they will run out of does in their local area but, they only have a local effect.

Conspiracy theories about harvest stats are just that. Most people check in their deer. There are anecdotal exceptions, but I would wager they are insignificant.

Until the harvest numbers drop a lot, like 25%, expect the scheme to stay the same. Every year, these same arguments rage. And every year the harvest is a record, or a near record. We live in the golden age of whitetail hunting. Personally, I'm loving it.