This is due to Americans being weaned away from a hunting culture to one dependent on grocery stores. I recall rifles regularly lined up along the back wall of the church for the after-service group hunts. Now most Americans are so wussified they blanch at the very idea of “killing Bambi”.
Not enough people are hunting to keep the deer population down - especially since their natural predators have been practically wiped out. We have the responsibility to make up for those predators absence.
From a resident of Michigan standpoint, I have to disagree. I live in S.E. Michigan north of Detroit and the main reason for the overpopulation of deer is the lack of public lands in which to hunt them. There are so many subdivisions being built in wooded areas with the intent being to cause as little impact on the environment as possible that these small wooded enclaves are where the deer are making their homes. And there is no way in heck that these rats can be hunted safely........
I live in a very high densely populated area which happens to have a drainage ditch flowing along the east border of the sub and a wooded area about 1/10th of a mile square. In this tiny wooded enclave I have seen the following: 2 years ago beavers had damned up the drainage ditch which created a problem with overflow and the DNR had to be called to trap them and destroy their damn. I also saw a small herd of 5 deer, a coyote, a fox, 2 rooster pheasants and several hens, 2 grouse roosting in a tree and a small flock of turkeys...........
The bottom line is that what remains of their natural habitat is where they are going to remain and thrive. We can't shoot them so the only predators left are the cars and trucks that hit them on the highways.........
I'm not even going to mention the scores of possums, coons and squirrels that I have trapped and the equally abundant numbers of rabbits that I have shot...........
I know grown men, that are out and out afraid of guns. “I just don’t like them, I won’t have one in my house” etc. Yet two years ago after a hurricane knocked the power out for a week and the cops were busy one of the nancy boys asked if he could borrow one. I offered to sell him one and he refused and got bent out of shape. Tough sh*t.