It have read a lot of topics and I think the answer is pretty simple...Its a combination of many things some of which include:
Lions
Coyotes
Highways
Over Hunting
Poaching
I would bet all the money in my bank account that if we reintroduced poison for coyotes, opened lion hunting to over the counter tags with no limit, built more fences to keep the deer of the Highways in key areas, cut the tag numbers by about half (raise the price of a tag by two, so the money hungry DWR can still get their fair share and can work on habitat restoration), and upped the punishment for poaching..... You would most definitely see a increase in the number of deer and quality of bucks. Although we can't forget about the basic economic law of the indifference principle.... if the law allows you to shoot a two point they will....
Just my two cents.
And one last think... anyone that can give me concrete evidence that increasing the number of lions will increase deer numbers because they prey on the coyotes can have a gold star. However I highly doubt the research and proof exists.
Justin
Lions
Coyotes
Highways
Over Hunting
Poaching
I would bet all the money in my bank account that if we reintroduced poison for coyotes, opened lion hunting to over the counter tags with no limit, built more fences to keep the deer of the Highways in key areas, cut the tag numbers by about half (raise the price of a tag by two, so the money hungry DWR can still get their fair share and can work on habitat restoration), and upped the punishment for poaching..... You would most definitely see a increase in the number of deer and quality of bucks. Although we can't forget about the basic economic law of the indifference principle.... if the law allows you to shoot a two point they will....
Just my two cents.
And one last think... anyone that can give me concrete evidence that increasing the number of lions will increase deer numbers because they prey on the coyotes can have a gold star. However I highly doubt the research and proof exists.
Justin