What did I miss? I think they throw numbers out every year. If you are talking about their estimates? On my farm, the numbers are way higher than the dnrs estimates. I can drive 2 miles down the road and they are below the dnrs estimates, here is my example.
I have what I call an extended neighbor that owns a large chunk of land around 700 acres. I can hunt the land, and they slaughter the does there every year. The habitat is great and so is the trophy potiental. It is hard to see a deer, but they still find a way to shoot 20 a year. Now if I was a neighbor to them and owned 40 acres, I would be furious at the dnr for giving so many tags. I'm only a mile away and I'm still seeing a herd of 60, after I shot 40 myself.
Sometimes the dnr is in a lose lose situation. I've said it before, deer hunters as a group are bipolar.