I agree FB & Politicians are the biggest threat. Special interest lobbying groups as well. And yes, before you correct me, I understand the "good guys" have special interest lobbying groups as well but they are a drop in the bucket with how many, $ they can spend and how aggressive they are. I think FB has what, 2-3 full time lobbyists alone? I could be wrong, I think that's about right though.
I mentioned this at the DNR meetings, I know some folks from FB... The scoop many of us know and have heard.... It's about 50-100 or so farmers that voice up and raise holy heck about the deer issue and steer the direction of the whole organization on that. The rest of members, they essentially don't hear much from. Those farmers are a small group that end up having a huge influence on the Lobbyists, Governor (FB is in top 20 that "donate" to Governor), etc. It's a miracle we won the last round of debate. But, with our #'s, we did the right thing and the "right outcome" came out on this battle.
Yep, FB is no good, IMO, a huge threat to us as hunters, conservationists, etc. And I farm. I farm in "deer country" too BTW. Side note.... Deer are not costing me a fortune, they just aren't. Silly things like tree roots sucking moisture from crops, coons, rougher soils in our "deer country" do 10x the damage deer do, in my opinion and experience.
Our state resource, deer, which we all own and should protect, will constantly be under jeopardy from many angles, almost all boiling down to $ if you follow the path of what's going on. Unfortunately, anything proposed by almost any special interest group will come down to $ and that will translate, in almost all cases, to a situation that will harm the resource, not help it. Like I said before, you rarely see new regulations that will greatly enhance the resource - you do but it's not near as common as the threats coming from all angles & sides constantly.