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Originally Posted by Skybird
The argument of controlling animal population, is a two-sided sword. Sometimes it hits the truth. Sometimes its being abused for defending hunter's interests to go out there and shoot at something. Sometimes population control is only needed because man before has messed up the balance in the ecosystem all by himself, and then wants to repair it. It can be complicated matter to argue about. It is not that simple and self-explanatory as you just made it appear by giving it one single sentence.
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Our wildlife is managed by the DOW (department of wildlife). My state is divided into many "zones" which are labled, or numbered. The DOW has the job of dealing with poachers and managing wildlife numbers.
Example: If zone 14 experienced a very harsh winter and many more animals than usual perished, then the DOW will issue very few hunting licenses for that zone in the autumn hunting season. Hunters must enter a lottery to draw a license. My son who hunts elk and mule deer sometimes is allowed to harvest one elk bull but no deer. The following year he may draw a license for one elk tag which can be either sex, and also a deer tag but perhaps only be allowed to take a buck. Every year, the number of licenses that are issued changes, and that number is set by the DOW. Every animal harvested must be tagged and taken to a DOW checkpoint and registered. They track what % of hunters were successful and what % were not.
Each year is different, and the DOW is very very good at knowing the animal population, and it is there job to keep the herds at a healthy number for their area of habitat. Overpopulation is more common a problem than under population.
While it is true man has messed up the eco system and animal populations are not the same as 150 years ago, what I think is true is that the animal species that are commonly hunted today are as populated as is healthy.....meaning for their health.
Who pays for all this? Hunters! The license fees paid by hunters fund the DOW.
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As a side note anecdote: I once read how they counted Vietnamese losses in the war: the American unit leader calculated how many guns fired for how long into how wide a green wall of trees, then there was a total number of rounds spend from all that M16 and MMG fire, and that translated into so and so many "kills". This number then was reported to Washington. Bodies were not cpounted most of thew time - nor found.  If reality does not please you, invent your own - preciseöly calculated. 
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God, I hope this was not true.
I once read somewhere how many rounds of rifle fire was fired for each and every casualty in WWII and the number was so staggering it was difficult to believe as truth.