The big debate as a result of HR/AR is are we getting any regeneration and if so how much and was it worth the loss of deer numbers. My question is from a slightly different angle. The last 3-4 years I have noticed an increase of undesirable plants in my hunting areas and don't know if it is related to the deer reduction or not. Has anyone else noticed this and if so what is your thinking on why the increase. Some of the undesirable plants include multi floral rose,a bush with dark green waxy leaves, a plant I think is called purple loosestrife, several types of hollow stemmed plants similiar to hogweed, some low growing prickly plants, a multi stemmed low growing plant with a small reddish purple flower, and a approx 2' high hollow large leafed plant with some kind of nodgle on the stem covering the area like ferns do to name a few. I have seen a few of all these in the past but they seem to be taking over certain areas as of late. Any ideas as to why?

I know that some of the plants you mentioned were invasive plants.  Maybe they have no predators(for lack of a better term)   dd

deer will eat the purple loosestrife,

and

i think multi flora rose is good cover for

rabbits and grouse...

Most, if not all, are invasive species and are very hard to eradicate once established.  The hollow stemmed one sounds like japanese knotweed, and I have been trying for 5 years to eradicate it from a streambank project I have been working on.  These plants get established through disturbed soils, and perhaps with the overbrowsing for so many years on the native vegetation these have started to become established.

Multi flora rose is a great cover plant but is almost unstoppable to contain due to the large number of fruits produced each year and loved by birds.  We can thank the NSCS and PGC for propogating this one - it was widely distributed to farmers to plant for living hedgerows.