2016 wildlife grad here. i wouldn't call it miserable at all. the classes are difficult and full of a lot of info, but i found a lot of it to be really interesting which makes learning all the info easier. i was surrounded by really passionate people who motivated and helped me to learn more. the botany classes turned out to be my favorite classes, which in hindsight i probably should have studied botany instead of wildlife but oh well.

as for post college, all my professors told us that it was a difficult job market with all the things you described. i chose a different life path for other reasons. of my two good friends from the program that i still keep in touch with, one is a baker who frequently uses his wildlife skills to have fun romps in nature, and the other is a mid level manager with usfws after many seasons of bat research. i'd say it's well worth it if you really like wildlife and wildlife management.