Wis. (WLAX/WEUX) – Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources is asking for your help counting deer.

 Monitoring deer reproduction continues to be an important part of the state’s deer management program.

Operation Deer Watch encourages all Wisconsin residents to record anytime they see a buck, doe or fawn between august first and September 30.

The agency’s goal is to use this data – to keep track of the reproductive status of deer herds.

It also helps county deer advisory councils with planning for harvest quotas for hunting season.

Jessica Rees Lohr, Wildlife Data Base Manager and Harvest Assessment Specialist said, “If there happens to be a dip in the population, then we’ll have a nice long-term trend of data we can fall back on, so having every year’s piece of data is a good piece of the puzzle for us.”

More information about how to record deer sightings can be found on the Wisconsin DNR website.