Deer Program Evaluation · Annual
Find out whether your deer program is working
Archery and culling programs report deer taken. Residents and boards want to know how many are left. We count the herd on your program lands each winter and chart it against your goal.
The gap
Harvest numbers can't tell you the herd is shrinking
A program that takes 40 deer a year might be cutting the herd in half, or barely keeping up with fawns. Only a repeated count tells you which.
- Cheltenham, Whitpain, and New Hanover track their programs with harvest, incident, or hunter-sighting data. Whitemarsh publishes no counts.
- Lower Merion's last published density is from 2012. Upper Dublin's is from 2016–17.
- Pennsylvania research found it takes about three repeat surveys a year to detect a 20% change with 80% confidence. Design matters.
Sources: Whitpain, New Hanover, Inquirer, Cornell, Penn State.
Sample trend: density per mi² by winter with detection-adjusted ranges, against a goal of 20. Simulated data.
What's included each year
Built for a board meeting
Winter census
The same transects flown every winter over your program lands, so year-to-year changes are real changes.
Your records, reviewed
We fold in your harvest totals and deer-vehicle crash reports, so the board sees everything on one page.
Trend against your goal
Density by year with ranges, plotted against the target your plan set.
Where pressure isn't reaching
Maps of where deer concentrate relative to hunting areas, to guide next season's plan.
Plain-language summary
Two pages a board member can read in five minutes, plus the full technical report.
30-minute presentation
In person or virtual, at your committee or board meeting.
Price
$1,350 a year to start
Census pricing for your program lands plus $600 for the records review, trend chart, summary, and presentation. Lock in three years and save 10% each year.
- Sep – Nov
- Agreement. Set boundaries, goals, and access before the season.
- Dec – Feb
- Winter count. Flown on the first suitable night after leaf-off.
- Feb – Mar
- Report and presentation. Results in hand while next season's plan is set.
Measure this season's program.
Counts fly Dec 1 – Mar 15, on cold, clear nights. Windows fill in order of request, and townships often need the numbers before spring board meetings.