Maine Deer Spy

Do you enjoy watching deer? Do you want to help Maine’s biologists better understand the white-tailed deer population? Become a community scientist for the Maine Deer Spy project! Volunteers are needed across the state, and everyone can participate.

Maine Deer Spy is the umbrella term for Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife community science projects for deer. It began with the flagship “Deer Spy,” which is a project developed to improve MDIFW’s understanding of deer recruitment in Maine. Additional projects will be added to the Maine Deer Spy page as they are developed.

See below for a brief description of current projects. You may click on the projects below to enter the different project pages.

Deer Spy

  • August 1 - September 30
  • Report all deer observations during late summer.

Rut Watch

  • October 1 - December 31
  • Report all observations of deer rutting behaviors during the fall.

Northern Maine Wintering Deer Survey

  • January 1 - March 31
  • Report all observations of deer in northern Maine during winter.