High intensity spotlights were used to locate fawns at night in an area with dense vegetation and rough terrain. The light reflected by a deer's eyes enable a 3-person capture team to locate fawns, which were then approached on foot using a hand-held spotlight and captured the fawn with large fish-landing nets. Animals less than 5 days of age remained motionless during night-lighting, and were easily captured. Fawns 5 days of age, or older, were more alert and sometimes escaped before the capture team could move in. All captured fawns were then fitted with radio collars to track their movements after release. Over a 3-year period, 15 fawns in the North Kings Deer Herd, in Fresno County, California, were captured by night lighting in an area with an estimated deer density of 2 per km2.
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