Weekly spotlight and track counts of California mule deer (Odocoileus herionus californicus) were conducted from July through December 1986 on two routes totaling 27 km in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of Fresno, CA. Mean nightly track counts were twice as great as same-night spotlight counts. Track and spotlight counts were significantly correlated. Both track and spotlight counts were effective in detecting an increase in the number of deer due to winter migration onto the study area, but track counts showed the increase earlier. The techniques did not detect deer in the same locations along the routes. The two methods yielded different distributions of deer occurring in available habitat types. Spotlight and track counts may provide comparable results for counts conducted on survey routes > 10 km long, but for other purposes or at smaller scales, the methods yield different results.
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