The semi-annual deer count on Friday revealed twice the number of deer in town than the previous year's count."At about 5:30 in the morning, a bunch of us were bushy-tailed and met out and did our regular count," said Gary Smith, city councillor and chair of the deer committee. "We break the city into five zones and two individuals per car go out and do counts."Smith pointed out that the group did not distinguish by sex because the horns have not grown in."We counted 166 animals which is almost twice as many last year's spring count," he said. "The spring count, however, last year was a little later so the deer might've been out getting ready to fawn and that."Smith admitted there is a large degree of variability in the counts because of time of day, time of month.The committee also does a count in the fall where they do distinguish between male and female and fawns."The idea is just to monitor the population," he said. "It's not hugely scientific. We've got now coming up on eight years of data. When the ministry is making decisions on what to do about urban wildlife, that's the kind of thing they like to see. Not because it's scientific, but because the community is doing its due diligence in proper monitoring and working out a plan towards urban wildlife." Smith said having as much information as possible is important when going to the government for a request regarding wildlife.