Hunters can help the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s wildlife management efforts through the agency’s free Deer Hunting Observation Survey available through an app on their smartphones.

The app is available through iTunes and the Google Play stores.

The survey allows hunters to record sightings of game species such as deer, bear, quail, turkey and furbearers and also non-game species such as feral hogs.

Blake Sasse, non-game mammal program coordinator for Game and Fish, said the hunter observation survey has been used since 2004. The process went electronic in 2014.

Even if hunters don’t see any animals, completing a survey after each hunt provides information to wildlife biologists about how often species are seen.

“We use the information to help track trends in populations of some species,” Sasse said. “With deer we go into a little more depth, such as ratio of bucks to does or antlers of various sizes for bucks. It’s definitely part of the long-term monitoring program for all of these species.”