Efforts to establish the true number of deer roaming a Dorset estate are being made for the first time. National Trust workers and volunteers carried out the first census of deer on the Purbeck Estate on Tuesday.
The survey to identify and count the deer, as well as to record their age and sex, is to become a twice-yearly event to track population changes.
Previously, estimates have been used, with 400 Sika deer thought to be on the Studland peninsular with far fewer Roe.
The National Trust is keen to know more about the local population to see how it is affecting heathlands, gardens and woods.
Angela Peters, National Trust ecologist, said: "Wild deer have all sorts of impacts on farming, forestry, gardens, road traffic and the wildlife of Purbeck - both for good and bad."
Sika deer were first introduced to Dorset in about 1880 and the Isle of Purbeck now supports the largest group of feral Sika deer in Britain.
Roe deer are native and occur in much smaller numbers.
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