Making use of the Terra and Aqua probes, the project studied the animals' environment to accurately predict their fawning season.

The easiest way to know when deer will start giving birth is to pay attention to their surroundings. In the late stages of pregnancy, and in the early part of a fawn's life, a doe needs access to plenty of rich vegetation. Birth rates hit a peak just a little before the height of plant growth every year, so gaining a better understanding of exactly when that's occurring can help predict when fawning season is about to begin.

Biologists and land managers already track deer populations, in part so that they can determine how many hunting permits to issue, but the data provided by the new project is far more precise, allowing for close estimations of the start and peak of the season for individual regions.