The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is asking hunters that received survey cards to fill them out and return them. D-N-R wildlife research biologist Steve Roberts says the surveys are sent out to a certain number of hunters and is a valuable tool. He says the postcard surveys have been used for years, but he says the number of surveys returned in the past seven years has gone downhill quite a bit. He says they especially need the surveys this year to determine how many does were harvested. Roberts says the survey asks basic questions. He says the first questions is “did you hunt.” So he says everyone who gets a card should at least fill out the first question. He says other questions ask if the hunter got a buck or doe and what county they took the deer in. Roberts says if the number of survey cards that’re returned continues to drop, they’ll have to look at some other options. He says one option would be a manditory check station where every hunter would have to report their deer, or they could use a telephone survey, but he says the other options are very costly. Robert says the D-N-R would prefer to keep this system. He says if they could get the returns they had ten years ago, that would be good. He says this method is preferred because it’s easy and not that costly. He says only a sample of hunters are surveyed and each response represents a number of hunters.