A spotlight survey aims at monitoring a red deer population. So managers have to set it up according to official recommendations. They also have to conduct it in similar ways each time. But a survey carried out by the Cemagref shows that some French forest managers apply the recommendations in quite different ways. It also shows that significant changes could occur along time in the spotlight census method used in a given forest. This paper aims at helping managers setting up and conducting a deer spotlight survey to obtain an information as available as possible, despite the lack of scientific knowledge.