Snapshot Wisconsin Updates

The Snapshot Wisconsin project began in 2016 for a few counties in southern Wisconsin but launched statewide in 2018. Since the statewide launch, the project has grown immensely with over 1,800 volunteers hosting trail cameras and over 2,000 trail cameras active as of 2025. Snapshot has also amassed a staggering 100 million photos in this time span! We pride ourselves on contributing to people-powered research.

The millions of photos are the data for the Snapshot Wisconsin project. Classifying the photos is a huge lift, so it is a group effort. The first opportunity for classification is from the volunteers hosting the trail cameras (called My Snapshot) and then unidentified photos among other difficult identification photos are sent to Zooniverse. Photos of rare species (e.g., marten, whooping crane) or photos with little agreement on Zooniverse are then sent for expert classification which is done by Wisconsin DNR staff.

When the photos are classified to animal species present and the number of animals present, the ensuing data can be used for analyses. The resulting analyses are roughly split into wildlife decision support, education, and research. The figure below shows the flow of data through the Snapshot Wisconsin project.

Decision Support

Snapshot Wisconsin is used for wildlife management decision support. WDNR is tasked with managing species in Wisconsin, and Snapshot Wisconsin provides valuable data on population trends for many species including, deer, bear, and bobcat! Below are a few examples of the type of information Snapshot Wisconsin provides for decision support.

Deer

Wisconsin is renowned for being home to a well-established population of white-tailed deer. They are the animal that appears most frequently on Snapshot Wisconsin trail cameras. These photos are used annually to estimate fawn-to-doe ratios for each Deer Management Unit (roughly counties) in Wisconsin. Fawn-to-doe ratios are the average estimate of fawns produced per doe going into fall and this ratio is an input into the model used to estimate population size. Snapshot has provided fawn-to-doe ratios annually since 2017.

Black Bear

Snapshot Wisconsin provides annual spatial and temporal trends for black bears to the Wisconsin Bear Advisory Committee to help assess bear population status as it relates to the committee's recommendations for management of Wisconsin's black bears. This information was provided for the first time in 2023. Snapshot Wisconsin data were summarized by Bear Management Zone and displayed spatially and temporally.

Bobcat

Snapshot Wisconsin provides the best information to date on bobcat distribution at a county level. This has generated discussion about bobcat distribution between various zones, which the advisory committee found useful when discussing harvest permits. This bobcat distribution information was available for the first time in 2022 and is updated annually.

Education

Education is an integral part of the Snapshot Wisconsin project! Snapshot Wisconsin currently has over 200 educators who host trail cameras, providing an opportunity for young people to learn about local wildlife. Educators across the state host cameras and involve their students with classifying the photos and learning about local wildlife. Check out more under the Education tab.

Snapshot Wisconsin also has lesson plans that have been designed for students of all ages and are available free to educators, whether or not they are hosting a trail camera! These lessons are a great way to incorporate exciting concepts about Wisconsin wildlife into your classroom, all while meeting Wisconsin Standards for Science. Check out our website here, to take a look at our lesson plans for students grades K through 12!

Research

The millions of photos collected are used for research of wildlife in Wisconsin by WDNR scientists as well as collaborators at universities. Scientific publications have been published on a variety of topics from deer behavior to wild turkey productivity. Snapshot Wisconsin data have been used in more than 20 different scientific publications. These papers have helped inform wildlife management in Wisconsin and share findings about wildlife behavior, community science, and model development to a much larger audience.

We are excited to provide links to the research publications that have used Snapshot Wisconsin data! By clicking on this link here, you'll be taken to our Wisconsin DNR website to view the publications. Here you can view each of the publications, as well as, a summary of their key findings.