Optimum plot-sampling techniques in estimating winter browse weight were evaluated on a 0.484-acre tract. Considering only 1-milacre square plots, a 1-man crew was superior to a 2-man crew; considering plots ranging from 1-9 milacres with a 2-man crew, optimum plot size increased with increasing, hypothetical location time. Simple random sampling proved superior to double sampling with browse count as a concomitant observation. Browse surveys, often used to determine the relation of edaphic factors, climate, topography, and cutting on browse production, could be carried out more efficiently if information were available on the optimum (or near optimum) plot-sampling technique for estimating the dry weight of winter browse. Researchers have evaluated the optimum plot-sampling techniques in timber (Mesavage and Grosenbaugh 1956), tree nursery (Johnson 1943), and ecological surveys (Bormann 1953). Little attention has been given to optimum plot-sampling in browse surveys. Freese (1962:70) presents a convenient way to examine the effect of plot size on sampling efficiency. In general, this method suggests that among several alternative plot sizes, the optimum size is that which will minimize total cost of the survey, given surveys of equal precision. If total cost of a simple random sample may be written: C=nd where C = total cost n = number of observations d = cost per observation, 1 Release No. 69-2 of the Virginia Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit (Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Virginia Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries, Wildlife Management Institute, and U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, cooperating). Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station provided most of the funds and the Virginia Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit provided the equipment. 2 Present address: Department of Forest Resources, University of New Hampshire. then the relative total cost of the two alternative surveys, A and B, may be written: