Flew a thermal drone at my place today.

[TreeDaddy]

That’s def true. We noticed that alot. However, you then switch to visible light camera and identify. There is a spotlight so camera works just as well at night. Maybe a little slower but rocks and deer always get sorted out with these modern drones.

He stays about 5 hours doing survey. He covers every square inch and every deer on the property. The kinks have been worked out gentleman. They find every deer on your property.

Camera surveys can be time and labor intense

I have nine stations with cameras and corn over a 2 week period and generate thousands of photos to review

What is the rate for the drone camera survey?

bill

 

[Telemark]

Maybe a little slower but rocks and deer always get sorted out with these modern drones.

Well that's good to know. Maybe it's just the relatively lower quality of optics I've been using plus my lack of experience.

 

[omicron1792]

Camera surveys can be time and labor intense

I have nine stations with cameras and corn over a 2 week period and generate thousands of photos to review

What is the rate for the drone camera survey?

bill

500$

 

[omicron1792]

Well that's good to know. Maybe it's just the relatively lower quality of optics I've been using plus my lack of experience.

Ha. I’m sure you’re great at it. I posted this earlier but it was crazy how good zoom was. He would spot something on thermal. Zoom on thermal. Then switch to digital. Took 10 seconds.

 

[Telemark]

Ha. I’m sure you’re great at it. I posted this earlier but it was crazy how good zoom was. He would spot something on thermal. Zoom on thermal. Then switch to digital. Took 10 seconds.

View attachment 62422

It's really tempting to splurge on something of that quality. I might just buy one, use it for a year or two, and then sell it. I need to know what the used drone market is like before I do that though.

 

[omicron1792]

It's really tempting to splurge on something of that quality. I might just buy one, use it for a year or two, and then sell it. I need to know what the used drone market is like before I do that though.

Really not kidding.

Can get this quality for 6k. I would split it with you and we can use it six months a year each.

 

[omicron1792]

Really not kidding.

Can get this quality for 6k. I would split it with you and we can use it six months a year each.

Honestly would split with up to three others. 3 months a year is plenty. My deer season is so long I would want it during rut from Christmas through late January. Then about a week pre season for scouting. Y’all could use rest of time.

 

[SwampCat]

Same thoughts exactly. I think a lot of deer I think of as “my own” sleep somewhere else. And vice versa.

This year I saw a ton of bucks while hunting that I never saw on camera. And I run a ton of cameras. The big boy I got I had seen on camera two years ago one time at end of rut. So I was convinced he was a guest. But I harvested him on a totally different part of the property not during rut. Makes me think he was just hiding out.

You and I probably have pretty similar places besides the water. My bucks hang out in the woods not fields. They are just hard to know where they are. I would want the drone to help me find buck bedding areas, or at least what direction they come from for feeding.

I have an eight acre food plot in a native pecan grove and have had over twenty deer feeding in it at one time. They may feed there for twenty minutes and then start feeding towards the fence, jump the fence, and they are on my neighbor’s property. I lose 25% of the deer using my place in five seconds.

I think all properties are full of deer that spend time off your property. I would guess on my 350 acres - they all spend time off my property. My neighbor owns 1200. One mile wide and two miles long. Nowhere on that property is a deer more than 800 yards from a neighbor’s land

 

[SwampCat]

Camera surveys can be time and labor intense

I have nine stations with cameras and corn over a 2 week period and generate thousands of photos to review

What is the rate for the drone camera survey?

bill

My feeders easily feed for over two weeks. Since they are already running, I dont have to pre-bait. If I am running a survey over a hand placed feed like nutgrub - I am doing it since the end of June - so the feeding and baiting itself is not additional time or expense - for me.

The evaluation of the pictures does take some time. I run five survey locations on 350 acres. I have my cameras set for every ten minutes and it does probably take a couple hours to evaluate the pictures and record the data.

But remember, a drone survey is a snapshot in time. As I mentioned above, I have seen my deer population lose over 20 deer in five seconds. I have seen the opposite. And that is in one eight acre corner of my property.

Personally, I dont consider a drone survey to be a good indicator of a total property deer census so much as an interesting snapshot in time - better used for locations your deer are using at that particular time of the day.

Granted - I have never used a drone for surveying - but I cant imagine there is ever a time when anywhere near 100% of your deer are on your property. If you owned a thermal drone and flew it ten days in a row at various times of the day and night - I think a drone survey would be more meaningful. Cameras gather information continually for ten days straight - over an attractant - and are definitely not a snapshot in time - and even then, it is recognized that all deer wont come to a baited feed site.

I run a lot of cameras. I can tell what kind of acorn crop I have without setting foot outside my house by increased activity in my oak woods. Deer head to the cedars in numbers prior to a storm. My ash groves will be full of bedding deer - day and night. Decreased deer pictures in the food plots and feed locations means a good acorn crop and deer are in the oaks.

But, while I can figure out over a few days or weeks what my deer are doing based upon camera pictures - a drone provides an instant read. I only know in general from the cameras.

A drone provides an instant read - you can see what the deer on your property are all doing at one time. While I would love to have a drone fly my place, I am not sure how valuable a one time flight would be. I am not even sure when I would do it. I do see the value of owning a thermal drone so you could see at different times of the year with different food availability or different hunting pressure situations - how you deer reacted. But I can think of a lot of other ways to spend $8k

 

[Telemark]

I was thinking a thermal drone could be a useful tool for checking that my stand access was clear of deer, but it occurred to me that it might be a slippery slope. It could be quite tempting to just go ahead and snoop around a bit more to see where the deer are or are not before going out for a hunt. I don't really like the implications of that. It would probably end up having too much impact on my expectations for the hunt and really taking the fun out of it. I think if I was disciplined enough to ONLY check my access and then fly the drone home and set it aside before going out it might help me to stop bumping deer on my way to the stand in the dark.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

I was thinking a thermal drone could be a useful tool for checking that my stand access was clear of deer, but it occurred to me that it might be a slippery slope. It could be quite tempting to just go ahead and snoop around a bit more to see where the deer are or are not before going out for a hunt. I don't really like the implications of that. It would probably end up having too much impact on my expectations for the hunt and really taking the fun out of it. I think if I was disciplined enough to ONLY check my access and then fly the drone home and set it aside before going out it might help me to stop bumping deer on my way to the stand in the dark.

With all due respect….that sounds gross. Should be illegal. Bumping deer is part of hunting. The strategy involved determines how and where the overwhelming majority of successful hunters hunt. Access is how good properties are laid out and designed. Flying a drone to check your ingress and egress is plain cheating.

 

[Skeeter]

With all due respect….that sounds gross. Should be illegal. Bumping deer is part of hunting. It determines how and where the overwhelming majority of successful hunters hunt. Access is how good properties are laid out and designed. Flying a drone to check your ingress and egress is plain cheating.

Always interesting to see where different people draw the line. Those same, or very similar, arguments could be used to disparage the use of any intellectual or technological advancement.

 

[gjs4]

Honestly would split with up to three others. 3 months a year is plenty. My deer season is so long I would want it during rut from Christmas through late January. Then about a week pre season for scouting. Y’all could use rest of time.

Great idea and I'd be interest too.

 

[Angus 1895]

This kinda reminds me of fisherman that spend an inordinate amount of time ( IMO) scanning with their depthfinder.

Drives me nuts.

 

[Telemark]

With all due respect….that sounds gross. Should be illegal. Bumping deer is part of hunting. The strategy involved determines how and where the overwhelming majority of successful hunters hunt. Access is how good properties are laid out and designed. Flying a drone to check your ingress and egress is plain cheating.

The property I hunt in Ontario has a single access point. It has nothing to do with layout or design. It's because of concession road allowances. There is no other legal way to access the property except by canoe on the lake. Northern Ontario lakes are downright dangerous in late November, so that's not a reliable option. It's a 20 hour series of flights, a 12 hour drive, and a $250 buck-only tag for a one-week season in a low density area. It's the only property on Earth that I have reliable/guaranteed access to. Checking my sole point of access is not "gross" or "cheating" by any reasonable man's standard.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

The property I hunt in Ontario has a single access point. It has nothing to do with layout or design. It's because of concession road allowances. There is no other legal way to access the property except by canoe on the lake. Northern Ontario lakes are downright dangerous in late November, so that's not a reliable option. It's a 20 hour series of flights, a 12 hour drive, and a $250 buck-only tag for a one-week season in a low density area. It's the only property on Earth that I have reliable/guaranteed access to. Checking my sole point of access is not "gross" or "cheating" by any reasonable man's standard.

Agree to disagree. All properties have limitations and all people have challenges, I don’t see that as a justification to bend ethics. But I know so far it’s a hypothetical and legal, so just a topic for debate.

 

[omicron1792]

The property I hunt in Ontario has a single access point. It has nothing to do with layout or design. It's because of concession road allowances. There is no other legal way to access the property except by canoe on the lake. Northern Ontario lakes are downright dangerous in late November, so that's not a reliable option. It's a 20 hour series of flights, a 12 hour drive, and a $250 buck-only tag for a one-week season in a low density area. It's the only property on Earth that I have reliable/guaranteed access to. Checking my sole point of access is not "gross" or "cheating" by any reasonable man's standard.

I had a friend that died in a kayak by himself on a lake up near the Canadian border. I had no idea it could be so dangerous b

 

[omicron1792]

Agree to disagree. All properties have limitations and all people have challenges, I don’t see that as a justification to bend ethics. But I know so far it’s a hypothetical and legal, so just a topic for debate.

Youre consistent and persistent. Haha

 

[Telemark]

to bend ethics.

I don't think that word means what you think it means. It's not a question of ethics, as that would suggest there is something morally wrong about checking, by any means, my access point. There isn't. It might not be your way of doing things, but checking access routes as well a receiving help from other people and technology is common and a natural part of hunting since humans first started hunting.

It's not a good idea to assume the way you do things is the one correct way and that you are the sole moral authority on hunting or anything else.

 

[omicron1792]

I don't think that word means what you think it means. It's not a question of ethics, as that would suggest there is something morally wrong about checking, by any means, my access point. There isn't. It might not be your way of doing things, but checking access routes as well a receiving help from other people and technology is common and a natural part of hunting since humans first started hunting.

It's not a good idea to assume the way you do things is the one correct way and that you are the sole moral authority on hunting or anything else.

I agree Dawg. You’ve gotten pretty harsh on you’re assessments on this.