Flew a thermal drone at my place today.

[omicron1792]

Screen grab from a zoomed camera shot. It’s scary how good a view they get.

 

[matinc]

Hey dog. Curious if you have any bracken fern growing in the area of picture. That area just seems to be way to open to hold that many deer based on michigan standards. I have one area like that and I cant get anyone to cut down a 100 small maple trees which are absolutely worthless. Just my 2 cents

 

[Telemark]

Great timing on this thread. For the last few weeks, I have been planning to make a thread about surveying land with a thermal drone. I think it's a better way than tromping around the whole area to physically find where they are bedding. I found a couple old helicopter thermal surveys from land I was familiar, and as a thought experiment, I started comparing those maps with summer and winter satellite imagery. I tried to figure out the best places for stands based on the information I got from the maps/images. The next part of the experiment will be to place cameras to see if the travel patterns are as I suspect they will be.

Thermal drones are far too expensive for me to purchase on my own, and I can't afford to rent one for a few weeks in order to access remote properties. I thought it would be an interesting conversation to start some kind of coop where a few folks go together to buy one and then pass it around throughout the year.

Granted it’s Feb

I think that's an important thing to consider, and it would be worth trying at other times throughout the year. It's probably very important information to compare from year to year while considering the habitat changes you have made between the surveys.

 

[omicron1792]

Great timing on this thread. For the last few weeks, I have been planning to make a thread about surveying land with a thermal drone. I think it's a better way than tromping around the whole area to physically find where they are bedding. I found a couple old helicopter thermal surveys from land I was familiar, and as a thought experiment, I started comparing those maps with summer and winter satellite imagery. I tried to figure out the best places for stands based on the information I got from the maps/images. The next part of the experiment will be to place cameras to see if the travel patterns are as I suspect they will be.

Thermal drones are far too expensive for me to purchase on my own, and I can't afford to rent one for a few weeks in order to access remote properties. I thought it would be an interesting conversation to start some kind of coop where a few folks go together to buy one and then pass it around throughout the year.






I think that's an important thing to consider, and it would be worth trying at other times throughout the year. It's probably very important information to compare from year to year while considering the habitat changes you have made between the surveys.

Guy here will do a full survey for 500 dollars. Probably less if you haggled.

Can get a very good private drone for 6k. Good thermal scope or monocular is similar price. I like the coop thing.

That said. Start with paying someone to come in. Do it right before season, or during rut to know where the action is.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

I will say it can get a bit monotonous if you had a small property (sub 500 acres) and flew consistently. You’re going to be able to cover it in minutes and you will know every deer 10x better than knowing them with cams. We covered 300 acres in less than 30 minutes and that included watching a couple bucks. The one I used was $20k for everything. I can think of sooooo many better uses for that money unless you had stupid money to play with. I have no desire to fly again until maybe next post season.

 

[gjs4]

Great thread and share.

Definitely a head scratcher as to where they were, and were not. We are going to do the same on my OH place soon.....and twice- two different times this spring- I dont want to get my very malleable mind that's begging for answers drawing too many conclusions. I am going in expecting nothing. If anything I'd like to know where bedding that contradicts access is and remove that (if anything lives there)

 

[omicron1792]

I will say it can get a bit monotonous if you had a small property (sub 500 acres) and flew consistently. You’re going to be able to cover it in minutes and you will know every deer 10x better than knowing them with cams. We covered 300 acres in less than 30 minutes and that included watching a couple bucks. The one I used was $20k for everything. I can think of sooooo many better uses for that money unless you had stupid money to play with. I have no desire to fly again until maybe next post season.

This rig was 10k.


You can get exact rig now for 6k minus the box and large screen. Basically a handheld control with screen on it. They have dropped a ton even in last year with release of dji 3t.

DJI Mavic 3 Thermal w/ DJI Care Enterprise

The DJI Mavic 3 Thermal drone is a new generation of commercial and enterprise UAS designed for public safety and inspections. 1/2" CMOS 48MP wide camera, tele zoom camera and 640x512 thermal sensor. Shop Now!

advexure.com

 

[TreeDaddy]

From reading Dawg's observations, it seems this technology may be particularly instructive in debunking( or reinforcing?) commonly held beliefs about deer behavior

I look forward to learning more

Thanks for posting

bill

 

[BenAllgood]

Were they "layered" next to food like Sturgis claims?

 

[BenAllgood]

View attachment 62388
The white blobs are deer

Are there any grasses in there? Looks like some scattered cedars with some deciduous trees, but lots of open canopy where sunlight can get through to the ground. It also looks like they are bedded, backed up to cedars.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Are there any grasses in there? Looks like some scattered cedars with some deciduous trees, but lots of open canopy where sunlight can get through to the ground. It also looks like they are bedded, backed up to cedars.

I have to be honest I don’t remember where that was! If I had to guess it was a thinned area with some junk trees, cedars scattered and brambles/grasses. Pretty decent habitat

I’ll be honest I don’t know what that theory is! But as far as sturgis goes, his background as a home inspector or whatever he was didn’t adequately prepare him to be the whitetail expert he claims.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Here’s a scary reality. You give me that drone, a rifle and a couple hours and I’ll kill any buck on a property….and right now it’s perfectly legal.

Additionally I can sit well within my property and look in every neighbors property. Granted I on purpose would not look into my neighbors place but flying to the back, on my neighbors I could see cows in a field over a mile away. There is no privacy with this. Every blind was illuminated like a spotlight.

 

[SwampCat]

How will the drone perform with heavy leaf cover on the trees? A fall flight during hunting season would really be interesting - not to go out and hunt - but to see what kind of cover your deer were selecting in general. Most of us exert a lot of management effort towards attracting and holding deer during hunting season - and while I think I know what cover my deer prefer - maybe I dont.

If I was going to spend big money on a drone, it would definitely be a drone that could spray herbicide and aerial seed

I have thought about buying a $1000 drone but I cant for the life of me figure out what I would do with it after the first three flights.

A co-op would be great. I have quite a bit of equipment I use very little - but renting is not an option really - mainly because of timing with the weather.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Leaf cover is tough if they are stacked in the closed canopy. My buddy flies a lot. Especially during the season. He has a big spread, 1300 acres. He is a big believer in early succession. We burn a lot of his so it’s more of a herbaceous understory and not woody. Says deer really spend a lot of time in that. Hardwoods as well.

 

[Native Hunter]

Here’s a scary reality. You give me that drone, a rifle and a couple hours and I’ll kill any buck on a property….and right now it’s perfectly legal.

Additionally I can sit well within my property and look in every neighbors property. Granted I on purpose would not look into my neighbors place but flying to the back, on my neighbors I could see cows in a field over a mile away. There is no privacy with this. Every blind was illuminated like a spotlight.

Those are good points. I don't know a lot about drone laws, but I think anyone can just fly over someone else's property and it is perfectly legal. What if some neighbor decided he wanted to mess up your hunting and did that to spook the deer? I know that there are laws that says you can't do it for the purpose of harassing wildlife. but someone could just say that they were just observing and had no intention of doing that. I've been concerned about this for a long time. Thanks for the thread.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Those are good points. I don't know a lot about drone laws, but I think anyone can just fly over someone else's property and it is perfectly legal. What if some neighbor decided he wanted to mess up your hunting and did that to spook the deer? I know that there are laws that says you can't do it for the purpose of harassing wildlife. but someone could just say that they were just observing and had no intention of doing that. I've been concerned about this for a long time. Thanks for the thread.

Agreed. Zero legally they can do to you. I could reach about 2 miles from my couch at the farm. That property is 300 acres. That means a lot of neighbors are in my reach without getting my butt up. I could stare at you in a hang on stand from 400’ high and a quarter mile away and if a good deer was close just run it off and claim ignorant. The zoom is amazing.

I’ve emailed the state of ky a year ago about these things. We had some correspondence and they said they are working with other states to draft something. As with everything in the government it will be a too late and toothless

Wonder if your swamp has any ducks on it…

 

[SwampCat]

Agreed. Zero legally they can do to you. I could reach about 2 miles from my couch at the farm. That property is 300 acres. That means a lot of neighbors are in my reach without getting my butt up. I could stare at you in a hang on stand from 400’ high and a quarter mile away and if a good deer was close just run it off and claim ignorant. The zoom is amazing.

I’ve emailed the state of ky a year ago about these things. We had some correspondence and they said they are working with other states to draft something. As with everything in the government it will be a too late and toothless

Wonder if your swamp has any ducks on it…
View attachment 62399

My duck lease with 13 lakes on it would be a great place. Set up and then use the drone to find the ducks on other lakes, scare them up, and they might come to the lake I am hunting

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

My duck lease with 13 lakes on it would be a great place. Set up and then use the drone to find the ducks on other lakes, scare them up, and they might come to the lake I am hunting

I’ve heard of guys using them to scout public land in ark. Should absolutely be illegal

 

[SwampCat]

I’ve heard of guys using them to scout public land in ark. Should absolutely be illegal

Not sure drone scouting wouldnt be better for the resource than scouting with modified mud motors all day long

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Not sure drone scouting wouldnt be better for the resource than scouting with modified mud motors all day long

Outlaw both. Six or one half dozen on the birds. Either gonna run them to death or be so effective in killing them that either way they are screwed.