There has been a lot of buzz lately on the internet lately about thermal drones and using them for deer recovery and heard analysis. I decided to go ahead and dive in. I will be offering recovery and deer analysis services in north Alabama. If anyone has any questions in general I would be glad to answer them. I'm not positive what the rules are on here for advertising so I won't post any links to stuff. If just announcing that I am doing it violates it then that I apologize and remove the post. I've been on here for over 20yrs, so just didn't just make an account to announce my business. I know a lot of the dog services are posted and kept on here so thought this might fall under the same category. Thanks and again any questions feel free to ask.

I've been watching youtube videos on thermal drone deer recovery. Its amazing to watch. Dont think it will work in pine plantations, but it works great in open timber and fields.

Pines aren't the best environment but really depends on how thick and tall. Pines that have been select cut will be no problem. Thick overgrown out of control pine thickets are definitely less desirable but on the right day animals can still be located.

You know i love this concept, but i feel as more and more people do this. the more it will be used for very bad things. The last thing i would want to see is me sitting in my deer stand and my neighbor flying his drone over my property. If this happened there would be nothing i could do about it as shooting it down would be a federal offense( or that's the way i understand it, being they are registered with the FAA). or people trying to find where deer or turkey are located and running them off other peoples property to there property so they can kill them. I just feel this could get real ugly. I do see where they can come in really handy in locating Hogs at night to have them eliminated.

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There is no doubt that they could be used for some less than desirable outcomes. Some of the things you have described have been possible before the thermal drones. The difference is now that they are fully capable of finding and identifying not only bucks but what size bucks or turkey. You don't own the airspace above your property so technically they can check out your land also. Actually chasing deer off someone's property to yours would be a little more difficult as so far the deer I've seen really haven't been affected by it. I haven't been trying to chase them so I can't say you couldn't but you have to be above the canopy in a wooded area and so its not like you can go down ground level chasing them as you would crash very quickly. The drones equipped with thermal imaging sufficient enough to actually do what I'm describing start at around $6000 so "most" people aren't going to go grab one for scouting and self use. I could see lodges using them for helping customers be more efficient and knowing exactly where bucks are staying. As the technology advances and it becomes more readily available I suspect that it will bring its own bag or problems with it.

Yea
Yea your probably right. i don't see anyone buying one of these for personnel use at $6k or more. As technology gets better and these are more readily available, i do see these prices coming down maybe. I know i thought about doing this down in southeast Bama, but by the time i got this up a running i feel that a lot of folks in this area will already have them or will be getting them.

I’m not sure about that……the woods are full of $20K side by sides…….I’ve never been the traditionalist type when its comes to technology in hunting but this one has me on the fence. It just has the potential to change the game to something that really pushes the boundaries of fair chase. The potential for abuse is high

I guess this could be somewhat related to Livescope being used for fishing. only difference is the fish would still have to take the bait

Its neat and fun to play with but I will be the first one to tell you that it will be abused, its too easy to be able to do things that are illegal. Even though I now own and one and plan to use it to my advantage in certain instances I do feel it will probably be best to see some regulations on them. I have seen other states with laws about 24 and 48 hours before you could hunt after using one. I think that something along those lines will probably be needed. I've already heard about people using them out West for Elk hunts. If your guide had one of these drones your success rate would go up drastically. In open environments like what you see out West and even Mid west they really won't miss much at all. Those types of areas the drone signal is also best so you could wake up from camp and fly your drone in a 3-5 mild radius and locate animals before ever leaving camp.

I don’t know that any rules would really matter on this one……..Its just too easy for a guy to do what he wants to do without any way of enforcing or proving he was using the drone to choose his hunting location, etc…….The allure of killing that giant buck will have folks causing issues with them. One of the things that it’ll be used for that just doesn’t seem right to me is when folks use it to scout their neighbor’s land just to see what he’s holding, see if they’re hunting this weekend, etc……. This situation where privacy is able to be infringed on in such a manner is likely about to go too far with it now that the technology is getting in the hands of the general public.

If people are worried about the new cell cams changing the game, these drones would be like if those new cell cams were Bruce Banner and the drone is them morphed into the Incredible Hulk. I’m not sure what the answer is to this one……We all knew the day was coming and its now here.

I think all we can do is embrace it. IMO, fair chase ended when corn and cell cameras became legal to use together. This is why I think the only regs for private land should be season dates and bag limits. I personally prefer to scout for sign and set up based on where I think they will be, but that's not for everyone. I don't mind other people taking shortcuts on their land, just as long as they aren't wiping out the herd.

None of this applies to public land. If I start seeing drones out there, I'm gonna shoot them down lol. Anybody else's drone on my land is getting shot down too. Maybe I should keep the privet to protect my property from drone piddlers lol. Those things would be worthless on my land in its current state.

There should be a simple rule issued by the state that they can only be used in the active recovery of an animal on public lands. Private you do you boo

I suppose…….it is what is I guess…….But you can see the issues coming from a mile away with this one when more and more people get them in their hands. I bet you’ll “embrace it” right up until you get tired of one checking your food plots in the afternoon or flying over your cabin at night. These will be ideal for theft rings

I can sit on my back porch and check 3 of my neighbors green fields every night. This will be so cool.

Right now thats about the way it is on Public. I called a WMA this morning and she said right now they are not allowed at all. She said they are in the process of writing rules up for them now and that they should be out for next season. All wildlife refuges already have regulations prohibiting drones. At this point the only public land that is still uncertain would be open public permit land (TVA, National Forrest, etc). I believe they should fall under state law but I don't know for sure and am waiting a call back to get more information. It sounds like the powers that he are already considering it and we are likely to see rulings this year or at least on your WMA's anyways.

I got several pictures of a drone hovering over one of my feeders two seasons back. I couldn’t tell what the light source looked like since it was a series of night pics but it was a bright flood effect. There were between 3 and 7 does just looking at it hovering about 4 feet over the feeder top. Only time I’ve ever seen it and not sure from whence it came.

The main guy on youtube uses a drone that is $20K. Uses the thermal to find them, then turns on a spotlight mounted on the drone and has an incredible zoom on the camera. If the buck is wounded and not dead, he marks the gps coordinates so the hunter can go back later and look for him. He found one guys tracking dog for him that got away from the handler.

A couple of years ago, I drove over to our lease on youth Turkey opener. . I went to make sure any feed had been cleaned up prior to season. I went at daylight to listen for gobbling. I can hear the unmistakable sound of one overhead but couldnt see it. I didnt know if it was someone scouting or the possum police seeing if we had a kid hunting there. Never had an interaction with either that season.

I wondered how you would tell a dead deer from a live one.

It can't be any less fair than putting out a corn pile, aiming a cell camera at it, and knowing instantly and distantly what is eating it