How long before tracking dogs are replaced by thermal drones?

[phillips321]

Don't get me wrong, I'm a dog man. And love having a working dog with me, company, etc...
However thermal drones are coming down in price, easier to fly and longer run time. How long before they'll be the first choice in tracking?

All in all over the course of 10 years they'll be a damn sight cheaper than a dog!

 

[VanGogh76]

Be interesting to see them in Woodlands, plus thermal is useless when in a ditch and there's something over the top. So I'd say not going to beat a dog for a long, long while yet

 

[artschool]

Don't get me wrong, I'm a dog man. And love having a working dog with me, company, etc...
However thermal drones are coming down in price, easier to fly and longer run time. How long before they'll be the first choice in tracking?

All in all over the course of 10 years they'll be a damn sight cheaper than a dog!

what's the cheapest one you have seen?

 

[phillips321]

I;ve seen them floating around the £4-5k mark, pricey i know. But a dog is £1k, then the cost of "running it" for 10 years isnt cheap depending on the size of the breed

 

[phillips321]

Be interesting to see them in Woodlands, plus thermal is useless when in a ditch and there's something over the top. So I'd say not going to beat a dog for a long, long while yet

https://www.youtube.com/@dronedeerrecovery/videos
Here's just an example of the work of a full time drone tracker:

 

[John Gryphon]

All in all over the course of 10 years they'll be a damn sight cheaper than a dog!

When they first hit here the opening price was around $20,000 (10G`s GBP`s) prices started to drop rapidly of course but not much.
There is a lot of anecdotal evidence of drones being lost no matter what "return to base" is inbuilt and thus there is always the 'lost' factor.
I watched a nature doco a few years where a drone equipped with a Canon 5D ($5000) flew uncontrollably towards the setting sun....in the ocean ha ha. End of story for that one.

I imagine there be some panic in losing a 10G drone.

And the bottom line is that you simply cant put a price on a good dog for what that dog brings into your life with it.

 

[243ack]

I've got one!. Bought it after watching US deer counting in woodland. Doesn't work in our dense conifer woodland. (Excellent boys toy, though!).

 

[phillips321]

I imagine there be some panic in losing a 10G drone.

Im pretty sure we'd all be much happier loosing a drone than a well trained dog thats loved by the family as well.

I think with all the advancement in Ukraine the cost of thermal drones will keep coming down.

 

[phillips321]

I've got one!. Bought it after watching US deer counting in woodland. Doesn't work in our dense conifer woodland. (Excellent boys toy, though!).

What model did you get? Mavic2 enterprise? If so the sensor is too small to use at night as it relies heavily on the optical channel. As oon as a 640x480 thermal drone is available for under £3k i think i'll bite the bullet.

 

[243ack]

What model did you get? Mavic2 enterprise? If so the sensor is too small to use at night as it relies heavily on the optical channel. As oon as a 640x480 thermal drone is available for under £3k i think i'll bite the bullet.

Nope. Mavic3T

 

[John Gryphon]

the cost of thermal drones will keep coming down.

Even if 1000 GBP`s there would be some pain in losing one ha ha.

 

[VanGogh76]

https://www.youtube.com/@dronedeerrecovery/videos
Here's just an example of the work of a full time drone tracker:

A good find, but still wasn't thick cover or under tree canopy.

Also a dog gives you the option to "hold" the deer as well if it's still alive.

I'd still take the dog, it might fart every now and then but it's a darn sight better company.

 

[rem284]

The dogs nose is th dogs danglies when it comes to finding deer. Plus will the drone track and dispatch a wounded beast

 

[phillips321]

The dogs nose is th dogs danglies when it comes to finding deer. Plus will the drone track and dispatch a wounded beast

Depends if we get the ones they’re using in Ukraine

 

[nun_hunter]

The main difference is the dog follows where the deer went Vs a drone which goes where you think the deer may have gone.

Since using a thermal spotter in woodland it amazes me how I can see a deer, move 30cm to the side and the deer disappears. That's how hard it can be with cover and knowing where the deer is. A deer that took of in a random path and an unknow distance is hard to find with a thermal drone. In an open field then maybe but then you could probably find it by walking over it. A deer that takes off into woodland and may change direction and travel an unknown distance would be very hard to find even with a drone following a searching pattern.

 

[cutty sark]

When the technology arrives that the drone finds, grallochs and extracts the beastie back to ma larder, I’ll maybe think about getting one

 

[deerstalker.308]

Watched a video of deer in America being extracted using a big drone, the future is coming, it certainly makes a difference in some environments for sure, but you can beat a dogs nose, or ability to hold or bay

 

[User00040]

Been told that I will soon be joined by a 'trial deer manager bot'...

 

[finnbear270]

A drone can't spitwash you, or lie across your toes next the fire, neither can it tell you that unusual things are happening around your perimeter.

 

[sikamalc]

A drone is NEVER going to replace a good dog.
Tracking wounded or lost deer summons up all sorts of scenarios that a drone wont cover. A deer dead for several hours will soon loose body heat, a drone wont find it, but a good dog will. Drones don't allow you to see through heavy cover, especially wet cover, and find a blood trail. A good dog will. Drones cant operate in high winds or heavy rain. A good dog can still work in some of the worse conditions.
I could go on. The trouble with modern deer stalking is too many people are relying upon modern technology. Now I'm not knocking any form of techno to find a wounded and lost deer, but carrying a drone around is not something I will ever do.
Being an accomplished deer stalker, means learning the craft over a period of time, your ground, weather the deer's habits, where they are likely to be and go, what their reaction to a shot is, signs etc etc.
Loose all of that, and in my opinion you may as well stick to a computer game!