How long before tracking dogs are replaced by thermal drones?
- Thread starter phillips321
- Start date
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My wildfowling dog could track geese and duck that dived quite deep into the estuary , dipping his nose pre dive helped him and then he dove vertically down to get them .
Kevgun
Well-Known Member
I have the Mavic 3 T as well, it's been very good so far for recovery and recon work, I managed to find a deer last week that a dog couldn't find because it had run and dropped into a field of sage, I think the sage was masking the scent, is it better than a Dog, no definitely not, but it is another tool that makes the job easier
Main 'problem' with 3T for me is operator!. I'm wrong side of 70 - you need to be a proper pilot to get the best out of a very complex piece of kit. As I said above, though, cracking boys toy!!!.
Kevgun
Well-Known Member
Yes, it doe take some getting used to, I have spent a lot of time flying a smaller Drone over the past 2 years, so understand the basics, just operating the camera and all the features takes a bit of getting used t, what is very handy is the POI function, if you see something on the ground worthy of investigating you can click on it and inform others of its location, they can then pop the co ordinates into their mobile phone with google maps and walk straight to it whilst your looking for other stuff, it saves wasting time
Wow - just wow.
I'm going to get another dog and train it to find lost drones...
Main problems with most dogs is the operator too
I recently did a trial run of using an M300 drone with a thermal unit on it for locating deer and trying to count them in a 120 acre wood. It was terrible weather on that day with heavy showers and strong gusts which later cleared for bright sunshine, this was back in October.
At times, I could see pheasants in the brush, let alone the reds that were in there. Some areas of thick cover didn't show any heat sources, maybe paired with the poor conditions as well but I wouldn't be comfortable saying that there was nothing in there. You just don't know. I did cover a wood of 120 acres in about half an hour of flying however.
It definitely has applications, maybe not the best for finding a specific animal that is wounded but for general forestry work relating to deer count and finding pockets to inform stalkers who are there to do a cull? Definitely
At times, I could see pheasants in the brush, let alone the reds that were in there. Some areas of thick cover didn't show any heat sources, maybe paired with the poor conditions as well but I wouldn't be comfortable saying that there was nothing in there. You just don't know. I did cover a wood of 120 acres in about half an hour of flying however.
It definitely has applications, maybe not the best for finding a specific animal that is wounded but for general forestry work relating to deer count and finding pockets to inform stalkers who are there to do a cull? Definitely
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Others have reported the limitations.
Using a thermal drone while stalking, less kit to carry 360 degree surveillance at all times
Deer recognition software to control a drone mounted rifle, never miss a deer again
All I have to is grallock and extract the deer, no need to get out of bed until the shot is fired
Using a thermal drone while stalking, less kit to carry 360 degree surveillance at all times
Deer recognition software to control a drone mounted rifle, never miss a deer again
All I have to is grallock and extract the deer, no need to get out of bed until the shot is fired
cutty sark
Well-Known Member
Thermal drones being used a lot more up my way for counting open hill, a fraction of the cost of a helicopter for the day.
compared to helicopters with 2 plus people and a load of fuel it must be quite a saving indeed. A lot less consequences when the unmanned drone crashes also .
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