Professionals: Deer Count Surveys - Thermal Drone Usage

[JMikeyH]

Hi there chaps,

Have any of the professional stalkers/deer managers/related had thermal drone deer count surveys done? Including heat maps for population hotspots/frequented areas, sex, species, general density per square km, additional on-the-ground confirmations where required, local habitat impacts and so on.

Any experience with something akin to this?

Trying to work out what sort of time commitment it may be over lets say 1000 acres to produce an orthomosaic map with the layers of information listed above.

How long would it take for a bloke to do it with only boots on the ground? How accurate would the count be if done from the ground?

Any insight appreciated

Cheers,
Jon

 

[willie_gunn]

Give Ben at BH Wildlife Consultancy a call. I did chat to him at the recent event in Hampshire, but I can't recall the cost per day he quoted.

 

[felix4247]

Exactly what Willie has said. The topography, canopy density, permitted take off areas, time of day etc all play a part in the time to survey the area and pilots required etc

 

[Freeforester]

I use a thermal capable drone to monitor plantations for incursions. What this helps illustrate is that grant-compliant ‘deer-proof’ fencing is, er, just fencing.

 

[finnbear270]

I attended this event, very informative on the subject the OP is interested in, Why not ask Alastair for the details of the professionals that gave the talk on their operations.

 

[Tom_Ov]

Hi there chaps,

Have any of the professional stalkers/deer managers/related had thermal drone deer count surveys done? Including heat maps for population hotspots/frequented areas, sex, species, general density per square km, additional on-the-ground confirmations where required, local habitat impacts and so on.

Any experience with something akin to this?

Trying to work out what sort of time commitment it may be over lets say 1000 acres to produce an orthomosaic map with the layers of information listed above.

How long would it take for a bloke to do it with only boots on the ground? How accurate would the count be if done from the ground?

Any insight appreciated

Cheers,
Jon

I’ve been involved in a couple that Ben Harrowers team have done and the report that you get at the end is really very good - most things you’ve mentioned above, laid out v clearly.

Lots of variable around how long the survey takes to do - weather on the day, access points etc but based on what I’ve seen your prob talking about a couple of sessions of a few hours each.

 

[swatty]

Look up boddy environmental
The lad that runs it is called kes he did a talk at our dmg last week he can do 1500 hectares a day I think depending on the ground

 

[Tazz]

I understand most of the top thermal drone pilots are on a European project in Ukraine currently

 

[DK.260]

I use Ben Harrower for TI surveys, he provides an excellent service. It’s helpful if you get your neighbours on side also, this gives you lots of info to play with when working out your plans.
If you can, do the TI surveys around the same date annually, day and night.
The Heat map of deer concentrations I find particularly helpful as a metric to decide your deer plans.
DM me if you want me to talk you through anything.

 

[Ratel]

I was with Ben when he did a drone survey of our estate as part of the management groups count. Most interesting and very worthwhile. Even picked out and magnified a lovely Roe buck I hadn't seen before. Easily counted numbers of Fallow and which were bucks and does.

 

[David Barker]

I do wounder why the big organisations are not using drones instead of Helicopters. Surly it is cheaper and the benefits must be they can use them in and around or towns and lowlands were counts have very rarely been done. Unless they don't really want to know how many deer we have because a million sounds good.

 

[zambezi]

grant-compliant ‘deer-proof’ fencing is, er, just fencing

Just this week I saw a posse of red deer vault a deer fence at pace.

To be fair, the fence was erected parallel to and within 5' of an ancient earthen hedgebank which clearly gave the deer an assured launch height.

They may not traverse as easily the other way, but the farmer's sheep pasture was on the side they landed...I guess there is an alternate exit.

 

[finnbear270]

Been tight under a fence when a mob of hinds have landed in my lap, scary!

 

[Greenmist]

Wild track pro

 

[75]

What’s the ballpark figure for a survey that takes a day please? We’re looking at applying for sone WS1 grants but very little baseline data so wondering if this would be a good place to start.

 

[Greenmist]

What’s the ballpark figure for a survey that takes a day please? We’re looking at applying for sone WS1 grants but very little baseline data so wondering if this would be a good place to start.

A good place to start is to do transects through your woodland and record the data

 

[Mungo]

Give Ben at BH Wildlife Consultancy a call. I did chat to him at the recent event in Hampshire, but I can't recall the cost per day he quoted.

He has cornered the market on this, but is not really any more than the first person to realise the market existed and get the kit to do it.

I have seen several of his surveys and reports, and ground truthed 2. They were not impressive.

 

[Mungo]

Hi there chaps,

Have any of the professional stalkers/deer managers/related had thermal drone deer count surveys done? Including heat maps for population hotspots/frequented areas, sex, species, general density per square km, additional on-the-ground confirmations where required, local habitat impacts and so on.

Any experience with something akin to this?

Trying to work out what sort of time commitment it may be over lets say 1000 acres to produce an orthomosaic map with the layers of information listed above.

How long would it take for a bloke to do it with only boots on the ground? How accurate would the count be if done from the ground?

Any insight appreciated

Cheers,
Jon

To do it properly to the level of detail you’re talking about will require multiple flights - probably a minimum of 4 spaced over the year.

Also bear in mind that the technology has not yet advanced to where you can reliably identify species or sex from thermal footage. People are working on this, but it’s probably a few years off.

A thermal drone will give you good lower limit estimate. But it will not produce the level of detail you’re after without substantial additional work.

 

[Woodsy]

To do it properly to the level of detail you’re talking about will require multiple flights - probably a minimum of 4 spaced over the year.

Also bear in mind that the technology has not yet advanced to where you can reliably identify species or sex from thermal footage. People are working on this, but it’s probably a few years off.

A thermal drone will give you good lower limit estimate. But it will not produce the level of detail you’re after without substantial additional work.

I’ve been involved in annual deer census at landscape scales using drones for the last few years. We count but also build a very accurate understanding of herd structure; species, sex and age. Mostly fallow and roe in heavily wooded river valleys.

The drone does not only carry a thermal camera. It has a thermal, wide angle and zoom. The UAV operator can switch from one camera to the next at the push of a button. The zoom camera is very powerful; we have been able to see the anal tush on a roe doe at up to 2km away. The level of detail the OP is after is easily achievable using drones.

 

[243ack]

I've got a DJI Mavic 3t which I bought with the intention of doing the above - but it's just too complicated for me to operate - so is for sale if anyone is interested........