Thermal for bird pickup?
- Thread starter mikeakc
- Start date
Graycj
Well-Known Member
Actually that’s a fair point. Out for a stalk the other day and saw a thermal signature on the ground I couldn’t identify. Knew it wasn’t deer sized so didn’t worry about it until a bit later once I’d checked the likely deer bits. Wandered right up to it, couldn’t see anything in the naked eye, kept checking back to the thermal to prove to myself I wasn’t going mad and finally flushed a woodcock. But the signature was clear from a good 250m away.
I would think it depends on the kit you're using, but when out stalking I often use the thermal to spot and then identify birds - useful for everything from wrens, woodcock and tree-keepers to owls, sparrowhawks and other BoP up in the trees. It can also identify mice and shrews rootling around on the forest floor. This time of year, of course, in most of the woods there are nothing but dozens of bloomin' pheasants showing up through the thermal 
.
So long as the pigeon and pheasant are within clearish line of sight and recently shot, it would certainly be better than nothing.
.So long as the pigeon and pheasant are within clearish line of sight and recently shot, it would certainly be better than nothing.
crow killer
Well-Known Member
I have used my Thermal, I always take it when waiting for crows roosting, ive found and picked up quite a few with it, thats after they have been freshly shot and in winter, summer would be more difficult as everything seems to glow, also found a few runners with it, certainly a big help, but quite expensive if thats all youd be using it for....
Waste of time , get a dog . The heat signature disappears very fast after a deer is shot and to try with shot birds in cover ? I would not waste any time on it at all .
Any dog is a 1000 times better than a man with a thermal
Any dog is a 1000 times better than a man with a thermal
Smellydog
Well-Known Member
Talking of picking up woodcock. When I was much younger we were out on the fall of woodcock, this time of year whilst lamping fox's.
The woodcock were just falling out of the sky knackered after their long journey. You could pick them up! In fact we shot a fox catching one that night, anyway I also caught one and was checking it over when my buddy said "fox"! So I put the bird in my pocket.
After getting the second fox that evening I went to get the woodcock out of my wax jacket pocket and the dam thing had filled the pocket with poop!
My buddy laughed his bollocks off !
The woodcock were just falling out of the sky knackered after their long journey. You could pick them up! In fact we shot a fox catching one that night, anyway I also caught one and was checking it over when my buddy said "fox"! So I put the bird in my pocket.
After getting the second fox that evening I went to get the woodcock out of my wax jacket pocket and the dam thing had filled the pocket with poop!
My buddy laughed his bollocks off !
I don’t know that any definitive studies have been done for deer, but a human body is estimated to take around 24 hours to cool down to the ambient temperature. This is based on studies completed using pig carcasses, in support of research into finding missing persons. I don’t see that deer would necessarily be any different, other than perhaps some marginal effect because of the layer of fur.
I’ve used thermal to successfully find dead deer several hours post-shot, and also used it to locate blood spatters, though the heat signature of latter clearly degrades rapidly.
The OP said he couldn’t have a dog so, with that not being an option, a thermal might prove to be a useful alternative.
I can tell you first hand experience that a hart lung shot dead deer very soon after gets hard to locate with thermal in daylight. Regards birds ? I would not even bother.
Old fashioned mental marking of the shot location and the direction the beast took off on its death rush , then std blood trail tracking. Remember as soon as you think the deer might be mobile bring in help with a dog.
The heat signature of a shot deer fades incredibly fast after death
No-one is being forced to use a thermal to recover dead or wounded deer. If it doesn't work for you, fine.
I know from first-hand experience, documented elsewhere on the Site, that it is also sadly the case that dogs - even dedicated deer tracking dogs - are not infallible either. However I'd be the last person to try to convince others that, based on my personal experience, dogs shouldn't be used to recover deer!
Thermal is simply a tool in the tool-box that shouldn't be ignored.
What is important is that, if we are going to go out and shoot deer, we should try every possible means to recover a wounded or dead animal, whether that’s the use of thermal, use of one’s own dog or a dog tracking service, or plain old Mk. 1 eyeball and experience.
In a push you use what you have but thermals have a way low time window to find dead deer , the question came from birds though and IMO that is utterly crackers .
Nothing we have can compete with a dog and tech aint ever going to come close
Kevgun
Well-Known Member
Got one, it's brilliant especially for pikeys. Mavic 3T
You might want to have a look at the Drone Deer Recovery site from the US. They are using drones fitted with thermal to find wounded and dead deer, and in some cases the thermal is picking up the carcasses of dead deer several hours after the shot.
In this case, at around 7'30" into the video, the operator finds the dead deer lying almost next to the car where the hunters and drone operator are standing!
Interestingly on the same search they found the carcass of another dead deer - a doe - using the same drone fitted with thermal.
baguio
Well-Known Member
I think you either need to get to spec savers or turn your thermal on! Unless its really cold a deer carcass 'never cools down to ambient temperature because the food in its stomach will continue to give off heat for weeks, by which time the whole carcass is also rotting and giving off heat. Look at a compost heap or manure next time you're out. I dodn't doubt that a small bird would probably freeze in cold weather but it would have to be extremely cold before the cold overcame the decompostion of a deer carcass that hadn't been gralloched and froze it.
Deer will hold heat longer than a bird and will hold heat longer in hotter ambient temperatures. Feathers are very, very good insulators and cover the full bird and birds do not hold a lot of blood . I do not even consider thermal of real use finding dead birds , deer yeah you can pick up where a deer is laid but the window in time is short ( too short and too unreliable) to aid in more than easy marked fresh recoveries in my own experience.
Just about any dog is way better than £2k thermal.
Just dont buy a thermal for the purpose of finding dead deer and certainly not for finding shot birds . Even if you dont have a dog the stalker should have a phone number to call for the help of a dog, many nations make it law
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