You think drones will replace dog tracking?

[Lucky13]

I'm seeing a bunch of new drone tracking businesses popping up and can't help but think....
I'm sure there will always be dogs tracking deer but the drone videos I've seen seem superior.

 

[Jagger0502]

You can’t beat a deer’s nose…. I say that a lot. I am going to have to start saying you can’t beat a dog’s nose. There will always be dog trackers and I can’t see how a drone can replace man’s best friend.

 

[kyler1945]

I think we’ll have deer scent sensing devices that fit in our pocket before we stop using dogs. I don’t hunt many places a drone will be useful.

We can add thermal imagine to drones if they haven’t already, and that will make a big difference for tracks that start before bodies are room temperature.

 

[Jammintree]

I predict variability on drone prevalence. Some areas / states it will flourish and others will ban it entirely. Personally I have mixed feelings - the matter of drones relates to alot of different hunting related topics. I always cringe when real skill and capacity is replaced by a form of tech. So I’d hope that if drones are used it’s as a last resort.

@kyler1945 thermal imaging is the primary way drones already operate. They can find live or dead deer with impeccable precision

 

[Lucky13]

I get the dog love. I also said, there will always be dogs tracking deer.
Have you seen the thermal image drones finding deer? There's a few on Youtube. I came across this local company today, www.sky-hound.com
One huge advantage is not jumping wounded deer.

 

[DelaWhere_Arrow]

It’s extremely UNaffordable to use a drone tracking service. Not saying you have to be rich or a bad deer hunter to use a drone service, but a lot of the videos I’ve seen involving drone recovery are 1) ppl who have way too much money and don’t hunt very much, paying to play in more ways than just recovery (might not necessarily be “rich” but definitely the kinda guy to buy an all-new beast gear setup because it’s fashion-forward and they honestly believe expensive kit makes a good hunter) 2) ppl who don’t take very good shots at game or who have a track record, even in just that one day, of shooting at and missing more than one animal 3) ppl who think they made a nonlethal hit and want to peg that deer’s location for later, or maybe have a reason to wait out a wounded deer until it dies, like man I really wanna show my buddies that rack.
If you have $500+ just to entertain the notion of using a drone to track a whitetail, more power to you. I suspect the hunting public at-large is not only out of that economic qualification, but also has absolutely zero interest in using this kind of technology when a dog, and even just some savvy hunting buddies, is a much more affordable and largely quite effective method of recovery. They’re already walking back trail cameras because they’re afraid of what someone can do with seemingly benign technology in the woods (and it’s political too of course) so I don’t think drones will outright replace anything or anyone until/unless the politicos decide there’s some measure of cruelty (which there isn’t) or drone recovery becomes as affordable/free as dog recovery or a good bunch of friends with eyes for blood trails (which it won’t because my friends work for beer and venison).

 

[NMSbowhunter]

No, illegal where I hunt and would not use one if legal. I predict that drones will become much more heavily regulated overall than they are now. It's a new technology and the wrong people just have not realized the full potential for mayhem with them yet.

 

[neonomad]

Assume they would take significant share in the market where they continue to be permitted. Take myself for example, if I someday am dealing with a challenging track job and it remains legal in Ohio, heck yes I’m calling a drone service, because calling a drone in increases your odds of recovery dramatically.

It almost feels to me like hunters embrace, or at least have gotten plenty comfortable with, a culture of terrible recovery rates.

 

[colin.704]

I'm seeing a bunch of new drone tracking businesses popping up and can't help but think....
I'm sure there will always be dogs tracking deer but the drone videos I've seen seem superior.

they are about useless in Florida, thermal can't penetrate canopy. fields, clearcuts, and after the leaves fall they will work well and cover more ground. even if they don't find the deer they can let you know where not to look, unlike a dog.

 

[kyler1945]

I predict variability on drone prevalence. Some areas / states it will flourish and others will ban it entirely. Personally I have mixed feelings - the matter of drones relates to alot of different hunting related topics. I always cringe when real skill and capacity is replaced by a form of tech. So I’d hope that if drones are used it’s as a last resort.

@kyler1945 thermal imaging is the primary way drones already operate. They can find live or dead deer with impeccable precision

Got it. There you go. Haha I am showing my disconnect from social media I guess.

I’m thinking back over the deer I’ve let lay because of a bad shot, or unknown shot location.

Drone with thermal imaging may have helped on one or two. That said, I probably would’ve called earlier if I knew the service was available.

I’d rather just spend the money on thermal imaging handheld myself, and leave the weapon at the truck.

I have no moral or ethical qualms about drones. And the service and the technology will get cheaper.

 

[Plebe]

It almost feels to me like hunters embrace, or at least have gotten plenty comfortable with, a culture of terrible recovery rates.

Drones won’t change that for the better.

 

[LAKY]

No, illegal where I hunt and would not use one if legal. I predict that drones will become much more heavily regulated overall than they are now. It's a new technology and the wrong people just have not realized the full potential for mayhem with them yet.

Completely agree. Imagine people using a drone with thermal technology on it to make sure a buck is bedding in a certain spot, then using that to setup on when he gets up or watch him moving. It's not going to tell you it's that exact buck unless you can actually see him, but it will make killing them easier.

 

[Plebe]

Here’s a long thread on drones:

Drone Deer Recovery

I don't recall ever seeing a thread on this guy, Mike from Drone Deer Recovery but he's got some pretty interesting videos. Check him out...

saddlehunter.com

There are others too.

 

[samu]

Handheld thermal is pretty good tool for finding shot deer also, doesn't need to be on a drone. Dog will find a deer even after the body is cold so there's one benefit. Also tracking wounded deer to get the job finished is probably more suited for a dog.

 

[DelaWhere_Arrow]

Assume they would take significant share in the market where they continue to be permitted. Take myself for example, if I someday am dealing with a challenging track job and it remains legal in Ohio, heck yes I’m calling a drone service, because calling a drone in increases your odds of recovery dramatically.

It almost feels to me like hunters embrace, or at least have gotten plenty comfortable with, a culture of terrible recovery rates.

I sympathize. With all of what you’re saying. But you owe that drone guy a LOT of money to do a job that a dog can and will do quite a bit better in some situations (like a sunny day when the light/heat is playing off the foliage and screwing with your imagery, when the weather is too bad for flight or there are flight restrictions in place, when it’s thick cover and you still need to get into the area instead of just over it, or if you track something onto another piece of land many landowners are honestly more apt to letting a good dog tracker on their land than allowing some mook with a drone to flyover and see whatever they want) and the dog is not only cheaper but I’d also surmise that successful recovery rates are comparable or dead even.
As for hunters accepting poor recovery rates, you’re right. It’s not going to change based on drone availability though. If anything, you give people an inch on recoverability then they’ll take a mile on making dumber shot decisions and then chalk it up to “well at least I can call Mike the drone guy” and if they have the money for multiple recoveries by drone, they’re more inclined to take risks more often which will inevitably lead to more money in drone man’s pocket (not my problem, don’t begrudge a guy his job) and unfortunately, still unrecoverable/-ed animals. At the end of the day, no tracking method is perfect unless you can follow the deer every step to its resting place.

 

[colin.704]

I think using them would be great for the deer herds. U ID the biggest, oldest bucks on the property on the off season. now u know what bucks to chase, what their patterns are (which will change). So instead of shooting the first 3.5 u see you are chasing an older, smarter deer. you may get him you may not, but a couple years of leaving the young ones alone and you got monsters walking all over the place. during season no flying allowed except for recovery, then you have to use a separate, licensed pilot. the flight records of drones are recorded, so compliance can be checked years later. I don't want to be buzzed during hunting season, and I think most would comply if the rules were clear. U can't outlaw them, there are people that use them that don't hunt, and unless they are in camo with a weapon they aren't hunting with it. I run into them at work on cell towers weekly, power companies are now using them also. you think they don't look at deer with them? lol the do trust me

 

[neonomad]

I sympathize. With all of what you’re saying. But you owe that drone guy a LOT of money to do a job that a dog can and will do quite a bit better in some situations (like a sunny day when the light/heat is playing off the foliage and screwing with your imagery, when the weather is too bad for flight or there are flight restrictions in place, when it’s thick cover and you still need to get into the area instead of just over it, or if you track something onto another piece of land many landowners are honestly more apt to letting a good dog tracker on their land than allowing some mook with a drone to flyover and see whatever they want) and the dog is not only cheaper but I’d also surmise that successful recovery rates are comparable or dead even.
As for hunters accepting poor recovery rates, you’re right. It’s not going to change based on drone availability though. If anything, you give people an inch on recoverability then they’ll take a mile on making dumber shot decisions and then chalk it up to “well at least I can call Mike the drone guy” and if they have the money for multiple recoveries by drone, they’re more inclined to take risks more often which will inevitably lead to more money in drone man’s pocket (not my problem, don’t begrudge a guy his job) and unfortunately, still unrecoverable/-ed animals. At the end of the day, no tracking method is perfect unless you can follow the deer every step to its resting place.

Agree there are definitely conditions where a dog works better, as for cost depends on what your time is worth… even if we assume a relatively low value of $20 / hr for your own time, finding that deer can easily save you money since hunting will gobble up 25 more hours very quickly.

@Plebe it is just speculation to say that many people will take poor shots because they can lean on a drone, but it is a statistical fact that any track job where a drone is called increases the odds of recovery dramatically.

@kyler1945 just kind of an interesting thing, I recall Mike Yoder claiming that if a deer is gut shot and not pushed, he’ll find 80-100% of them (I forget) 200-300 yards from the shot, dead.

 

[Jammintree]

I think using them would be great for the deer herds. U ID the biggest, oldest bucks on the property on the off season. now u know what bucks to chase, what their patterns are (which will change). So instead of shooting the first 3.5 u see you are chasing an older, smarter deer. you may get him you may not, but a couple years of leaving the young ones alone and you got monsters walking all over the place. during season no flying allowed except for recovery, then you have to use a separate, licensed pilot. the flight records of drones are recorded, so compliance can be checked years later. I don't want to be buzzed during hunting season, and I think most would comply if the rules were clear. U can't outlaw them, there are people that use them that don't hunt, and unless they are in camo with a weapon they aren't hunting with it. I run into them at work on cell towers weekly, power companies are now using them also. you think they don't look at deer with them? lol the do trust me

What you’re saying is a reasonable argument in regions with high deer density. I can see there being a huge case for thermal imaging to manage urban and suburban deer populations.

But in regions with low deer density, targeting mature deer with drones would have a load
Of negative impacts. I don’t think it would be good for the herd and would definitely generate more anti hunters. And don’t forget - it would be incredibly hard to hunt a mature buck if there were 100 other hunters pursuing the same deer - and monitoring him with a drone.

 

[HuumanCreed]

It depends, I know very little about drone technology, but I feel the game changer would be UV tracking AI. If a drone can track blood at ground level, has the ability to avoid branches as it track, I see it being more efficient if technology viable.

Honestly, I see tracking broad head being more a future tool that people would use.

Here is a golden idea. You know those FOB fletching that people hate? They are designed to drop out of the arrow once it hit the deer, so you know where you hit them. But if you can find someway to add spike to them so that the FOB stick to the hide of the deer. Adding a tracking device make perfect sense.

 

[Plebe]

Agree there are definitely conditions where a dog works better, as for cost depends on what your time is worth… even if we assume a relatively low value of $20 / hr for your own time, finding that deer can easily save you money since hunting will gobble up 25 more hours very quickly.

@Plebe it is just speculation to say that many people will take poor shots because they can lean on a drone, but it is a statistical fact that any track job where a drone is called increases the odds of recovery dramatically.

@kyler1945 just kind of an interesting thing, I recall Mike Yoder claiming that if a deer is gut shot and not pushed, he’ll find 80-100% of them (I forget) 200-300 yards from the shot, dead.

Can you explain why

“It almost feels to me like hunters embrace, or at least have gotten plenty comfortable with, a culture of terrible recovery rates.”

and how drones change that?

Statistically.