Drones for scouting????

[mattys281]

I honestly dont see it making any difference, unless they start selling ones that shoot, gut, bag and drag for you. Guys that can't get it done now still wont be getting it done, and those who can will continue to do so.

[Swivelhead]

Won't be long and you'll be able to rent drone time, capable of thermal imaging, gps markers, etc. All date stamped and sent to your tablet before you head out the door on to I-10. Having a tough hunt? Can't find that big ol' buck that you had on your archaic old fashioned trail cam? No problem, call a drone service and give them some coordinates to sweep, watch it as it happens in real time downloaded your tablet while sitting in camp. Ooohh, can't wait.

 

Amazes me how quickly hunting technology is evolving. When I first started hunting our deserts, a rifle, a few shells, some cheap 7X35 binos on the neck, candy bars, knife, rope, matches and a canteen or two described the well equipped hunter. For most of us, the animal we hoped to take lived in our imaginations as it had not been seen. Good areas had legendary bucks seen by only a few lucky hunters. Big tracks, pressed deep into the dirt were the "trail cams" of old. I do miss the simplicity of the old ways.

[AZMThunter]

Please fly a drone past me when I am on the ridge glassing... The ridge that I left camp at 4:00am to hike in the dark so I could be set up an hour before first light.

 

I'll shoot that flying lawn mower out of the sky or run out of ammo trying. Except that 1 round that I'll keep just in case the drone owner is dumb enough to get feisty about losing his toy.

[Snapshot]

Please fly a drone past me when I am on the ridge glassing... The ridge that I left camp at 4:00am to hike in the dark so I could be set up an hour before first light.

 

I'll shoot that flying lawn mower out of the sky or run out of ammo trying. Except that 1 round that I'll keep just in case the drone owner is dumb enough to get feisty about losing his toy.

Amen!

[Zeke-BE]

Won't be long and you'll be able to rent drone time, capable of thermal imaging, gps markers, etc. All date stamped and sent to your tablet before you head out the door on to I-10. Having a tough hunt? Can't find that big ol' buck that you had on your archaic old fashioned trail cam? No problem, call a drone service and give them some coordinates to sweep, watch it as it happens in real time downloaded your tablet while sitting in camp. Ooohh, can't wait.Amazes me how quickly hunting technology is evolving. When I first started hunting our deserts, a rifle, a few shells, some cheap 7X35 binos on the neck, candy bars, knife, rope, matches and a canteen or two described the well equipped hunter. For most of us, the animal we hoped to take lived in our imaginations as it had not been seen. Good areas had legendary bucks seen by only a few lucky hunters. Big tracks, pressed deep into the dirt were the "trail cams" of old. I do miss the simplicity of the old ways.

 

Uuuhhhh....... You better jump all over that get that business started before someone Else does. After reading this I believe with in 10 years someone will be doing this. I've seen on the internet that someone here in AZ for a fee will go out and scout for you, take pictures and give you GPS location of,those pictures of the unit of your choice. I wouldnt be surprise if that company is already starting to use drones.

[mattys281]

I don't know what kind of drones you guys are looking at, but I was checking this out at Fry's electronics the other day and they all have the same basic parameters: hours of charging time get you 10 minutes of flight time. How much scouting are they really going to do with that? If you plan on shooting one, you better get real good at shooting them on the drop, cuz they aren't gonna be up that long anyway. Kinda like a 17 year old on prom night. Plus, how much ground are they gonna cover in that 10 minutes??? The ridge you spent hours hiking up is probably well beyond the 5 minutes these things can fly each way.

[Snapshot]

I don't know what kind of drones you guys are looking at, but I was checking this out at Fry's electronics the other day and they all have the same basic parameters: hours of charging time get you 10 minutes of flight time. How much scouting are they really going to do with that? If you plan on shooting one, you better get real good at shooting them on the drop, cuz they aren't gonna be up that long anyway. Kinda like a 17 year old on prom night. Plus, how much ground are they gonna cover in that 10 minutes??? The ridge you spent hours hiking up is probably well beyond the 5 minutes these things can fly each way.

There you go, getting all logical on us.

[elecshoc]

There was a video posted on here earlier in the year, if I'm not mistaken from an outfitter or maybe elk foundation? It was to preview the new year and it had some awesome film of bulls and it had some video from drones within it. I don't recall if they actually filmed elk from the drones or if they used it just for the scenic views. I remember because it struck me because at the time there was talk of if the faa would allow drones for commercial use. I'll try and search for the vid.

[CouesWhitetail]

The small "prosumer" drones like the one I have (phantom 2) are just not very useful for scouting. As Mattys281 mentioned battery life is very limited....mine is about 20 mins total, and you have to get it back to you before the battery gets to low or it autolands wherever it is. So generally you are flying less than 10 mins out and less than 10 mins back. Climbing a hill and glassing is way more productive for scouting. I use mine for fun and aerial video, but it's pretty much useless as a scouting tool. You would have to buy a super high end drone to get anything useful for scouting and I can't see that happening for enough hunters to make a difference. Mine is a ton of fun though!

[trphyhntr]

Technology is crazy. Maybe some day the deer will just come to my house climb in my freezer and commit suicide so I don't even have to hunt

[AZMThunter]

Don't get me wrong - I think flying one of those would be a ton of fun. I just think that using them for scouting and/or a hunting aid is NOT ok. And for those of you saying they should be OK for scouting... Well, aren't a pretty high percentage of hunts going on right before the next hunt? I mean, your scouting time is often somebody else's hunting time.

 

The battery life, optic quality, and flight distance are only going to increase as the technology advances. And the first time some animal rights wacko uses one to put your mug on Youtube sitting on that ridge with a rifle, everybody's gonna be ticked. I look forward to that about as much as I do visiting a water tank in unit 9 that has (11) game cameras on it.

[yotebuster]

Technology is crazy. Maybe some day the deer will just come to my house climb in my freezer and commit suicide so I don't even have to hunt

Gonna use a spear this year to fill your deer tag? Maybe just a rock?

[m77]

I started posting about drones back in 2012. I can't locate the original post but the following is a follow up to the original.

 

Months ago I added a ficticous post about a hunter using a drone to locate game. With all the talk of drones in the news being used for various things, how long do you think it will be before a hunter or a guide service starts using drones for locating game? Does the Game & Fish law R12-4-319 referencing the use of aircraft cover drones as well? MAYBE WE NEED ANOTHER LAW!!!! (I know some of you will enjoy that last statement).

[Snapshot]

I know this isn't scouting or the outdoors, but I wonder how long before one gets sucked into a jet engine

 

 

WASHINGTON – After decades of steady improvements in air travel, a new report from the Federal Aviation Administration shows a surge in near-collisions between commercial airliners and drones.

Already this month, close calls have been reported from New Jersey to Kansas to Hawaii.

Since July 1, commercial airlines, private pilots and air-traffic controllers have reported 25 incidents to the FAA in which small drones came dangerously close to crashing into larger planes, according to the report.

Many of the calls happened during takeoff and landings at some of the nation’s busiest airports including New York’s LaGuardia Airport, Washington’s Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia. The spike in near collisions presents a new threat to aviation safety after years of improvement, the report says.

In one case, air-traffic controllers at LaGuardia reported that Republic Airlines Flight 6230 was “almost hit” by a drone flying at an altitude of 4,000 feet as a passenger plane was trying to land.

On Sept.8, three different regional airlines – Express Jet, Chautauqua and Pinnacle – reported “very close calls” with a drone within minutes of each other as they were preparing to land at LaGuardia.

In many cases, the drones weigh less than 10 pounds, are plastic, have cameras and are measure just a few feet in diameter. Safety experts caution that the drones could get sucked into a jet engine or hit a plane’s propeller.

“The potential for catastrophic damage is certainly there,” Fred Roggero, a retired Air Force major general who was in charge of aviation safety investigations for the service and now serves as a consultant to companies seeking to fly drones commercially, told The Washington Post.

Under current FAA regulations, small drones are allowed to legally fly under 400 feet and five miles from major airports or other restricted airspace.

In 2012, Congress ordered the FAA to safely integrate drones into national airspace but the process has been slow and is expected to take several years.

The Washington Post reports that since 2012, the FAA has been struggling to keep up with the thousands of small drones that have been sold in the United States over the past three years. The FAA lacks the manpower to police airports for the drones and only a handful of them and their operators have been apprehended across the country, the paper reports.

[cosninocanines]

I hope they are outlawed

X2 Go with Shoe leather