Anybody heard of using drones for scouting?

[catscratch]

How does that Phantom 3 handle the wind? Do you know what mph the wind can get to before you don't send it out? I've wanted one for the cattle thing since I first saw one, just can't justify the expense if conditions prohibit it's use most of the time.

We have 1200 acres and use a DJI Phantom 3 to check cows when the weather is bad or it's muddy and we're expecting cows to calf, etc. Has already saved us once when we spotted a cow having problems calving and was on the back side of the place. The Phantom 3 is loud and I can't see a deer staying in one place for very long with that thing buzzing overhead. By law, you can only fly up to 400' in altitude but you can still hear it. Hogs, on the other hand, are a different story. I have used it to locate them and scout where they are staying on our property. They usually scatter when you get down close and it's fun chasing them. We fly ours with a ipad and even with the bigger screen it's still hard to see sometimes especially when the sun if bright. It's very hard to pick out something as small as a hog or deer too. They almost have to be moving for you to see them. The cameras on these drones are so wide angle that it makes everything appear to be out a lot further than it really is and there is no zoom feature. So to see something up close you have to get really close to it. By that time, you've ran it off.

Matt

 

[mattpatt]

How does that Phantom 3 handle the wind? Do you know what mph the wind can get to before you don't send it out? I've wanted one for the cattle thing since I first saw one, just can't justify the expense if conditions prohibit it's use most of the time.

It handles the wind great. We don't use it if it's blowing more than 10-15mph though. I think it could handle a lot more than that we're just cautious. The issue you run into is that sometimes the winds aloft can be totally different than at ground level and you have no way of knowing until you get up there.

 

[catscratch]

Running it with GPS coordinates allows it to make it's own adjustments regardless of wind, and return to "base" without a lot of wind issues?
It would rare that I could use it if 15mph winds were it's limit...

 

[mattpatt]

If you're concerned about it flying off I don't think you have to be. It's smart enough to adjust and hold it's GPS position in pretty stiff wind. I couldn't say what the limit is because like I said we don't take it up if it's gusting much over 15 mph. Just be sure and take off in a wide open area where if you did have to use the return to home feature you would have some room for error on the return landing should the wind be blowing you off course.

 

[Buckly]

Heck, lets just mount a turret on it and hunt from our house

Like I said, irregardless of the law if someone not serving in an official capacity flies over our place with an unmanned drone low enough to observe myself or my family I consider that an invasion and I will take evasive action...

Tax assessor flew one over "Home 10" this past spring because we have a locked gate and then all of a sudden I get a big tax increase letter for the Garage and Big deck on our house...The garage is a small storage building of 6ft x 10 ft and our big deck is 6ft x 8ft. I called them up and asked what in the world were they assessing to jump our taxes up over $200 and she told me and told me how they determined what we had. I told her a big deck is something you can have a party on and not something 3 people can'rt stand on at the same time and that our "Garage" might hold a lawnmower!

Just remember that all these things have video going. If you shoot one down, chances are you just bought it.

 

[OkieKubota]

Just remember that all these things have video going. If you shoot one down, chances are you just bought it.

It'll have to go to court and then somebody will have to explain why they have a good reason to fly it over my family and video us to the judge and myself...pretty sure I won't lose that one...

 

[Buckly]

I hear ya BUT, there is no right to privacy in the air above your house. Don't get me wrong I'm right there with you but, more than likely it would be a reckless endangerment charge in court if they called the cops. I imagine the penalties will escalate the more you shoot down. They would have to go to small claims I guess for monetary damages. I have no idea about what the FAA does as far as regulation but, I assume it just pertains to altitude and such.

 

[OkieKubota]

Sorry, if they are not flying it in an official capacity it is coming down and I am pretty sure me shooting a shotgun in the air over my own property won't be reckless endangerment because a reasonable person would not believe a tiny drone is manned...

I foresee some new privacy laws coming out with these drones as they should because if that camera is pointed down I see no reason other than voyeurism!

 

[Buckly]

I know this thread was about uses for your own property, it's just that I can see problems with outsiders. No problems with the drones themselves, as they look like a neat hobby and many people enjoy them. I might even get one myself.
There's a whole lot of Supreme court cases that would disagree with your privacy and air space views, Google Earth would be the biggest voyeur out there. LOL. Lets hope you or I never have to deal with something like that anyway.

 

[HB_Hunter]

Install a thermal camera on one and I think you have the perfect scouting tool. It would be much easier to pick a stand if you saw a single large hot spot in a known buck bedding area .

There appear to be some really nice thermal cameras for a not so unreasonable price.

 

[OkieKubota]

I know this thread was about uses for your own property, it's just that I can see problems with outsiders. No problems with the drones themselves, as they look like a neat hobby and many people enjoy them. I might even get one myself.
There's a whole lot of Supreme court cases that would disagree with your privacy and air space views, Google Earth would be the biggest voyeur out there. LOL. Lets hope you or I never have to deal with something like that anyway.

Google earth better have some great armour...

 

[Owlpond]

I actually used my drone last bow season to try and recover a deer I'd hit (and subsequently lost). I've used to to fly out over my food plots (during the off season) and see if there's any activity but haven't used it for much other than that. I have flown right up to two deer during the summer about 60 feet elevation and they literally paid no attention to it.

 

[shedder]

Interesting you should say that. I just bought one this past week - DJI Phantom 4. That is one bad drone and easy to use. Down here, any electronic device is illegal to use as an aid in hunting. But...for feral hogs during the off-season I'll be using it to try and locate them without having to drive all over the property. I'll post up some pics in my land thread after this weekend.

That was the model a guy had over my area. It was impressive.
I could tell as soon as it took off how addictive it would be.

Its range was 500M+ and would do 70 km an hour. He had it about 500M up the brook to the edge of the property and a 100 M up. He gets about 0.5 hours flight time. He runs it with an I-Phone. He says it has a feature where you can take many pictures say of a house and then render a 3-D image of it. Cool stuff.

He sent the video. It plays better on windows media player here. I took a still from it and the detail was still good.
For big country\woods hunters I see it as having some use.

 

[Triple C]

Had the chance to practice with the drone a little more this weekend. This morning just after sunrise, I lifted off and flew down to what we call the horseshoe plot. It's 3200 ft from the cabin as the crow flies according to google earth. I was flying about 150 ft high when I approached the plot. Found an unwanted guest in the plot...a white porker.


Dropped down to about 75 ft and got a little closer. Hovered for a couple of minutes. At 75 feet, you can easily hear the drone. Pig never reacted to it. Actually lost contact with drone momentarily when I dropped below the tree line into the plot. The range is supposedly 3 miles. If it can go that far, it would have to be an unobstructed line of sight between controller and drone. I've found when I drop down into a plot that is no more than 350 yds from cabin that I get weak signal indicator when I'm near the ground. Definitely can't drop down into a plot near ground level if more than say 350 yds or so.


Just below this plot the property drops off into the bottom lands. It's comprised of mature bottom land hardwoods and scattered with a few beaver sloughs. Parts of this area we've never accessed on foot. We stay out of it and call it our sanctuary with a couple of stands hung just on the edge. Brooks took our largest buck out of here last November and his 1st buck in 2012. Really neat area. Took this pic this morning. You can see a small section of planted pine in the left of the photo that runs almost down to this area.


Pretty cool aerial looking back up toward the cabin. Cabin is near top right center of pic. Easy to see the thinned pine rows and the adjacent hardwoods that flank the pines. I was probably 230 ft or so high when I took this pic.


Still a lot of features I don't know about the drone. Still figuring it out. You can see the plots are brown from having sprayed them awaiting planting with the exception of the one the pig is in. That one has all manner of weed in it but also has a good amount of clover in it. Since we've quit supplemental feeding and the plots have been sprayed, the pigs have left for better table fare. Only pig I saw all weekend. I can see the drone being useful after the season when we have pigs return. Relatively easy to spot the white one and I'm sure a black one would have shown up easily. Knew the minute I saw it that it was a pig.

 

[lakngolf]

That's pretty neat, Triple C.

 

[JohnL48]

Learn how to fly one on a cheaper model before buying an expensive one. This is from my $45.00 drone

 

[SolidRock]

I have DGI PH3 also. Use it for all kinds of stuff. Here's a shot of my little farm taken in July.

 

[The Famous Grouse]

It'll have to go to court and then somebody will have to explain why they have a good reason to fly it over my family and video us to the judge and myself...pretty sure I won't lose that one...

I know it's popular to go all shoot-em-down tough guy when the conversation comes to drones, but just so some don't get the wrong idea. To be clear on a couple of points: There is NO right to shoot down a drone that's over your property. It has long been established that you do not own the airspace above your property. Also, people bang on about a "right to privacy". There is no such thing in the US. Anything that can be seen from a point of public access including the road in front of your propety or the air above it, can be legally photographed.

The charges available to the county or state should a person shoot down a drone could likely include criminal damage to property in many states and the owner of the drone won't have to explain anything. The drone owner won't even be in court, it will be the state on one side and you in the defendant hotseat. You'll be the one doing the explaining and you'll be the one with the criminal record if convicted.

In addition, in some states, the use of a firearm in the commission of a crime has additional charges and consequences. One more reason for a hunter to think long and hard about going all Rambo on a drone. You could be stripped of your right to possess a gun and/or the right to buy a hunting license if convicted. Not a good situation.

With the cost of some drones nowdays AND the increasing legal and licensed use of commercial drones for business and government, shooting at a drone is very bad idea. I know of a powerline maintainance contractor that is testing drones to survey repair sites and plan repairs/upgrades. The drones used for this cost in excess of $30,000 each.

Talk is cheap, I'm just saying that anyone implying that there is some right to take potshots at something flying over their property, is on very, very shaky legal ground and could face some hard consequences.

Grouse

 

[OkieKubota]

I know it's popular to go all shoot-em-down tough guy when the conversation comes to drones, but just so some don't get the wrong idea. To be clear on a couple of points: There is NO right to shoot down a drone that's over your property. It has long been established that you do not own the airspace above your property. Also, people bang on about a "right to privacy". There is no such thing in the US. Anything that can be seen from a point of public access including the road in front of your propety or the air above it, can be legally photographed.

The charges available to the county or state should a person shoot down a drone could likely include criminal damage to property in many states and the owner of the drone won't have to explain anything. The drone owner won't even be in court, it will be the state on one side and you in the defendant hotseat. You'll be the one doing the explaining and you'll be the one with the criminal record if convicted.

In addition, in some states, the use of a firearm in the commission of a crime has additional charges and consequences. One more reason for a hunter to think long and hard about going all Rambo on a drone. You could be stripped of your right to possess a gun and/or the right to buy a hunting license if convicted. Not a good situation.

With the cost of some drones nowdays AND the increasing legal and licensed use of commercial drones for business and government, shooting at a drone is very bad idea. I know of a powerline maintainance contractor that is testing drones to survey repair sites and plan repairs/upgrades. The drones used for this cost in excess of $30,000 each.

Talk is cheap, I'm just saying that anyone implying that there is some right to take potshots at something flying over their property, is on very, very shaky legal ground and could face some hard consequences.

Grouse

Like I said - If you are flying a drone over my property in order to photograph or video things that cannot be seen from the county road and you are not doing it in an official capacity such as you are a neighbor wanting to see what I have going on over here or what I own that you might be able to come in and steal later then the result will be that the drone will hit the dirt if I am anywhere around to do that and then I will come seek you out... Rambo or tough guy talk or whatever...

I figure the laws are going to have to change and they will with some precedent's being set. I will give you an example...

Say I buy a nice drone with some capabilities and every morning and evening I buzz your plots from my side of the fence to run the deer out either because I am an anti or because I want to push them onto my property. I can say I wasn't intentionally trying to do that and I was just recreational flying in the free air space...

 

[dogghr]

But it would be cool to drone hunt. More fun than shooting Doves. Plus, shame that squirrel just happened to be on the limb in line with said drone. My buddy has one and they are cool to play with. Novelty wears off pretty quick. Guy down the street sells his services to photograqh real estate for advertisement. Makes decent money on the side. WV wrote laws 2 years ago restricting their use during hunting seasons.