When?
Depending on what you’re looking to get from your herd analysis depends on what time of the year you should have one done. To capture the most detail of the bucks located on your property, you should plan for a July flight. This time frame aligns with whitetail’s max antler growth. For a herd count, buck to doe ratio, or even a wellbeing check, you should plan for a January – May flight. There are little to no leaves on the deciduous trees during this time period and will result in the most optimal census. Our operators can identify a buck even if he has shed his antlers and a new pair isn’t obviously visible. Diurnal use of a Thermal-Infrared (TIR) camera increases the chances of false positives due to thermal loading on the environment. This increased loading reduces the temperature differential between vegetation and live deer. For this reason, operations on large properties may result in morning + evening flights rather than flying all day.
Why?
An aerial herd analysis is by far the most accurate and least invasive way to obtain key information to better manage your deer herd. Do you really know how many does call your property home? It’s more than likely too many and we can give you accurate data to base your management plan on.
How?
Our operators will create aerial gridlines (flightlines) above the area that you want to search and program a drone to fly autonomously along these lines at the most optimal altitude. We will walk the drone at a slow cruise speed while we monitor for heat signatures captured by a TIR camera. When we find a deer, we will pause the flight, switch to the conventional multispectral RGB camera, and take some short clips/photos. The procedure for switching batteries happens roughly the same way. You and other bystanders are more than welcome to stand alongside our operators, watch on the big screen and see exactly what we see. Clips/photos/tallies and all relevant information will be distributed to you after the flight within a disclosed time period.
Pricing
Thermal Bird LLC is currently operating at $350 per calendar day of flying or $2 per searched acre, whichever is greater. We can form an accurate census, spend a few minutes admiring bucks, and take a few clips at a rate of roughly 75 acres/hour. We currently accept Cash, Checks, Venmo, and CashApp.
Legal
North Carolina legislation is extremely vague regarding the use of drones around wildlife both recreationally and commercially. Under the Laws & Regulations tab of the NCDOT’s Division of Aviation website it states, “Operators may not use a UAS to disrupt wildlife resources or the lawful taking of wildlife. It is also against the law to use a UAS in the process of taking wildlife resources (N.C. G.S. 113.295).” However, the later isn’t necessarily defined in that chapter or any current UAS chapter.
Click to access gs_113-295.pdf
Being conservative and not wanting to fundamentally violate the rules of fair chase, Thermal Bird LLC will not preform any herd analysis operations during primitive weapon or gun hunting seasons. These dates usually range from the 2nd-3rd Saturday in September through January 1st. Using a drone to assist in the recovery of a confirmed hit deer is authorized and such operations will take place during deer hunting seasons. See our Deer Recovery tab. Please leave all weapons at home. Thermal Bird LLC will not assist in the hunting of a wildlife resource.
Thermal Bird LLC 