re: Drone Recovery for Deer

I’m in favor of anything that helps get dead deer in the freezer. I understand why it’s a tough legal issue. I thought maybe they would have a pilot program or something the state would accept to mostly weed out outlaws using them to find target bucks. But I also hate the government regulating more things and selling more permits and licenses. I like them for finding dead deer.

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used one this season to scout ducks and geese

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I have been doing this too. It makes it easier and you don’t pressure birds as much. It is a good bit harder to find them in timber.

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Should have at least tried to track it first then call in a drone for last effort. Too many folks call for dogs as soon as they shoot before even getting out the stand to look. Teach them how to track

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You dont think i tried to track first? The kid shot a few inches back and hit guts with the arrow, hardly a drop of blood. A good buddy of mine has the drone and had been wanting to try it out. It made the recovery very easy

Looks like pandoras box, tech is out there, criminals and poachers never planned on following laws anyway. Just interesting discussion As far as scouting, same type of concerns when camera tech evolved same discussion with fishing and sonar tech, many said both were unsportsmanlike. I definitely want to use every means to recover a wounded animal. I'm getting old I guess

I shot a buck on Tensas last year I couldn’t find. Put an arrow in him (shot was a little high but hit him good), waited in the tree until dark, got down and picked up his blood trail. The problem was he ran through a slough with knee deep water and I lost the blood. Called a friend that knew a guy with a dog, and ole baw drove from Sicily Island with his hound all the way out to Little Fork, damn near in Tendal. By the time I put the dog on the original blood I found, it was pushing 11 pm. We trailed until 1 but couldn’t find him. It hurt my soul.

I went back to hunt the same tree two days later (right around the hard freeze of Christmas in 22) and I saw a ton of buzzards not far from where our trail went cold, circling overhead. The buck obviously finally laid down and died.

Had I known anyone with that drone technology, I would have still been able to go back even 24-36 hours later and get that buck, as cold as it was.

I’m in favor of this technology being used ethically.

This sounds like my exact same story. Shot a stud, in velvet, opening day last year after being in the stand for 30 minutes. My kisser button came undone and had me discombobulated, didn’t even MEH him to get him stopped. He was every bit of 140 if not 145. Shot him back, but center mass. Waited 20-30 before getting out of the tree and went to see if I could find my arrow and he ended up being bedded about 100 yards away and he took off. Waited 4 hours and took my dog back and tracked 7-800 yards but think guts clogged him up. Pulled out and went back in daylight the next day and found one spot of bile where my dog stopped the night before. Couldn’t pick him up the next day at all. Went back the following week to look for buzzards and found some but couldn’t get a mark on where they were.
Our property is so thick I wished I would have had a drone, no doubt I would have found him before the weekend was over. I spent as much time last season walking that area looking as I did hunting. Still sick about that one.

100%. It still eats me up. I bet I walked 20 miles last year looking for him.

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I have been doing this too. It makes it easier and you don’t pressure birds as much. It is a good bit harder to find them in timber.

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I bet. Unfortunately the only time that'd be an issue in my area would be in a beaver swamp and all you gotta do to find those holding birds is look for the gang of trucks with dog boxes on the back and a Yeti strapped to the tool box. Find that and you will find a dozen 20 somethings in a swamp where a wood duck happened to have been spotted at some point....

Can’t wait for the call for bans once the bone collectors figure they can spot and stalk deer with drones.

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This would bother me..

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Was sitting outside around a campfire saw the red light of the drone about 50 or so feet above the pines. Never came real close but shot them the bird for good measure. Would have taken it out the sky if I had a shotgun with me. I’m on 130 acres nearest house about 1/4 mile plus.