7.62 Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 8 hours ago, norseman said: Great tool for targeting a creature. With FLIR on a rifle as well? Little chance of escape so long as the drone was working with the ground team. Agreed norseman I think what it comes down to is just hesitation and normal people not being wired for this unless you're in a war. Squeezing the trigger at night on something you are viewing on FLIR that is walking or running away from you bipedal is different than it would be shooting a yote or hog at night. I believe my thermal is weapon mountable with the proper base with a kit that is made but I never bothered because I really don't predator hunt anymore. I'm actually surprised the North American Wood Ape members haven't had a shot on one using thermal scopes since they state their goal would be to kill one for science . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7.62 Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 (edited) 20 minutes ago, VAfooter said: Even so, it would fly slowly and its vision would be hindered by all of the trees. Not sure much utility would come from using a drone in the forest. And you still have the noise issue. I never used one and watching some videos of them now the noise does seem like a factor. Sounds like a large hive of bees flying by you. The vision would be hindered yes but in thermal the camera doesn't need to see an entire body . You never see that anyways in a forest . I'm just talking about whitetail now but I've spotted( on thermal) them bedding down in areas by just seeing a bit of their body or the top of their head in daylight hours . Normally I would have walked and they would have jumped up when I got to withing a few yards of them scaring me and them I use to still hunt a lot but now mostly hunt from a stand. Still hunting you look for an ear , tail , back leg . It's pretty rare to see an entire deer walking through the forest until after it runs . I'm speaking about the forests I hunt , thick woods Edited August 14, 2020 by 7.62 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntster Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 12 hours ago, VAfooter said: While an interesting idea in theory, I think practical application will leave something to be desired. As mentioned, they work best in open areas. Also, they still make noise that can be heard and if BF's hearing is as good as believed, they will have ample time to hide or run away. The camera FOV is not 360 degrees, so you only get a small area in view at any given time (maybe 90-120 degrees?). Battery life is still relatively short, and flying/transmission range is lacking. We may get there at some point, but I do not think we are there yet....... Looking at our military progress with drones as well as how civilian drones have improved over the years, yeah, I suspect we might get there........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norseman Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 2 hours ago, 7.62 said: Agreed norseman I think what it comes down to is just hesitation and normal people not being wired for this unless you're in a war. Squeezing the trigger at night on something you are viewing on FLIR that is walking or running away from you bipedal is different than it would be shooting a yote or hog at night. I believe my thermal is weapon mountable with the proper base with a kit that is made but I never bothered because I really don't predator hunt anymore. I'm actually surprised the North American Wood Ape members haven't had a shot on one using thermal scopes since they state their goal would be to kill one for science . They have supposedly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VAfooter Posted August 14, 2020 Admin Share Posted August 14, 2020 ^ I must have slept late that day, details? DANGER! DANGER! THREAD DERAILMENT LOOMING! DANGER! DANGER! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7.62 Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 9 hours ago, norseman said: They have supposedly. No kidding ? Have they posted the story on the shot fired ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackRockBigfoot Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 I know that they took at shot at one during the Echo Incident. I can't recall if thermal was used to identify the target or not. There was also the shooting that happened (I believe) with Jim Lansdale's group. I believe that NAWAC folks were present for that too. If I remember the account correctly the designated shooter used either a thermal or night vision scope to identify the target. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norseman Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 6 hours ago, 7.62 said: No kidding ? Have they posted the story on the shot fired ? You will have to dig. If memory serves the NAWAC was using a blind and a thermal scope. A branch deflected the shot. You can follow the link back to the even older NAWAC Field Study 1 thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWWASAS Posted August 14, 2020 BFF Patron Share Posted August 14, 2020 19 hours ago, norseman said: You could easily use a modern drone under the canopy in a old growth forest. The have obstacle avoidance. And a tracking feature. It would fly under the canopy and around the trunks of the trees. The radio gear they use is line of site high frequency and just like you don’t get a GPS signal in big trees you would loose radio contact with the drone. Someone with big bucks could chance it but I guarantee they would loose a few trying. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norseman Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 59 minutes ago, SWWASAS said: The radio gear they use is line of site high frequency and just like you don’t get a GPS signal in big trees you would loose radio contact with the drone. Someone with big bucks could chance it but I guarantee they would loose a few trying. Not true with mine. You do not need line of sight within reason. We fly over ridges and it will continue. If it loses connection it will automatically fly home. We are not in eyesight and way over the ridge with this flight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiiawiwb Posted August 14, 2020 Author Share Posted August 14, 2020 (edited) One of the things I've noticed about obstruction avoidance systems is they are not all the same. All of them with that capability will detect it if the front is pointed toward an object but some will not detect it if the front is moving sideways. So, if you are pointing toward shore, and moving the drone parallel to it, some drones will not detect trouble in that direction. If I remember correctly, some also would not detect an object above. I'm sure high-end drones are probably fitted to be protected from an obstruction in every direction but it's critically important to know exactly what the limits of the avoidance system are. Edited August 14, 2020 by wiiawiwb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NatFoot Posted August 15, 2020 Share Posted August 15, 2020 In @norseman's footage, I believe you'd be able to really easily discern if a BF broke that y'all evergreen cover and was walking through the shorter stuff. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiiawiwb Posted August 16, 2020 Author Share Posted August 16, 2020 Norse---That's a serious drone you have. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWWASAS Posted August 16, 2020 BFF Patron Share Posted August 16, 2020 (edited) I really don't want to discourage drone use because I am looking at that myself. The problem I see with it is that when I got that brief look from my airplane I was lower than any drone could safely fly, pretty close, and yet I cannot really say with any degree of certainty that what I saw was BF. So if someone gets good daylight video, you will see another round of guy in a suit arguments just like the last 50 years with the P/G film. While any video may not be definitive I can see a drone being used to find active areas to explore on the ground. It may also be possible to discover migration routes or BF trails. Just as the NA had their trails, I think it highly likely that BF have trail networks linking their areas of interest. It could even be that they adopted the NA human trail systems when they abandoned them in modern times. One problem I see is the noise of multirotor drones. I had been looking at airship to get around that but size and performance seemed to be problematic with that. It would have to have been 20 or 30 feet long to generate enough lift to haul the propulsion motors, batteries, and camera gear. Airships are very wind sensitive. Traditional winged aircraft electric powered can be made very quiet with slow moving large propellers. But launching and recovering a winged drone in the woods would be problematic. Not long ago, I saw a prototype of a package delivery drone that seems to solve a lot of the problems. It is basically a quad copter drone configuration with an integral large glider like wing. It can takeoff and land vertically, hover, yet engage a single propeller to provide thrust and create lift with the large wing. The single propeller producing thrust and the wing providing lift, makes the drone very quiet and battery efficient. Likely providing 2 or 3 times the airborne time on a battery charge. When the mission is complete, the drone can return and land vertically in a relatively small space. Of course if something is spotted then it could slow and hover to keep the object in sight. Anyway that seems to be a good winter project to keep me busy during the rainy season. Edited August 16, 2020 by SWWASAS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinchyfoot Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 On 8/12/2020 at 9:52 PM, 7.62 said: people need to get over the fact that a flir is only one of a bunch of tools in the Researchers tool box. High end night vision is just as important. As for a drone, if you expect to get one in the air and spy bigfoot with it, you're naive. Thats incredibly unlikely BUT, they are awesome for scoping out terrain and the like for the birds eye view, and with a decent range are an extension of your eyes from a distance. Like a flir, its a tool, one of many. I have a spark and a mini, both fit in a backpack and can be deployed on the fly from the palm of your hand, the only downfall of the mini is a strong wind, the spark has hung tough in 25mph winds. I have also gotten a trio of wood knocks when I deployed it in an area where I hadnt done so before. 20 minutes ago, SWWASAS said: I really don't want to discourage drone use because I am looking at that myself. The problem I see with it is that when I got that brief look from my airplane I was lower than any drone could safely fly, pretty close, and yet I cannot really say with any degree of certainty that what I saw was BF. So if someone gets good daylight video, you will see another round of guy in a suit arguments just like the last 50 years with the P/G film. While any video may not be definitive I can see a drone being used to find active areas to explore on the ground. I Too close and a squatch could possibly down it with a well thrown rock. And from experience a smaller drone in the forest can be attacked by crows, and hawks and the like. I have some decent video in my library of the drone being narrowly missed by an attacking raven. It happens. On 8/14/2020 at 4:00 PM, norseman said: Not true with mine. You do not need line of sight within reason. We fly over ridges and it will continue. If it loses connection it will automatically fly home. We are not in eyesight and way over the ridge with this flight. Very nice sir. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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