anyone heard of this being done. I havent but is seems like a less expensive alternative to a chopper.

Any reasons why it wouldnt work?

Drones have been used for a few years now for wildlife surveys, tracking, conservation, and research. Quick Google will get you everything from Audobon Society and PBS stories to research articles.

Working with a startup company that does this for all wildlife, but at night with heat detection

Drone-1 eye that's fixed to an extent, not able to fly long lengths

Helicopter-2 to 4 sets of eyes contstantly looking

Deer learn to sit tight after years of chopper surveys. Id be very interested to hear more about night time drone surveys using heat signature.

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Working with a startup company that does this for all wildlife, but at night with heat detection

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That's awesome, and probably much more accurate.

I know there will probably still be a number of people who not only want to know how many deer they have, but also want to get the aerial photos and general area of their big bucks, so will continue to actually use the helicopter. Drone seems like it would be 1/10 the cost though. My FIL loves to use the helicopter, but just because he likes to fly in a helicopter.

The problem with a drone is the battery life needed to conduct a survey on a ranch of any size.

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The problem with a drone is the battery life needed to conduct a survey on a ranch of any size.

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Yep. For a 100 acres high fence a drone would be good. But I don't see how it is currently feasible with a drone for ranches that are 5,000, 10,000, 20,000 acres etc. Unless you get a real drone like the military uses to bomb the goat humpers.

I doubt must folks with 20k acres are overly concerned about cost either.

I am an Aggie and President of ProSight Drones, a service disabled veteran owned business here in San Antonio. We are the first and only company permitted by Texas Parks & Wildlife to do wildlife & game surveys with drones.

We have fixed wing and rotary wing platforms that we can use, both with high resolution still and video as well as thermal cameras. We can fly transects with our fixed wing and/or get stabilized video with our copters.

We are currently working with a couple well respected biologists, but can offer our services to any you might already have a relationship with. Our method of data gathering is safer than helicopters and provides truer herd composition data than game cams or spotlighting.

You can contact us through our website, myprosight.com or call us at (830) 438-8818.

Regards,
Bill

Bill Gonser
President & CEO
ProSight Group
(830) 438-8818 Office
(714) 726-1057 Cell

You can also contact me at KAB visualization, I'm based out of Beaumont and have access to multiple rotary wing and fixed wing platforms. I'm sure prosit will tell you, if not for the silly line of sight rules, we could do a lot more than we do now.

I'd be curious about this "permit" to do wildlife studies....tpwd does not, to my knowledge, require permitting to over fly property and record visuals, nor can i find any mention of a permit to do so. FAR 107 does, but that is available now. How hard was the waiver process for night flight to acquire from the FAA btw? And how are your Collison avoidance lights functioning with your ir rig, I've had trouble with mine thus far.

I can't tug at heart strings being a disabled veteran either, but we are definitely aggie owned and operated

Are any of the companies named above still operating?

I know this thread was from a while back, but I am operating a similar business in Central/South Texas. I can do thermal game surveys, land mapping, elevation surveys, etc. If you're interested, check out my site: www.skysenderos.com