Sitka Gear Turkey Tool Belt

Mavic Air drone, my new scouting partner

  • Thread starter MN Public Hunter
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MN Public Hunter

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I have been wanting to get back into a new hobby for fun, but also thought, hm, I could use this in the early season to scout out new area from a high vantage point. I'm curious who else has or is doing this with success? Maybe share some of the videos online. Don't have to say where they are, just fun to see the area and how people are using them is my thought.
 
Not sure of the details in MN, but make sure you are legal.

In CO, they are covered under the same rules as flying and hunting the same day. At all times they are illegal on CO State lands and I'm pretty sure they are illegal in wilderness areas...and anywhere I am hiking or hunting or camping.

Seriously, don't be one of those guys buzzing around while other people are trying to enjoy nature.
 
The video capability and auto follow with collision avoidance is amazing! A buddy and I fished a stream and his drone followed along for about 20 minutes straight video. It would circle around, stay stationary, lower and raise all based on preset directions. General presets and the drone took it from there... it avoided tree limbs, large boulders, etc... It dropped down to just a few feet off the river and stayed at that position collecting video of the fishing activity. Amazing technology!

I wish I had the $1400 to buy the type he had... flat out awesome!

I've not heard of a drone as illegal for the Wilderness for personal use... otherwise, shall we eliminate cameras and smart phones? GPS units as well? Heck, I didn't think airplanes were legally allowed to land in the Wilderness until recent... To clarify, scouting not during hunting seasons, unless allowed by whichever state. Also, didn't Montana relax a bit on game cameras issue? I wonder how that plays for drones. I think we had a thread on drones or game cameras somewhere...
 
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Yep, this is all pre-season scouting before any leaves are on the tress, useless after that really unless in open areas. I of course plan on checking in the rules where I plan on flying, don't want to tick off the officers and wardens.

They are amazing, it will be a fun toy as long as I don't lose it or crash :) And yes, it's not cheap....so I plan on being REAL careful.
 
Sorry don't want to hijack.

I'm not a fan of drones, I think they are the lazy way to get out and explore, but to each his own.

I did want to make a comment on drones in the wilderness though.

From the USFS Unmanned Aircraft System Info page - "UAS are considered to be both “motorized equipment” and “mechanical transport” as such they cannot take off from, land in, or be operated from congressionally designated Wilderness Areas."
 
I would say that a nice spotting scope on that high vantage point is going to be a LOT more helpful than a drone at scouting.

And I've had both. Even with the very nice cameras on the drones now, they are more oriented toward landscape type views and not being able to see individual animals unless you get very close.
 
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BigTimber said:
Sorry don't want to hijack.

I'm not a fan of drones, I think they are the lazy way to get out and explore, but to each his own.

I did want to make a comment on drones in the wilderness though.

From the USFS Unmanned Aircraft System Info page - "UAS are considered to be both “motorized equipment” and “mechanical transport” as such they cannot take off from, land in, or be operated from congressionally designated Wilderness Areas."
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Yes. To put it another way, you can fly them within the wilderness boundary as long as you are outside the boundary when you take off and land and you stay outside the boundary when you are operating it. Depending on how you read the FCC guidelines you should maintain visual contact with the drone at all times as well. They get pretty hard to see when they are more than about 1/2 mile away IME.

I don't believe you can even fly them in National Parks at all though.
 
BigTimber said:
Sorry don't want to hijack.

I'm not a fan of drones, I think they are the lazy way to get out and explore, but to each his own.

I did want to make a comment on drones in the wilderness though.

From the USFS Unmanned Aircraft System Info page - "UAS are considered to be both “motorized equipment” and “mechanical transport” as such they cannot take off from, land in, or be operated from congressionally designated Wilderness Areas."
Click to expand...

No worries...not worried about hi jacks and everyone has an opinion on these toys. I won't only use this as my only scouting, it's just a pre-season tool to use before walking to see the lay of the land :) Right now a lot of the public where I hunt is flooded, so this will be for that as well to see where all the water is...etc.etc.

Thanks for the input on the where can you use these as there are many place you can't. Everyone needs to do their home work.
 
npaden said:
Yes. To put it another way, you can fly them within the wilderness boundary as long as you are outside the boundary when you take off and land and you stay outside the boundary when you are operating it. Depending on how you read the FCC guidelines you should maintain visual contact with the drone at all times as well. They get pretty hard to see when they are more than about 1/2 mile away IME.

I don't believe you can even fly them in National Parks at all though.
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I'm not 100% sure, but what I understand is you can not TAKE OFF from within the park, but you can fly over them all you want :)
 
Good to know about Wilderness. The selection for what may and may not impede with the natural aspects of the Wilderness is pretty fluid.
 
Prior to season and used for scouting I see no issues with using a drone. Personally, I don't think it would show me really what I hoped for landscape, although I'm sure it would be different perspective. I do not see it as lazy either. What's the difference between using a drone on sight for terrain features versus sitting at home staring at google earth for terrain features? Both options you are looking for an advantage in terrain, possible food sources etc. I don't have a drone, haven't used one, personally don't care too. Used in the off season, have fun, explore and see what it can do or what you can see. I do use google earth to my advantage, and disadvantage for distracting me at work too, if that's bad?
 
Here's a video I took in the mountains with my drone before I crashed it a few days later (wind gust).

https://vimeo.com/136528096

If you want to fast forward to about the 2:20 mark you can see some shots of folks climbing some shale with me videoing it. If you pay attention to the video I'm ducking the drone down below tree top level in a spot where there aren't any trees and you would still have a hard time really recognizing the people in the picture.

If you were actually trying to spot deer or elk in the mountains with a drone you would be hard pressed to tell much about them other than if they were a bull or a cow, buck or a doe. As far as looking at individual animals you are going to be WAY better off looking through a spotter.

You can get a good feel for the lay of the land though.
 
npaden said:
Here's a video I took in the mountains with my drone before I crashed it a few days later (wind gust).

https://vimeo.com/136528096

If you want to fast forward to about the 2:20 mark you can see some shots of folks climbing some shale with me videoing it. If you pay attention to the video I'm ducking the drone down below tree top level in a spot where there aren't any trees and you would still have a hard time really recognizing the people in the picture.

If you were actually trying to spot deer or elk in the mountains with a drone you would be hard pressed to tell much about them other than if they were a bull or a cow, buck or a doe. As far as looking at individual animals you are going to be WAY better off looking through a spotter.

You can get a good feel for the lay of the land though.
Click to expand...

Nice video...How high were you flying, looks a bit higher than 400 feet...
 
I am against drones though for turkey hunting would be a game changer.

I was turkey hunting in the Midwest last weekend. A drone would have been very useful as the spring is late this year so can see into wooded areas and the grassy openings in the wood lots. I had gobbling turkeys hung up 150 yards or so out a few times and a drone would have told me if was a gobbler with a hen in the edge of the woods or if was strutting out in the grassy edge of a pasture. Perhaps figured out a path for stalking into range. If I walked over not knowing where the turkey was then would be busted before located it.

I will add drones to my list of things I detest about hunting and have it just after ATVs and 600 yard shooters but before public lands game cameras and people that place chairs and signs at waterholes on public lands in some sort of claiming ritual. I will go place a chair next to your wife if that is how it works.
 
MN Public Hunter said:
Nice video...How high were you flying, looks a bit higher than 400 feet...
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I’m not sure. I wasn’t trying to fly above 400’ but I may have. The top of that peak is 1,200’ above the camp so I had to override the 400’ limit as I flew up the side of the mountain. It’s pretty steep there so backing off just a little bit adds quite a bit of height.

MTTW said:
npaden, were you flying it from down at the camp, or were you with the kids on the hill. Pretty good video. I was wondering what was hanging on that cross, they have been doing that for a very long time.
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I was flying it from down at camp. My brother talks about climbing up there when he was in high school and he turned 70 this year so I guess they’ve been climbing up there for over 50 years now. My dad climbed up there the year he turned 80 and was pretty proud of that. We scattered his ashes up there a few years ago.
 
The video is a nice tribute.

I'm amazed how well it did for stability considering the sway of the trees when viewing the peak!

I purchased two 99$ drones sold at Costco a year (or two?) back. We had a blast racing them around our property. Crashed one and lost the other as it elevated the pines and enough wind took it for a joy ride not to be found.
Even those had great video! Though the one I spoke of earlier incredibly exceeded all expectations! One day...
 
Keep in mind that in many jurisdictions, if you get close enough to the animals to cause them to move, you may be "hunting" as its defined by law ("to kill, pursue, chase,...").

Game agencies have growing concerns about the use of drones for scouting and for herding game towards hunters. Regardless of how you feel about drones in public spaces, you don't want to be the poster child for the anti-drone side.
 
We utilize UAVs where I work. One thing I would be cognizant of is the laws where you are using the drone, and keep in mind that the laws surrounding them are changing fast. Every legislature half a dozen bills are introduced regarding their usage here in Montana. They are definitely cool. But can cause some real problems when used improperly.
 
Sytes said:
The video is a nice tribute.

I'm amazed how well it did for stability considering the sway of the trees when viewing the peak!
Click to expand...

Here's the clip of when I crashed it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBDOHgGPIek

I really wanted to see what was up on the top of that ridge and the wind was blowing pretty good. It caught an updraft that flipped it over and I couldn't ever recover it.

You can see early in the video where the wind catches it and it corrects itself.
 
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