Heat Sensors to find deer

[Gforce]

I was wondering if anyone has or has used a heat sensor to find out where deer are in a cattail slough or in a brush batch. And if you used it to find a wounded animal or just to find them so you know where to walk. The prices and how well they work like range and overall performance. And if you like them which kind would you suggest.

[Knute78]

I don't know alot about this topic but...

Would this be used for scouting purposes (pre/post-season) or as a hunting tool during the season? It seems to me that it would be oe should be illegal to use as a hunting tool to locate deer/animals during the hunting season. I can understand using them to find wounded animals but beyond that I just don't know. Interesting topic.

[mitch]

I'm not an expert either, but I don't think they would work very well because of a deers thick coat. How many pics have you seen of deer bedded down while snow piles up on their backs. Not much heat leaves their bodies.

[harvey lee]

I have known a few archer hunters who have bought and tried them and said it was not the ticket. They said sometimes they find bunnies and whatever. They really didnt help in locating there dead deer.

[USDA3]

There are several Thermal Imaging products made which work great. Most of which are pretty pricy, you won't find them at Cabela's.... Though I am still unsure about how legal they are for citizens other than law enforcement and military.

[chucker34]

From what I can remember of articles I have read on this subject, these devices are still very pricey - in the thousands of dollars range. I'm not sure how effective they would be on finding wounded or recently dead deer, but if they were helpful, I would say I would be okay with them being legalized. But only for tracking purposes.

Like anything, these devices will become much more cheaper in the years to come and I'm sure a debate will spring up if they become available about the potential for abuse.

There will be those that say they shouldn't be allowed to be sold to hunters period because those who use them for tracking could cheat and use them for locating deer before they take the shot. And while that may happen, you could just as well say the same about other things.

You can't buy corn anymore because you might use it to bait. You can't buy smokeless powder because you might use it hunting. You can't buy crossbows because someone who doesn't have permission to use one might use it. You can't buy lead shot because you might use it for duck hunting. You can't buy high-powered flashlights because you might use it to illegally spotlight deer. The list goes on. The point is, you COULD do a lot of illegal things, but most people don't. The usefulness of such a tool - only for tracking purposes - outweights the one percent of idiots out to screw it up for the rest of us.

[skunk-ape]

We have one of these units(brand name 'FLIR') at my workplace. It is a recent model and very spendy(about $12,000).

I've played with it quite a bit and would say it's use in finding deer would be very limited. The unit and others like it cannot see through cover like thick cattails. At least some of the animal would have to be exposed in order to see it. On the other hand it would work great in cattails if you had a view from above like in a helicopter.

In an open field or very short grass it would also work well and ours has an effective range of about 1000'.

It's very cool technology that has it's place for several applications but I don't think hunting is one of them.

[almostthere!]

Are you talking about the $12,000 units or are you talking about the $300 units you can purchase from some of the sporting goods stores?

I have not tried the $12K units, but have bought a $300 unit and returned it. The key words here is "returned it". It was not worth the lead used to make the circuit board. Either the unit didn't work as claimed or I was too stup!d to use it correctly. Either way, it was returned.

You might want to consider a thermal camcorder.

[bigyooper]

Let a pro chime in,

We sell thermal vision and it's expensive. a cheap unit will run about 10k. As for scouting or hunting with it, I don't think you could get close enough to the deer to use it. It is meant for seeing in the dark or in heavy smoke cover during a fire. You could use it for hunting deer in thick cover but most deer run when you get that close.

I do use a heat sensing devise for finding wounded game but it's not thermal vision. These devises work very well; I found a doe this year that I would have never found without it.

Hope this helps,