Hi everyone.

I have been looking into buying a phantom 3 for some time now.
After my past weekend's experience I am about to take the plunge.

I hunt twice each year, in the fall I go Moose hunting and in the spring I go bear hunting.
I am looking to buy a drone so it can help me in the process of hunting.
Let me explain.

We hunt in a pretty dense pine tree/birch tree area.
Over the past multiple years it has happened 3 times now where me or my father have shot an animal and have lost them.
We are certain that we made the shot because of blood trails but we end up not finding the body because the woods are quite dense and we loose track of the animal.
This past weekend I shot a fairly large black bear. Me and my father passed several hours searching the surrounding forest by to no avail.
It is quite frustrating as you can imagine.

When you shoot game you should usualy wait 30 minutes before going after it to let it die in peace and so it doesn't run away further.
I would like to purchase a drone so I can send it off high it the air immediately and track the animal.
I also figure it would help spotting the body.

I wanted to know if anyone else uses these for this purpose and If there are filters that might help in this task.
I know I wear yellow polarised glasses while hunting as it helps spot game.
Is there something similar as far as filters ?

Thank you.

I use polar pro nd4 nd8 filters to cut the glare down. It makes a huge difference in contrast/color quality.

They make polarized type too, and I use polarized glasses when I fish, but I feel that using polarized lenses with a drone whose angle keeps changing may not produce the optimal  result from all angles.

I think using a drone as a hunting aid is illegal in most provinces. You may be just using it to find game that you've already killed but I doubt they'll make the distinction if you're caught.

Disgusting"fun" event. Shame on you and you father.

MD_Icarus Posted at 2016-6-15 03:50
I use polar pro nd4 nd8 filters to cut the glare down. It makes a huge difference in contrast/color  ...

ND filters don't cut glare, no matter what you think you're seeing. The "N" stands for "neutral", meaning it reduces the exposure for the entire frame, not just the bright spots. You can do the same thing with the exposure compensation setting without a filter.

A polarizer is the way to go to cut reflections / glare from white snow or water surfaces in bright sun.

michaelfinney_h Posted at 2016-6-14 18:27
Disgusting"fun" event. Shame on you and you father.

I lol'ed

michaelfinney_h Posted at 2016-6-14 18:27
Disgusting"fun" event. Shame on you and you father.

It's almost as disgusting as growing your own fruit & veggies...

It's a good idea, but sadly I have tried and not had a lot of luck.  Not a moose or a bear hunter, but whitetail.  Even in the fall when the forest floor is pretty visible it is virtually impossible to spot a downed animal.  I do fly the drone for scouting and checking feeders, etc.  I had the same thought that you did so last year I tried to find a deer that I shot and had already tracked just to see if it would work.  Even knowing where the deer went down I couldn't find it with the drone.  Maybe with a bear the contrast might help, and a moose is pretty big so maybe there too, but with a dense forest I think its gonna be tough if not impossible.

You might consider a thermal imaging attachment for your smartphone.  I have the Seek CompactXR Extended Range Thermal Imager for iPhone.  There are others to choose from as well.  I haven't had the need to track an animal since getting the Imager, but it shows drops of warm liquid (saliva) on the ground, so should show a blood trail if you follow up quickly.  Not sure how well that would work after 30 minutes though.  It should spot a downed animal at a considerable distance if you can get a reasonable line of sight.

mikeon Posted at 2016-6-17 06:58
You might consider a thermal imaging attachment for your smartphone.  I have the Seek CompactXR Exte ...

Not legal in OK.  Not sure about Canada.  Good idea though.