Post by yoderjac on Nov 5, 2022 21:48:43 GMT -5
My favorite type of hunting is archery. From time to time something goes wrong, a bad hit and no blood trail. I've had the same issue with muzzleloading (until I got an SML). On a still day, I take a shot, a cloud of smoke would obscure my view, and the deer would be gone. Again, no blood trail. Until a few years ago our county was restricted to shotguns with slugs. Again, depending on the shot, I at least have an initial direction the deer ran, but often not blood trail.
I really kick myself when I hit a deer and can't recover it. I'll often give up hunting for several days just to get my head back in the right place.
So, years ago, I think it was back in 2011 when they first came out, I bought a FLIR Scout PS32. It was expensive but worth it just for deer recovery. It is a 320x180 resolution infrared monocular. In the open I can identify deer sized animals at a couple hundred yards. I primarily uses it for 3 applications:
1) Deer recovery
2) Ensuring no deer are around to spook before I get out of my treestand at dark.
3) For off season surveys for QDM purposes (similar to a spotlight survey functionally).
It works pretty well for deer recovery. Keep in mind that if an object is between you and the deer that blocks the heat, you won't see it. Here is how I use is for deer recovery. I follow the blood trail (if any) as far as I can marking it along the way. If I can't find any more blood, I look back and line up the last few markers. I the walk in a straight line for 10 yards and do a 360 looking around with the FLIR. I'll move 10 yards and a time and repeat. If I get too far and have not found it, I go back to last blood and walk circles doing the same thing. Usually at some point, I'll get a clear view of a hot spot. I'll then go investigate and it is usually the deer. If not, I keep looking. The unit has 3 main modes. It shows black as hot and white as cold or black as cold and white as hot. It also has a threshold mode where black is cold, white is hot, and anything above threshold is red. There are 4 threshold settings that you select depending on ambient conditions. This threshold mode is what I use most for deer recovery.
The unit works best at night, and at night it works best looking east. That is because the sun heats up the west side of trees in the afternoon and it takes them time to cool down. It does work in in the daytime as well, but it is less effective. At some point, my direct vision is better during the day, but it can still help.
The second use is simple. When I'm done hunting in a tree stand, I simply look around. If I see deer, I sit in the tree until they leave or it is well after dark.
The third application is doing surveys. The unit does have analog video out pins on the bottom, but they don't sell a shoe for it I cobbled together my own shoe and plugged it into the video in of an old video camera to record my surveys. I simply drive down logging roads and look left and right into the woods with it, running the same routes for comparison from year to year. The refresh rate is low. You have to go pretty slow (which I do for this anyway) if you use it to drive.
I give it an A+ for deer recovery and a C for conducting surveys.
===================
Technology has changed a lot since 2011. I decided to upgrade and just ordered a FLIR Scion OTM. I got one with a 60 hz refresh rate and 640x480 resolution. I doubt either of these will help with deer recovery, but I do expect them to help with the surveys. Other features this unit has that the old one didn't that apply are that it records video onboard to and SD card and has a GPS and geotags still pictures. I just ordered the unit and have not yet received it so I can't speak to its performance yet.
I really kick myself when I hit a deer and can't recover it. I'll often give up hunting for several days just to get my head back in the right place.
So, years ago, I think it was back in 2011 when they first came out, I bought a FLIR Scout PS32. It was expensive but worth it just for deer recovery. It is a 320x180 resolution infrared monocular. In the open I can identify deer sized animals at a couple hundred yards. I primarily uses it for 3 applications:
1) Deer recovery
2) Ensuring no deer are around to spook before I get out of my treestand at dark.
3) For off season surveys for QDM purposes (similar to a spotlight survey functionally).
It works pretty well for deer recovery. Keep in mind that if an object is between you and the deer that blocks the heat, you won't see it. Here is how I use is for deer recovery. I follow the blood trail (if any) as far as I can marking it along the way. If I can't find any more blood, I look back and line up the last few markers. I the walk in a straight line for 10 yards and do a 360 looking around with the FLIR. I'll move 10 yards and a time and repeat. If I get too far and have not found it, I go back to last blood and walk circles doing the same thing. Usually at some point, I'll get a clear view of a hot spot. I'll then go investigate and it is usually the deer. If not, I keep looking. The unit has 3 main modes. It shows black as hot and white as cold or black as cold and white as hot. It also has a threshold mode where black is cold, white is hot, and anything above threshold is red. There are 4 threshold settings that you select depending on ambient conditions. This threshold mode is what I use most for deer recovery.
The unit works best at night, and at night it works best looking east. That is because the sun heats up the west side of trees in the afternoon and it takes them time to cool down. It does work in in the daytime as well, but it is less effective. At some point, my direct vision is better during the day, but it can still help.
The second use is simple. When I'm done hunting in a tree stand, I simply look around. If I see deer, I sit in the tree until they leave or it is well after dark.
The third application is doing surveys. The unit does have analog video out pins on the bottom, but they don't sell a shoe for it I cobbled together my own shoe and plugged it into the video in of an old video camera to record my surveys. I simply drive down logging roads and look left and right into the woods with it, running the same routes for comparison from year to year. The refresh rate is low. You have to go pretty slow (which I do for this anyway) if you use it to drive.
I give it an A+ for deer recovery and a C for conducting surveys.
===================
Technology has changed a lot since 2011. I decided to upgrade and just ordered a FLIR Scion OTM. I got one with a 60 hz refresh rate and 640x480 resolution. I doubt either of these will help with deer recovery, but I do expect them to help with the surveys. Other features this unit has that the old one didn't that apply are that it records video onboard to and SD card and has a GPS and geotags still pictures. I just ordered the unit and have not yet received it so I can't speak to its performance yet.