Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Drones Rather Than Spotting Scopes

That's where I am. Not too sure. We have embraced a lot of technology over the years that help us better find and/or kill animals. A spotting scope is one such device. Range finders. Modern high tech scopes. GPSs. Illuminated reticles. Trail cameras. In a very basic way a spotting scope is a technological extension of the human eye. That's what a drone is.

That’s a hell of a leap, Paul.

How so? I am sitting on the porch of a condo right now. There is a hill about a mile away. I can't see the deer that feed on it with my naked eye. I can set my spotting scope up, and that allows me to see that which I could not otherwise see. If I had a drone rather than a spotting scope, and I used it to see deer I couldn't see with my naked eye, how is that different? It's simply another form of optical technology that serves as an extension of the human eye.

Line of sight vs motorized mechanical advantage with steerable optics.

Perhaps that wasn’t clear enough. Your telescope isn’t flying over the nearest mountain and looking on the backside.

Paul is one of those that is educated above his intelligence

Agree. ^

Paul,
Depending on elevation and ground cover, the human eye can’t see all the way down into a canyon while standing at the top, on the same side...You can see up from the bottom, a smidge better, but that also depends on elevation, height of trees, brush, etc, even with optics.

The same for seeing the opposite side of a hill, hogback, or ridge with glass. You can’t see the hidden space without physically moving yourself to a different vantage point.

A drone is a nimble, mechanically controlled machine that deployed, could cover areas that would require boots in the dirt or tires on a road to get to a point of seeing.

Sorry, but a drone is a far reach away from being an extension of the human eye, like a spotter...IMO

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A spotter also doesn’t sound like a swarm of bees overhead interfering with someone else’s hunt.

Deploy a drone...Bust out the gauge and call “PULL”

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Exactly!

Silence is a skill a hunter tries to improve over a lifetime. A buttnugget running any kind of a motor is compromising his own integrity and the quality of other people's experience.


mike r

Mike I’m not sure how much the new hunters care about silence anymore. Get a rifle that shoots a thousand yards out of the box who needs to be quiet? Sad really and I blame whoever is mentoring them to hunt.

Quite is still required, no one knows for certain were game is going to show near or far

This⬆️

Until they come up with (and they will, or its cousin) x-ray spotting scopes, game still has to be in sight to see it with ordinary optics.

Funny how some get to the point where they purposely increase the challenge of taking their game, while others never stop trying to make it easier, or surer.

Use the drone, maybe you can mount a small machine gun on it, and kill game from the front porch of your condo.Yeah, thats the ticket!!!

There's a big difference between an extension of the human eye and growing wings.

I'll go along with that. It would allow a better extension of human sight in some ways.

A spotter is stationary device that allows a human to see things they otherwise couldn't. A drone is a mobile device that does the same thing, typically with inferior optics. So the fact that the drone is a mobile extension of the human eyesight is what would make it unethical in your mind? Fair enough.

Part of what got me thinking about this is how drones have been used in fishing. They are used to sight redfish in the marsh...no need to cast the banks of a brackish pond if the fish aren't there. A lot of people who have fishfinders on their boats think it's unethical to use a drone to find fish. Ironic? Surf fisher are even using drones to deliver baits to the outer bar.

It's interesting to see where people draw the line between embracing technology and eschewing it, and why.

I can see it now. Somebody spent 20 grand on a hunt and here comes Spandex Barnyard piloting his Walmart drone overhead. Paul would be wearing his spandex up over his head and missing half his teeth after that.