Thermal Cameras For Tracking ?????

[Hi5]

How long would it take for a drop of blood to lose it heat and become the exact same temperature as the substance upon which it sits?

My understanding of thermal imaging is that the boundary of an image is determined by temperature difference. So, two objects touching each other that were the exact same temperature would display as one object.

So, a drop of blood on a leaf would show as a leaf, unless the drop was warmer or colder than the leaf, and only then would it show it as a spot.

[Jray]

^ What he said. No need to look for drops of blood when you are able to see the entire body of the animal stand out like a black bear in a snow covered landscape. Go to YouTube and look at some of the videos. You will see what I mean.

[one shot scott]

My apologies jray, I am sorry for hammering you with questions here, but it nice to hear from someone who has used one. You have mentioned most experiences at night. Does it work well enough during the day?

And I am sorry paulaboutform if I am hijacking your thread.

[paulaboutform]

My apologies jray, I am sorry for hammering you with questions here, but it nice to hear from someone who has used one. You have mentioned most experiences at night. Does it work well enough during the day?

And I am sorry paulaboutform if I am hijacking your thread.

Please keep em coming...no hijacking. This is exactly what I wanted to know. From what I'm hearing this would be the cat's pajamas. Unfortunately, the well over $2000.00 price tag kills it for me. If it was the old days where I probably spent a solid couple months hunting and no family obligations I would have already ordered one yesterday. As it is now, a few days a year if I'm lucky, I'm out. I would love to hear about someone's experience using the $350.00USD unit. If that works I'll be all over it. Maybe you could test it out O.S.S.

Paul

[one shot scott]

@ $2000 I am out! But I am considering the $350. It may seem gimmicky but color blindness sucks. It never bothered me until I took up hunting. 350 will give some peace of mind if it works.

To be updated!

[snugs]

I was playing with a friends thermal in the woods and I could see deer hundreds of yards away in pitch black. Same with other animals. This was an extremely expensive unit though. I would not recommend it if ur sole purpose is to track a deer. Unless u are extremely rich.

[Jray]

For some of the units out there - yes you would probably need to be rich to own one. I have $1700 tied up in mine, not much more than what I have tied up in each one of my (2) crossbows with scopes, arrows, fletching jig, vanes..... You get the idea> Not to mention the 2 smokeless muzzleloaders, custom centerfires, reloading equipment and all the camo, boots, 4 wheelers and on and on and on. We tend to spend a lot of money on the things that help us enjoy the things we like to do. I enjoy the outdoors and as I said earlier my thermal opens up a whole new realm for me. Would I buy one with the sole purpose of tracking deer? No. I'm not even sure it would work for that purpose.

[Hi5]

Jray

Did your unit come with a Weaver mount? It seems to be an accessory, but the website you linked to didn't seem to offer any information about the Weaver mount. I wonder how that unit would work in conjunction with a scope, or red dot system?

[one shot scott]

Does anyone have any experience with the fluke brand of thermal imagers? I have a friend who is able to sell me one @ a great price but I am not able to check it out before I buy it..& very few online reviews. Fluke was at one time a very trustworthy name.

[Wisc Mac]

I have a lot of first hand experience with FLIR Industrial cameras and the cameras are amazing Technology, BUT they are not the magical solution. They are great for seeing live deer out in the field, but they do not see thru things like they show in the movies. While you can see thru a lit bit of light brush, it needs to see between the branches. Too dense of cover and the heat can not pass between the branches as Infrared follows the same laws of physics as visible light. If someone stood behind some brush and shined a flashlight thru it, and you were able to see the light, you would also be able to a warm object thru the brush.

As for tracking, the blood trail would cool off way too fast. It's amazing how fast the even outside of a dead deer will cool off. We've never had to track too many deer, so I've never actually had luck using one. This year I used a FLIR E8 ($4000 Industrial camera with a 320x240 resolution and much better image and sensitivity than the phone attachments type units). My buck from this year was behind a mound and not in line of site. My son's buck was on a tree'd hillside. He thought he'd hit it in the liver, so we let it lay for several hours. I drove by with the camera about 45 min after he shot it and could not see it on the hillside. Drove past after we had found it and could see it visually at about 150 yds once I knew were to look. It was abou 20 deg F out, so I think he cooled off too quick to "casually" see with the camera. I might do some more testing next time one of us get a deer, even if we don't need t track.

As for the best cameras to try. The FLIR Scouts are great little units. Similar image to the industrial one I was using. I have not seen the SeekIR for phone or their new Reveal, but have been told they are not nearly as sensitive as the FLIR One or FLIR C2, so they might have even more limited success on a down deer. Sensitive is important when looking for objects close to ambient. FLUKE also makes some good industrial camera but they are typical going to be more more like the FLIR industrial cameras which will be more expensive then something like the Scout and FLIR One because of calibrations and industrial features not needed in the a hunting/personal camera. I've used the industrial units as that is what I have access to.

FLIR has the most experience in this technology as they also develop systems for military, cars, aircraft, and security applications and build our own detectors. The FLIR One for iPhones and Androids runs about $250. I would guess FLIR's consumer products group might come out with a lower cost scout that is using the same low cost detector technology as new FLIR One and C2, but have not heard of anything specific yet.

[paulaboutform]

Great info WiscMac, thanks for that.

Paul

[L. E. Carroll]

This has me wondering how in the world the Indians ever found a piece of meat to roast over their "high tech camp fires" ... A stiff branch, a semi straight stick, a small piece of flint, some sinue, and a couple feathers used to be high tech in their days .. it makes me wonder how they ever survived....

Oh I remember, the Pilgrims came to the rescue and fixed them up in their time of famine, Right !

Gene