A wounded deer that makes it into standing corn, a briar thicket or a creek bottom can be twenty yards from a search party and never be found. A body at 100 degrees in vegetation at 50 is not subtle to a thermal camera, and from two hundred feet up a drone covers in ten minutes what takes a line of people an evening.
Recovery flights work best after dark once the ground has given up the day’s heat, and best of all within a few hours of the shot. Call early rather than after you have spent the night looking - the longer the ground stays warm and the longer the animal has been down, the harder the contrast gets.
The sooner after the shot, the stronger the thermal contrast and the better the odds.
Once the ground cools, a warm body stands out sharply. Midday sun on open ground is the hardest condition there is.
The last blood, the last track, the direction of travel. The search starts there.
A search party moving through the area both pushes the animal and puts more warm bodies in the picture.
This is a recovery service, not a hunting service. Blue Horizon Drone does not locate live game for hunters, and flights are conducted in accordance with FAA regulations and Virginia law. The purpose is to recover an animal that has already been taken so it is not wasted.
Call. Do not wait until morning - the contrast is at its best in the first few hours after dark.