Trust the Best

Why Choose Sky Senderos?

With over 250 surveys conducted across the entire state, Sky Senderos is the largest provider of drone wildlife census counts in Texas. Simply put, this extensive experience has allowed us to continually refine our process and methodology in order to achieve the most accurate results possible. Much of the drone wildlife survey process occurs before and after the flight itself, so it’s important you choose a company that knows what it’s doing. Even with the best drone equipment, a poorly planned flight or review can leave you with useless data.
Size & Experience - Trust the Industry Leaders
Drawing from a long list of happy clients, we can often provide references from properties only a few miles down the road from your own. Additionally, the data from these previous surveys gives us the ability to provide accurate estimates on the percentage of your total population that we were able to identify due to weather, flight, and property characteristics.
Technology Investment - Proprietary Software & Industry Leading Drones
Sky Senderos’ large size also allows us to constantly invest in the best technology available. Our drones and thermal cameras are industry-leading when it comes to battery life and clarity. Our technological investment does not stop there, though. We’ve also poured significant resources into an AI computer vision model that is trained on hundreds of hours of previous survey footage to help our reviewers and eliminate human error. Our proprietary method for pre-planning flight routes ensures that 100% of your property gets covered.
Relationships & Legitimacy - Ensure Data is Usable
Sky Senderos has made a concerted effort to form relationships with the individuals and departments that you may need to provide your drone survey results to. If you're part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Managed Lands Deer (MLD) Program, there is a good chance your biologist is already familiar with Sky Senderos. If you need to submit a wildlife management report to your county appraisal district to qualify for the 1-D-1 wildlife exemption, they’ve probably already seen one with a Sky Senderos final report attached. Working with an established company like Sky Senderos brings legitimacy to your survey results and ensures your goal in conducting a census count will be realized.
Survey BEnefits

WHY Conduct wildLife Surveys?

As a landowner or lease member, it’s important to know what’s on your property. Conducting a thermal drone survey with Sky Senderos allows you to collect the most accurate count of your wildlife population. Armed with this data, you can make more informed decisions about your hunting, habitat improvement, predator control and other wildlife management efforts. Performing census counts on your property also allows you to take advantage of state-sponsored programs that can extend your hunting season and increase the number of animals you’re able to harvest, as well as save you money on property taxes.
Wildlife Management Planning - Boost Your Wildlife Population and Quality
Everyone wants to have a flourishing population that consistently produces trophy animals on their property. However, getting your wildlife to that point takes significant time and effort. From prescribed burns to predator trapping, there are a plethora of management activities that you can perform to try to improve the health and quality of your game animal populations. The fact of the matter is, unless you perform annual census counts, the effect of any management activity is unmeasurable. Wildlife surveys allow you to understand the total number, buck/doe ratio, fawn crop/retention, and other important characteristics of your populations in order to choose which wildlife management activities benefit you most. Repeating census counts at least once a year is also crucial so that you can monitor your wildlife population trends and assess the effectiveness of the management tactics you employ.
TPWD MLD Program - Extend Your Hunting Season and Receive More Tags
Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) recognizes the importance of population data to promote sound management and stewardship of native wildlife and wildlife habitats on private lands in Texas. That is why it includes an annual census count as one of the participation requirements of its Managed Lands Deer Program (MLDP). Landowners enrolled in the MLDP are able to take advantage of extended season lengths and liberalized harvest opportunities. Learn more about how to enroll in this program here.
Texas 1-D-1 Wildlife Exemption - Save Money on Property Taxes
In addition to the aforementioned benefits of annual wildlife surveys, they can also yield significant property tax savings. The State of Texas allows qualifying landowners to maintain a significantly lower property valuation so long as they perform at least three of seven approved activities aimed at protecting native Texas wildlife. One of these approved wildlife management practices is an annual census count. Click here to find out how you can utilize a Sky Senderos thermal drone survey to lower your property taxes.
Property Valuation - Accurate Population Numbers Help Buyers and Sellers
If you are considering buying a property in Texas, it is crucial to know the quality of the animal populations on that piece of land. Game animal quantity and quality is absolutely critical for any recreational or commercial hunting goals. Even if you don’t plan to hunt on your property, healthy wildlife populations are signs of a flourishing ecosystem which adds beauty and value to your land. Don’t make the mistake of overpaying for a property based solely on a few undated game camera photos from the listing. A Sky Senderos thermal drone wildlife survey will give you the most accurate idea of the animals that are actually on the property at the time of the sale. As a seller of Texas property, your goal is to get the most for your land. If you’ve invested significant time and money into managing thriving wildlife populations on your property, then you need to make sure you realize the best return for that effort. A Sky Senderos thermal drone wildlife survey arms you with the population data to prove your property is worth the price when negotiating with buyers. 
Advanced Technology

WHY DRONES?

More Accurate
Our ability to capture video from entire surveys allows for multiple reviews, minimizing human error and offering a more reliable approach to deer population assessment. We typically identify between 60-90% of the total population on a given property.

Compared to the most popular alternative, helicopters, which vary from 30-70% accuracy (according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department), our drone surveys are significantly more accurate in estimating total population and come with a smaller margin of error. 

Don’t make the mistake of culling too many animals or maintaining a bloated population because of bad data. Our pre-planned flight routes allow for accurate and easily replicable surveys, ensuring the ability to gain valuable insights into your population trends over time.
More Convenient
No survey method requires less landowner time commitment than our thermal drones. 

Tired of staying up until the wee hours over multiple days conducting spotlight surveys? Done with trying to organize a weekend all of your lease members can make it out to sit in a blind? Exhausted from spending countless hours pouring over thousands of game camera photos trying to differentiate deer? Then opt for a thermal drone wildlife survey on your property. 

In just a few hours, our experienced pilots are able to give you a more accurate count of what’s on your property than ever before. We even handle the review for you and put all of your data into an easily digested final report.
Improved Safety
Helicopter surveys rely on loud rotor noises to startle animals out of the brush, which negatively impacts survey quality and jeopardizes animal safety. Spooked, fast moving deer are difficult to see clearly, making accurate counts challenging. Helicopters also place significant stress on deer.  This can lead to difficulty conceiving for does, increased fetal mortality, and higher fawn mortality. For bucks, stress can hinder antler development. 

On low fence properties, helicopter surveys can push animals off your land. At high-fenced ranches, loud rotor noises regularly cause animal injury and death due to fence collisions. Over time, these surveys become less effective as animals on properties subject to repeated helicopter surveys become accustomed to the disturbance, merely choosing to bed down upon hearing the rotors overhead. In contrast, drones equipped with thermal cameras can detect animals even in dense brush, operating quietly and allowing for extended observation as animals remain undisturbed. This approach minimizes stress on the wildlife and enhances the accuracy of observations.

Finally, drones are inherently much safer than helicopters. While rare, crashes do occur during aerial wildlife surveys. With a drone, these accidents are simply inconvenient rather than catastrophic.
Cost Effective
Thanks to significantly lower overhead costs than helicopters, it is cheaper to fly a thermal drone for most properties while still gaining more accurate data. Our small, lightweight drones allow us to charge less for transportation and eliminate the expensive minimums that helicopter companies charge.

If you opt for a professional spotlight count, it requires paying multiple individuals over a few days in order to get the necessary data in order to extrapolate your total population. Comparatively, our drones require just one pilot to fly and we can cover 100% of almost any property in one night. Not only are drones then cheaper, but also require less extrapolation - giving you more accurate numbers. 
A Sky Senderos thermal surveying drone flying in the blue sky
More Accurate
Our ability to capture video from entire surveys allows for multiple reviews, minimizing human error and offering a more reliable approach to deer population assessment. We typically identify between 60-90% of the total population on a given property.

Compared to the most popular alternative, helicopters, which vary from 30-70% accuracy (according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department), our drone surveys are significantly more accurate in estimating total population and come with a smaller margin of error. 

Don’t make the mistake of culling too many animals or maintaining a bloated population because of bad data. Our pre-planned flight routes allow for accurate and easily replicable surveys, ensuring the ability to gain valuable insights into your population trends over time.
More Convenient
No survey method requires less landowner time commitment than our thermal drones. 

Tired of staying up until the wee hours over multiple days conducting spotlight surveys? Done with trying to organize a weekend all of your lease members can make it out to sit in a blind? Exhausted from spending countless hours pouring over thousands of game camera photos trying to differentiate deer? Then opt for a thermal drone wildlife survey on your property. 

In just a few hours, our experienced pilots are able to give you a more accurate count of what’s on your property than ever before. We even handle the review for you and put all of your data into an easily digested final report.
Improved Safety
Helicopter surveys rely on loud rotor noises to startle animals out of the brush, which negatively impacts survey quality and jeopardizes animal safety. Spooked, fast moving deer are difficult to see clearly, making accurate counts challenging. Helicopters also place significant stress on deer.  This can lead to difficulty conceiving for does, increased fetal mortality, and higher fawn mortality. For bucks, stress can hinder antler development. 

On low fence properties, helicopter surveys can push animals off your land. At high-fenced ranches, loud rotor noises regularly cause animal injury and death due to fence collisions. Over time, these surveys become less effective as animals on properties subject to repeated helicopter surveys become accustomed to the disturbance, merely choosing to bed down upon hearing the rotors overhead. In contrast, drones equipped with thermal cameras can detect animals even in dense brush, operating quietly and allowing for extended observation as animals remain undisturbed. This approach minimizes stress on the wildlife and enhances the accuracy of observations.

Finally, drones are inherently much safer than helicopters. While rare, crashes do occur during aerial wildlife surveys. With a drone, these accidents are simply inconvenient rather than catastrophic.
Cost Effective
Thanks to significantly lower overhead costs than helicopters, it is cheaper to fly a thermal drone for most properties while still gaining more accurate data. Our small, lightweight drones allow us to charge less for transportation and eliminate the expensive minimums that helicopter companies charge.

If you opt for a professional spotlight count, it requires paying multiple individuals over a few days in order to get the necessary data in order to extrapolate your total population. Comparatively, our drones require just one pilot to fly and we can cover 100% of almost any property in one night. Not only are drones then cheaper, but also require less extrapolation - giving you more accurate numbers. 
A Sky Senderos pilot flying a thermal drone during a Texas wildlife census count