Thermal Drones for Feral Hog Eradication | DJI Matrice 4T & 4TD
Thermal Drones
For HuntingFeral Hogs.
Feral hogs tear up crops, pastures, water sources, and fences every night you don't hunt them. The DJI Matrice 4T and 4TD find hogs in corn, timber, and open country with 640 thermal and 56x zoom, then radio real-time coordinates to your ground gunners. Built for permitted operators, ranchers, and outfitters who want hogs gone.
Hogs Breed Fast.
Damage Adds Up Faster.
Feral hogs are the most destructive invasive species in the country. A single sow produces two litters a year at six piglets a litter. Populations double every four months if left alone. Traps knock down a few. Helicopters are loud and spook them. Walking the brush with rifles is slow and most nights you go home empty-handed. The drone changes the math.
Agricultural Damage
USDA estimates feral hogs cause up to $2.5 billion a year in crop damage, pasture destruction, erosion, and levee damage across the US. Corn, soybeans, milo, peanuts, cotton, blueberries, if you grow it, they'll root it up.
Spotted By Drone First
Operators running thermal drones report that 95%+ of hogs taken on their properties were first spotted from the air. The ones that get taken without a drone? They're just unlucky on timing. The drone is the force multiplier.
Per Full-Time Operator
A single operator running a thermal drone 3–4 nights a week from dusk to 2 AM is killing roughly 1,000 hogs a year. Without the drone, they'd be getting a quarter of that. The hardware pays for itself in weeks.
This isn't hunting. It's eradication. Hogs are oversized cockroaches. They tear up fields, destroy levees, contaminate water, and spread disease. We're not here to debate ethics with people who've never watched a sounder of thirty pigs root a hay pasture into a minefield overnight. We're here to help you finish the job.
Three Kinds of Operators
Buy This Kit.
We've sold enough of these now that we know exactly who's calling. If you see yourself in one of these, keep reading. If you don't, call us anyway and we'll figure out whether it's the right fit.
CommercialEradication
Permitted operators running aerial wildlife management services for farmers, ranchers, and landowners.
You hold a TPWD Aerial Wildlife Management Permit (or your state's equivalent). You've got an LOA stack from landowners. You're running three to four nights a week, charging per-job or per-hog, and the drone is the engine of the entire operation. You need something that flies all night, handles wind and humidity, and doesn't die on you 40 minutes into a three-hour job.
- Built for 3+ batteries per night operation
- Fast unfold and deploy, keep moving
- Credit card or wire payment accepted
- Upgrade path from Autel EVO or Mavic 3T
Ranchers &Farmers
You own the land. You own the hogs. You're done paying someone else to come deal with them.
You've watched hogs wreck your crops, your fences, your water sources for years. Maybe you've pooled money with neighbors to buy a drone. Maybe it's just you and your place. Either way, you're done waiting on trappers who show up weeks late and knock down a handful of pigs. You want your own kit so when you see fresh rooting, you're in the air that night.
- No hunting license required on your own property (TX)
- Protect crops, pastures, water sources, fencing
- Train yourself or one of your hands
- CPS protection recommended, things crash
Hunting Outfitters& Guides
You sell thermal hog hunts as paid experiences. The drone changes your product.
Your clients are paying $500 to $2,000+ per night for unlimited-hog thermal hunts. Right now you're driving pastures hoping to stumble on a sounder. With a thermal drone, your client isn't sitting in a truck for six hours for one miss. They're moving from set to set on actual intel. That's the difference between a one-and-done booking and a repeat client who tells his buddies.
- Upgrade your product without raising prices much
- Drone operator runs air, clients run guns
- Better client experience = repeat bookings
- Document hunts for marketing content
Drone Finds Them.
You Finish the Job.
Federal Airborne Hunting Act says you can't take game from the aircraft itself. That's fine. The drone is for locating. Gunners on the ground are for taking. Here's the workflow that actually works in the field.
Get In the Air
Set up takes under three minutes. Unfold, power on, lift off. You're scanning corn rows, hay pastures, creek bottoms, and timber lines from 200–400 feet with a 640 radiometric thermal sensor. White heat signatures on a black background. If there are hogs on the property, you will see them.
Confirm the Sounder
Zoom in at 56x hybrid. Count the group, sows, boars, piglets, their direction of travel. Rangefinder gives you precise distance. Look for multiple sizes, consistent shape, ground disturbance behind them. That's how you know it's hogs and not deer or cattle.
Coordinate Ground Gunners
Radio exact coordinates and approach angle to your team. Position them downwind. Hogs can't hear the drone at altitude. Your ground guys move in quiet, suppressed rifles and thermal scopes up. Drone stays locked on the sounder. When the first shot goes, you're watching the whole group scatter in real time and redirecting shots.
Two Platforms.
Both Built for the Work.
The 4T is what most of our hog operators run. Fast, foldable, 640 thermal, 56x zoom. The 4TD adds all-weather sealing and longer rangefinder reach, worth the step up if you're running in rain, fog, or across bigger country. Not sure which? Call us. We'll tell you straight.
WildlifeRecovery Bundle
Best for: Commercial operators, ranchers, and outfitters running most nights in most conditions.
This is the platform most of our permitted operators are running. Folds into a case, deploys in under three minutes, 45 minutes per battery. 640 thermal sees hogs in corn rows and tree lines. 56x hybrid zoom locks onto the sounder for ID before you send your guys in.
- 640×512 radiometric thermal sensor
- 56x hybrid zoom (4x optical + 16x digital)
- Laser rangefinder to 1,800m
- 45 min flight time per intelligent battery
- RC Plus 2 controller with 7" sunlight display
- Foldable airframe, fits behind the truck seat
- CPS accidental protection available
NightTrackerRecovery Kit
Best for: Operators running in heavy weather, big open country, or wanting all-weather sealing and extended range.
The 4TD is what you buy when the 4T's weather rating is a problem. IP55-sealed so rain, dust, and heavy fog don't shut you down, anti-ice props keep flying through what grounds the 4T. Laser reaches 1,800m, worth it on big Texas ranches where sounders run half a mile out.
- 640×512 radiometric thermal sensor
- IP55 weather rating, rain, fog, dust
- Upward + forward gimbal (-90° to +113°)
- Laser rangefinder to 1,800m
- Full-color night vision + NIR auxiliary light
- 54 min flight time per battery
- Fixed-arm airframe (does not fold)
- CPS accidental protection available
Aerial Hog Control Requires Permits.
In Texas, commercial aerial hog eradication requires an Aerial Wildlife Management Permit (AMP) from TPWD plus a signed Land Owner Authorization (LOA) for each property. This applies whether you're running a helicopter, a balloon, or a drone. Daytime and nighttime operations are both now legal under the permit, with drones specifically authorized to locate hogs at night as of 2022. The drone operator must physically possess the permit while conducting the activity.
Federal: The Federal Airborne Hunting Act is the governing framework. You cannot take game from the aircraft itself. Drone-mounted weapons are prohibited. Take happens exclusively by gunners on the ground. Violations are Class A misdemeanors.
If you're a landowner hunting on your own Texas property, you do not need a hunting license for feral hogs as of 2019, but you still need landowner consent (which is yourself) and you still must comply with FAA Part 107 if you're operating the drone commercially (paid services, guided hunts, etc.) as opposed to personal property protection.
Other states, Georgia legalized drones for hog location in April 2026 (HB 946) and earmarked $900K for 2027 eradication incentive programs. Louisiana allows 24-hour hog hunting since 2016. Most other Southern and Gulf Coast states have eradication-friendly frameworks. Call us at (863) 224-6923 if you want to talk through your specific state and funding situation.
We're not lawyers or permitting consultants. Always verify current regulations with TPWD (or your state wildlife agency) and an attorney if you're starting a commercial operation. This page is a starting point, not legal advice.
This Hardware
Pays for Itself.
The number that matters isn't the sticker price. It's how fast it earns back what you spent. Here's the math that actual operators are running.
Permitted operator running 3–4 nights a week at $500–$1,500 per job (most charge per property, some per hog). A mid-tier schedule pays back the kit in four to six months. Everything after that is running margin, not cost recovery.
A single corn or soybean crop loss on a mid-size Texas or Georgia operation frequently exceeds the cost of the drone kit. If you lose two crops a year to hog rooting, you're already paying for this hardware without owning it. Buy it once, protect every season after.
Outfitters charging $500–$1,500 per night for thermal hog hunts can add $200–$400 per booking for drone-assisted experiences. Twelve to fifteen drone-assisted hunts and the kit's paid for. Plus every client becomes a referral source because the experience is now dramatically better than the competition.
What You're Using Now
vs. What This Actually Is.
We're not going to tell you the drone is magic. But here's the straight-up difference between how most operators are hunting hogs today and what changes when you put a thermal airframe overhead.
Walking, Driving,
Stumbling On Them
- Drive pastures for hours hoping to spot movement with handheld thermal
- Blow out sounders when your truck noise carries across the field
- Cover one pasture an hour on foot, if that
- Miss 70%+ of hogs actually on the property because you can't see through cover
- Traps catch a few smart hogs eventually, the rest learn fast
- Helicopters work but cost $1,500–$3,000/hr and scare hogs from a mile away
- Go home empty most nights and wonder what you're doing wrong
Find Them First,
Then Move
- Scan 200+ acres in one 45-minute battery at 400 feet
- Silent at altitude, hogs don't know you're there
- See every warm body on the property, every time
- 56x zoom to positive-ID sounders before your guys move
- Rangefinder gives ground gunners exact distance and bearing
- Operators report 95%+ of their hogs were first spotted by drone
- Go home with a body count every night you fly
Real People
Call (863) 224-6923 and Lucas picks up. Not a call center. Not a ticket queue. Actual drone operators answering your actual questions.
5–7 Business Days
Actual delivery window. Not "ships fast," not "ships this week." We'll tell you straight when it's coming before you buy.
Easy to Work With
Credit card or wire for clean, fast checkout. No runaround, no hidden fees, no financing games.
Since 2017
Family-owned and operated. We've been selling enterprise DJI to operators, ranchers, and agencies for almost a decade.
Things Crash.
Be Ready for That.
Running a drone over rough country in the dark, things happen. Trees, wires, wind gusts, a prop that fails at 3 AM over a soy field you can't find in the dark. CPS Drone Protection covers crash damage, water damage, hardware failure, controller damage, and camera damage on commercial Part 107 operations. Add it at checkout. Most of our serious operators do.
Straight Answers,
No Salesman Talk.
If you're running commercial aerial wildlife management in Texas, meaning you're doing it for hire, for other landowners, yes, you need a TPWD Aerial Wildlife Management Permit plus a Land Owner Authorization for each property. That's been true since before drones; the 2022 rule change just let drone operators use the same permit at night.
If you're a Texas landowner running the drone on your own property to protect your own crops and livestock, you do not need a TPWD AMP, and you do not need a hunting license for feral hogs (as of 2019 TX law). You do still need to comply with FAA Part 107 if you're operating the drone commercially.
Other states vary. Georgia just legalized drones for hog location in April 2026. Louisiana has allowed 24-hour hog hunting since 2016. Always verify with your state wildlife agency before buying. We can point you in the right direction but we're not a permitting consultant.
No. The Federal Airborne Hunting Act prohibits taking any game from an aircraft, and TPWD specifically prohibits drone-mounted weapons systems. Take must happen by gunners on the ground. Violations are Class A misdemeanors. The drone's job is to find, confirm, and coordinate, nothing else.
Not exactly, and we want to be upfront about this. These units are unused and have zero flight hours, but they have been activated prior to resale. They bind to your DJI account like any other drone and fly identically. The activation is an administrative status, not a condition issue.
What that means practically: these units are not eligible for DJI Enterprise Care, and they're not covered under DJI's standard U.S. warranty programs. DJI can still service and repair them as paid repairs. We recommend CPS drone protection as your coverage option, it's purpose-built for commercial operators.
Autel EVO Max 4N is a solid competitor, night-optimized, 640 thermal, starlight camera, good for hog work. It's the closest alternative in the market. The 4T beats it on zoom range (56x hybrid vs Autel's), build quality, and ecosystem maturity. Autel wins on being non-DJI if that matters for your procurement situation.
Mavic 3T is discontinued and a step down from either. If you're currently running a Mavic 3T, upgrading to the 4T is a real jump, better rangefinder, stronger link, bigger battery, more zoom.
Call us at (863) 224-6923 if you want the honest comparison for your specific operation. We don't sell Autel but we'll tell you if it's actually the better fit for what you're doing.
At proper altitude, 200 to 400 feet, hogs do not hear the drone. Operators in Texas and Louisiana have flown thousands of hours over active sounders without spooking them. Where you get in trouble is flying too low (under 100 feet), or hovering too long directly above them. Keep altitude, keep moving, use the zoom instead of dropping close, and you're invisible to them.
One honest caveat: hogs are smart and every property is different. Some operators have reported a single hog occasionally react. 95%+ of the time, they don't know the drone is there.
Yes. The Matrice 4T and 4TD are FCC-certified and fully legal to purchase, import, and operate in the United States. DJI was added to the FCC Covered List in December 2025, which restricts future DJI models from getting new FCC equipment authorizations, but existing certified platforms like the 4T and 4TD are not affected by that listing and remain commercially available.
NDAA Section 848 restrictions on federal agencies don't apply to private ranchers, commercial operators, or outfitters.
Order online directly through the product page. We accept credit card or wire transfer at checkout. No quotes, no back-and-forth, no waiting. If you have questions before you buy, call (863) 224-6923 and Lucas will answer whatever you need to know.
Delivery is typically 5–7 business days for in-stock units. We'll confirm availability and timeline when you reach out. If you have a specific window, hunting season kickoff, a contracted job, tell us upfront and we'll tell you straight whether we can hit it or not.
Stop Losing Groundto the Pigs.
Call us, tell us your situation, commercial operator, rancher, outfitter, and we'll help you figure out the right kit. If it's not the right fit, we'll tell you that too.
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