SALEM, Ohio (WKBN) – Hunters don’t miss their mark often, but when they do, it’s important to find the wounded animal. A Salem business can help. Deer Drone Recovery can find the animal without disturbing any other wildlife on the property.

A $12,000 drone takes off on a special mission. Deer Drone Recovery is an eye in the sky, helping hunters. It is illegal for hunters to use this for a deer hunt. The service is only to aid in recovery.

“It’s very important to find your deer because you don’t want it to just expire and go to waste. You know, that’s just not ethical,” said Nick Mozingo with Deer Drone Recovery.

Mozingo took us to a remote location and flew the drone so we could see its capability of finding deer. A hunter will explain where they hit a deer, then the drone goes to work. It has thermal imaging, plus a 200-time zoom on its camera.

“We could look at the horns and the hunters. They usually know what they were going after, so they could tell us, ‘Hey, that’s my deer,'” Mozingo said.

We were able to see some big deer on the big screen, which hunters can watch as Mozingo flies the drone to try and find their hunt.

“You don’t have to walk the property. You can just fly the drone and see what you have out there,” Mozingo said.

The approach — take off — is called fly and find. Two pilots fly the drones, which have a range of about a mile and can stay in the air for close to an hour. Thermal imaging picks up heat signatures quickly, which makes recovery fast and hunters very happy.

“Sometimes I have a couple of guys cry, you know, because sometimes it’s the biggest buck of their life and they want to get that,” Mozingo said.

It costs $300 to $400 to come out, fly the drone and find the deer.

This is the first year Deer Drone Recovery has been helping hunters.

For more information, call Deer Drone Recovery at 330-550-2640.