Thermal sees body heat, not light. When the sign runs out in the dark and you're down to guessing, we put the drone up and cover in twenty minutes what a grid search takes all night to walk.
150+ recoveries under our belt across the Gulf Coast.
Deer down right now? Call — it's fastest, and the owner answers. After hours? The dispatch form hits Brayden's phone instantly.
We fly after dark. That's the whole point.
Most recovery calls come in between last light and midnight — that's exactly when thermal reads best, once the ground has given up its heat. Late call is not a problem. Waiting until morning usually is.
The two things that wreck a recovery are pushing the deer and trampling the area. Both are avoidable.
No mystery to it — here's the whole thing, including where it doesn't work.
A buck most hunters would've walked away from — found with the thermal drone.
Flat rate, told to you on the phone before we leave. No hourly surprises mid-search.
Serving Baldwin County and surrounding areas. Travel fees may apply beyond about 35 miles.
Hunting the same property every season? A drone deer survey tells you what you're carrying before opening day, and a hunting property map gives you the whole place at 2-inch detail on your phone.
From the October bow opener through the end of gun season, this is the phone that rings at eleven at night. Archery and early-season hunts are the warm-weather end of it — marginal hits, thick green cover, and a hot ground temperature all working against you. That's the exact scenario the drone earns its keep on, but it's also when calling early matters most. Late season is easier flying: cool nights, thinner cover, better contrast. Either way — the sooner after the shot, the better the odds.
Hunting clubs and outfitters: put our number in the camp group chat before the season starts, not at midnight on opening weekend.
Definitely recommend Closer to Heaven, awesome guy, professional and is dedicated to each and every call he gets. He goes out of his way and even helped me drag my buck out when it was 17 degrees at 12am. Couldn’t ask for better representation of the hunting and drone service community. A++
One of the coolest experiences I’ve had in a long time. Brayden with Closer to Heaven was absolutely awesome and a true professional. I had a deer injured that I was unable to track and Brayden was able to come out and put eyes on the deer and assist with assessing the deers condition. I would 1000% recommend Closer to Heaven to all my friends and will have Brayden out to my place anytime I need a drone.
Written up honestly — including the searches that came up empty.
A hunter searched over an hour in the dark before the drone went up. Read the Baldwin County deer recovery story →
Came out of a break in the rain on a night that almost didn't happen. Read the story →
A tracking dog and a thermal drone working the same deer. Read how it played out →
Based in Foley, covering all of Baldwin County — Robertsdale, Elberta, Summerdale, Loxley, Bay Minette, Stapleton, Fairhope, Daphne, Spanish Fort, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach — plus clubs and leases across south Alabama and the western Florida panhandle. Travel fees may apply beyond about 35 miles. Call and we'll tell you straight whether we can get there in time to matter.
We're in Foley, and most of Baldwin County is inside an hour. Call instead of filling out a form — the owner answers, and we run flights after dark, which is when most of these calls come in.
$300 for up to two hours of searching, flat. You get that number on the phone before we roll. Travel fees may apply past about 35 miles.
It works, but warm weather is harder. Thermal reads the difference between the deer and the ground around it, so a hot early-season afternoon flattens everything out. After dark, once the ground cools, is the best window — and a deer that's been down a long time has cooled off too. Sooner is always better.
Usually not. If the deer bedded down and you grid-search on top of it, you'll bump it and add half a mile to the job — plus you trample the sign we'd otherwise work from. Mark the last blood, back out quiet, and call.
Often, but heavy canopy is the hard case. Thermal only sees what the camera has line of sight to — a solid pine top or a palmetto thicket blocks it. We fly the openings and edges hard and hit the thick stuff from several angles. Thermal gives us the best shot; terrain, time, and weather decide the rest.
Yes, and that's when we do most of this work. Part 107 licensed and insured for night operations.
Deer down right now? Call. It's the fastest way to reach us.
Call or text: (251) 223-6144
After hours or can't talk? Dispatch a recovery request → It hits Brayden's phone the moment you send it.
Also fly lost pet thermal searches — see all thermal drone recovery services, or everything we do for hunters and landowners.