Tried that....problem is the battery time....and I would rather be behind the scope than controlling the damn drone.
Two excellent points.
And just to elaborate on them from a noob drone operator. I've got a Mavic 2 pro (non thermal) and was kinda surprised at the short battery life. You think 20 minutes is plenty until you get it up in the air, start looking around, get where you want to be and then notice power is dropping. Rather than loose your $1500 drone ($6k for thermal), you play it safe and return home with enough power to overcome unanticipated problems. So now your left with about 15 minutes of actual flying time. Subtract the out and back and now your at 7 minutes or so for loitering.
To Guys other point, Its not like you just throw the thing in the bed of the truck and go. Remove drone from case, carefully unfold arms, check battery and make sure its clicked in, confirm props are seated, start phone and app and controller, start drone. Wait for connection, get a good GPS signal. For landing, reverse most of that procedure. So if you have a guy thats cool being the dedicated drone operator your prolly in good shape. Otherwise, by the time you get your drone back, packed and get to where your targets were, well..
A couple other issues would be the pesky FAA rules that prohibit night flight and the fact that your supposed to be in visual contact at all times.
I've seen the night videos of thermal hog hunts and thought it was very cool. My drone was purchased for other uses with the thought that maybe it could do some hog recon. After flying for its intended purpose and understanding the limitations, that recon idea went out the window.