Discussion
Our results confirm that thermal imaging can be used to detect pest animals during aerial culling in difficult habitat and that the use of thermal equipment in the thermal aerial culling configuration can increase the culling rate of an aerial shooting program.  For both species the culling rate was doubled in the thermal aerial culling configuration (pigs = 3.4 hour-1, deer = 12.1 hour-1) compared to the rate during visual shoots over the same populations (pigs = 1.2 hour-1, deer = 6.8 hour-1).  Most importantly, our data show that the wound rate was zero, resulting in a 100% incapacitation efficiency. Wounded and escaped individuals have been reported during visual aerial culling programs for deer [48].