Owning and having fun with a drone can be a great hobby in today’s technologically-driven world. However, while you are playing around with your drone, it’s unfortunately not unlikely for you to get it stuck in a tree, especially if you make a mistake or two with the controls or if the wind happens to blow it towards a nearby tree. That can be a problem for you especially because of how difficult it is to get anything out of a tree. But before you panic, we have nine things you can try to get your drone out of a tree.

1. Climb the Tree #

This should be the most obvious choice when it comes to getting a drone out of a tree. Of course, nothing is better than actually climbing the tree yourself and then grabbing the drone from the branch or the leaves where it happened to have gotten caught up. This may sound so obvious and simple, but there are a few things to consider first.

You have to understand that climbing a tree may not be that easy. First of all, you need to be at a certain level of fitness to be able to properly climb a tree because, after all, you have to have the arm strength to carry your own weight during certain maneuvers while you are climbing the tree. If you are someone who is overweight or has been living a sedentary lifestyle, it may actually be very difficult for you to do so. 

And the one thing that you should be more concerned about regardless of how fit or how experienced you are at climbing trees is the fact that doing so can be quite dangerous for anyone. You will never know when a tree branch might end up snapping while you are climbing it. As such, exercise caution and prudence when you want to climb a tree to get your drone out.

Of course, the tree should also be able to hold your weight and have branches that you can use for climbing. Many trees are not at all easy to climb, especially if they don’t have branches low enough to the ground to grab onto and hoist yourself up. If this is the case, you’ll have to try a different method.

2. Use a Ladder #

This method of getting a drone out of a tree is somewhat related to climbing the tree. However, instead of using tree branches to climb your way over to the spot where your drone got stuck, you can actually use a ladder to assist you so that you don’t have to use a ton of effort to climb the tree just to get to your drone.

Before leaning the ladder against the tree and stepping foot on it, you first have to make sure that it is actually sturdy enough to handle your weight while you are climbing it. And make sure the ladder is evenly balanced and on level footing. It shouldn’t wobble around or move much during the ascent, as this could be very dangerous if it suddenly falls over while you are still on it. Make sure that you use a ladder that is of the highest quality when you want to use one to get a drone out of a tree.

Of course, there is also a problem in relation to the height of the ladder and the tree. If the tree is quite tall and your drone is stuck on one of the branches at the highest points of the tree, you might struggle to find a ladder that is tall enough to get you there. As such, this option can be quite limited as well, especially if your drone got stuck on a tree that is taller than your typical ladder.

3. Poke It With a Pole #

As primitive as it might sound, this is actually one of the best options you can use to get a drone out of a tree. If you don’t have a ladder or if you are not fit enough to actually climb a tree, you can just simply get a long enough pole and try to use the pole to poke the drone out of the spot where it got stuck.

Of course, you need to have a pole that is actually long enough to reach high spots, especially in the case that the tree is quite tall and your drone got stuck in an uppermost branch. It also needs to be stiff enough that it won’t end up bending while you are using it to poke the drone.

The risky part in this is not in terms of your safety but in relation to the safety of your drone. That’s because, while poking the drone out of the tree, there is a chance that it might end up falling to the ground. The fall could quite likely damage it beyond repair, depending on how far it has to fall. If you try this method, make sure to have a safety net such as an actual net or someone who can catch the drone for you after you have poked it out of the tree.

4. Use a Net #

This method is similar to poking the drone out of the tree but is probably the safer option for your drone. If you have a long net such as the ones that pool maintenance guys use to take leaves and other foreign objects out of a swimming pool, you can use the net to try to fish the drone out of a branch. And the best part here is that you don’t have to worry about the drone falling and breaking.

However, using a net might not be as easy as poking the drone with a pole. The reason is that the net might get caught in the leaves or the branches of the tree while you are attempting to reach your drone. This method will be the most successful in cases where there aren’t a lot of leaves or branches in the way while you are trying to reach the spot where your drone got stuck.

In any other case, this is pretty much a safe and easy method to use especially if the tree doesn’t have a lot of branches. Just make sure that the pole of the net is actually long and sturdy enough to reach the drone’s spot on the tree it got stuck on.

5. Throw Something At It #

If you don’t have a pole that would help you dislodge the drone out of the spot it got stuck on, you can throw something at it instead in an attempt to dislodge it from its spot. If you played basketball as a kid and you got the ball wedged on the side of the basket and you weren’t tall enough or able to jump high enough to reach it, you know what we are talking about here.

To use this method, you can find something to throw at the drone in an attempt to dislodge it from its spot. A good throw weight to use should be something that isn’t that heavy or hard so that you won’t end up damaging the drone once it hits it. We recommend a tennis ball or other soft kids ball, because of how these balls have a bit of cushioning that would prevent any damage to the drone itself. A soccer ball might be nice as well although it might be a bit too big and might end up getting blocked by some leaves and branches along the way.

Of course, once you have dislodged the drone out of the tree, just make sure to have a safety net to catch the drone, to prevent it from crashing to the ground. After all, you don’t want the fall to end up damaging or even breaking the drone.

6. Shoot a Nerf Gun #

If you have a Nerf gun at home because you have a kid or a little brother (or maybe because you just enjoy Nerf guns), you can use it to try to dislodge the drone out of the tree. And the best part here is that you are going to have fun doing so because you are pretty much using your drone for target practice when you are trying to shoot it out of the tree.

Using a Nerf gun might be a good idea because the dart that this gun shoots is cushioned enough but also has enough force behind it to be able to dislodge a stuck drone. But, again, you are limited in terms of your ammo. So, make sure you have enough ammo or that you are collecting your darts after every shot.

Also, again, make sure to have a safety net that would allow you to safely catch the drone after you have shot it out of a tree. The darts of a Nerf gun might be cushioned but the ground on which the drone will land won’t be.

7. Fishing Line #

If you fancy yourself as someone who enjoys fishing during the weekends, then you can grab your fishing pole or fishing line and then try to fish your drone out of the tree it got stuck on. Of course, this would take a lot of precision on your part especially because you have to make sure that the hook actually gets hooked on the drone and that you are capable of aiming the fishing line well enough for it to reach the drone on the tree.

The problem with this method is that it might come with safety risks especially if you accidentally got your fishing line hooked on someone or on yourself while you trying to hit the drone on the tree. That’s why you need to be experienced and precise enough when using this technique.

Once you have the drone hooked, you can try to dislodge it by shaking it off using the fishing line or you can reel it in. But make sure that you reel the drone in quickly before it crashes to the ground or else you will end up damaging it in the process.

8. Try to Fly Your Way Out #

If your drone was not disabled when it got caught up in a tree or if it still has enough power and juice in it, you can actually try to fly your way out of the predicament. It might be difficult but it still is pretty much possible for you to actually control your drone out of the tree branch and then fly it out of the dangerous situation it was in as long as the drone is powerful enough to do so. However, if you have a cheap drone that doesn’t have enough power to force its way out of a tree, you probably shouldn’t try this method.

Even if you can’t literally fly the dry out of the tree, you can still try to actually loosen it up enough to dislodge it from its spot by trying to fly it out of the tree. This will make it easier for you to use the other methods on this list to try to get the drone out of the tree as you have already loosened it from the spot in an attempt to fly it out of the tree.

9. Call for Help #

When all else fails, the one thing you can do to get the drone out of the tree it got stuck on is to call for help. The people you can call for help are probably your local firemen, who are trained to get people or things out of high places because they actually need to use their ladders when saving people in burning buildings.

However, this should only be a last resort because you don’t want to end up wasting taxpayers’ money just to try to get a drone out of a tree. In the worst possible case, you might even end up in jail if you call your local fire department just to get that drone out of the spot it got stuck on. Your drone, after all, isn’t a person or even a cat that got stuck on a tree. That’s why you should probably find other ways to get it out of the tree before you even begin to think about calling the fire department to help you out.