Western Wings Drone Service LLC

Spraying weeds can be a difficult proposition in many areas. Helicopters and planes do a great job, but there are some challenges, especially for spot spraying in rough country or near residential areas.

Enter the drone. Drones are being in many different applications, from photography to war to spraying weeds and crops. Jake Masters, of Western Wings explains some of the advantages to using drones.

Western Wings Drone Service, LLC, is a fairly new service in the Sheridan area. Masters, who is a native of the Dayton -Ranchester area, has been doing the spraying for three years. They have five drones and do a lot of crop spraying.

He said the drones typically stay about ten feet off the ground when spraying but can go down as low at 6 to 8 feet if necessary.

When getting ready to spray, Masters said they manually fly the drones using handheld remotes to map the field.

They use a GNSS stands for Global Navigation Satellite System, which offers more accuracy that the better-known GPS for the drone flyng.

He added another advantage to the drones is the nozzles he uses.

In Master’s first year they did around 5000 acres of drone work. In 2024 they did right around 20,000 acres, so the business is growing each year. He said that their goal this year is 25,000 to 30,000 acres.

Much of the spraying now is done in the Basin Country, where they mainly spray crops, in Sheridan County they spray weevils, and invasive grasses.

He said in some ways the drone service complements the plane and helicopter way of spraying. Drones can be used closer to residential development, as they never leave the field where they are spraying.

Masters said he was hoping to increase his drone services in the Sheridan area. He can be reached at https://www.westernwingswy.com/

Photos courtesy of Western Wings Drone Service LLC, with thanks.