Aircraft scouting
10-08-2015, 03:57 AM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 1,780
Aircraft scouting
I have seen small airplanes flying slowly around the mountains while I was either pre-season scouting and while actually hunting. I have not seen a drone yet but it is probably just a matter of time.
Some outfitters use this type of scouting for their clients. Some even advertise it. I think I have seen more of this in Wyoming than anywhere else but I have seen it in Colorado. This has been going on for years but now it seems to be more common and perhaps accepted.
Maybe this is legal, maybe it is not, but that is not my point. How proud would you be of a "trophy" that was taken with the help of an aircraft, even if it was just used for pre-season scouting?
Some outfitters use this type of scouting for their clients. Some even advertise it. I think I have seen more of this in Wyoming than anywhere else but I have seen it in Colorado. This has been going on for years but now it seems to be more common and perhaps accepted.
Maybe this is legal, maybe it is not, but that is not my point. How proud would you be of a "trophy" that was taken with the help of an aircraft, even if it was just used for pre-season scouting?
10-08-2015, 04:14 AM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Onslow County, NC
Posts: 1,856
Have heard of this out west but not here in the east. May just be a matter of time I am sure but can't think of anything against it for the most part. For us hear I guess if you fly around, find a deer, you still have to fly the plane back to the airfield, do all your post flight crap, then hop in the truck and drive to the nearest location and then hike in. Animal will probably be gone from that spot by then I would think.
10-08-2015, 04:46 AM
#3
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: south eastern PA
Posts: 15,436
Source, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
I suspect this won't be the last state considering this. In Alaska if you fly into camp you may not hunt till the next day to prevent scouting by aircraft.
Wyoming Game & Fish Department considering new rule to prohibit both manned and unmanned aircraft for scouting and hunting
drone 300x163LARAMIE, Wyo. – A sportsmen-led campaign to uphold fair chase hunting in Wyoming is gaining momentum with the Wyoming Game & Fish Department’s recent decision to consider a new rule outlawing the use of drones or aircraft for hunting or scouting.
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers’ Wyoming chapter initiated the effort in the wake of numerous reports of aircraft, as well as a growing number of drones, being used to locate and pursue big game in the Cowboy State.
“No true sportsman will say with a straight face that hunting or scouting animals with a drone or aircraft is fair to the animal or to other hunters in the field,” said Wyoming BHA Co-chair Buzz Hettick, who lives in Laramie. “Yet Wyoming big game regulations currently have loopholes that leave the door open to the use of drones and aircraft for hunting.”
While existing state statute outlaws scouting wildlife from a plane and then hunting within 24 hours, the new rule change would strengthen these regulations and specifically ban the use of any drone or aircraft to hunt or scout.
Hettick continued, “We greatly appreciate the Game & Fish Department listening to the concerns of Wyoming sportsmen and clarifying this language to uphold our tradition of fair chase hunting – without the interference of unnecessary technologies.”
“After hearing numerous reports of hunters abusing drones and aircraft to pursue animals on Wyoming’s wide open landscape, we realized that something needed to be done,” said BHA member Jeff Muratore of Casper. “I commend the Game & Fish Department for taking action to protect our wildlife resources by making sure hunting regulations are in line with the state statute, which is intended to prohibit the use aircraft for hunting.”
BHA state chapters have initiated and led a national grassroots movement to ban the use of drones in scouting and hunting and uphold the principles of fair chase, principles that are central to BHA and to hunters and anglers all over America. BHA has successfully facilitated drone bans in Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and Vermont and is currently working to implement bans in New Hampshire, New York and Oregon. Illinois and West Virginia have followed in banning drones, as well.
If adopted in Wyoming, the new rule would take effect in the fall of 2016. The public will have an opportunity to comment on the measure; details should be made available shortly.
Help BHA defend fair chase hunting traditions, become a BHA member todaycome a BHA member today!
I suspect this won't be the last state considering this. In Alaska if you fly into camp you may not hunt till the next day to prevent scouting by aircraft.
Wyoming Game & Fish Department considering new rule to prohibit both manned and unmanned aircraft for scouting and hunting
drone 300x163LARAMIE, Wyo. – A sportsmen-led campaign to uphold fair chase hunting in Wyoming is gaining momentum with the Wyoming Game & Fish Department’s recent decision to consider a new rule outlawing the use of drones or aircraft for hunting or scouting.
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers’ Wyoming chapter initiated the effort in the wake of numerous reports of aircraft, as well as a growing number of drones, being used to locate and pursue big game in the Cowboy State.
“No true sportsman will say with a straight face that hunting or scouting animals with a drone or aircraft is fair to the animal or to other hunters in the field,” said Wyoming BHA Co-chair Buzz Hettick, who lives in Laramie. “Yet Wyoming big game regulations currently have loopholes that leave the door open to the use of drones and aircraft for hunting.”
While existing state statute outlaws scouting wildlife from a plane and then hunting within 24 hours, the new rule change would strengthen these regulations and specifically ban the use of any drone or aircraft to hunt or scout.
Hettick continued, “We greatly appreciate the Game & Fish Department listening to the concerns of Wyoming sportsmen and clarifying this language to uphold our tradition of fair chase hunting – without the interference of unnecessary technologies.”
“After hearing numerous reports of hunters abusing drones and aircraft to pursue animals on Wyoming’s wide open landscape, we realized that something needed to be done,” said BHA member Jeff Muratore of Casper. “I commend the Game & Fish Department for taking action to protect our wildlife resources by making sure hunting regulations are in line with the state statute, which is intended to prohibit the use aircraft for hunting.”
BHA state chapters have initiated and led a national grassroots movement to ban the use of drones in scouting and hunting and uphold the principles of fair chase, principles that are central to BHA and to hunters and anglers all over America. BHA has successfully facilitated drone bans in Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and Vermont and is currently working to implement bans in New Hampshire, New York and Oregon. Illinois and West Virginia have followed in banning drones, as well.
If adopted in Wyoming, the new rule would take effect in the fall of 2016. The public will have an opportunity to comment on the measure; details should be made available shortly.
Help BHA defend fair chase hunting traditions, become a BHA member todaycome a BHA member today!
Last edited by Oldtimr; 10-08-2015 at 04:52 AM.
10-09-2015, 05:55 AM
#4
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: On an Island in Vermont
Posts: 22,605
The low cost, popularity and wider use of private drones will drive the legislation in many states. In Alaska where planes play a larger part in almost all hunting operations, the rules were inevitable. Now with the drones there will certainly be new laws enacted for good reason. I can see a hunter sending out his $1500 drone to scout the fields near his location. The next phase of that will be arming the drone for an even easier kill. The hunting heritage is an old one and should remain as one man hunting an animal on fair terms.
10-11-2015, 06:13 AM
#5
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 9,230
Years ago in my native CO there were a couple of guides that got caught using small planes to run herds of elk off public land onto big ranches they had leased so their "clients" could hunt them. They also used the planes to disrupt the hunts of people on the public land. This caused the state to put laws on the books about using aircraft and other mechanized vehicles to harass wildlife. They also put laws on the books about the use of drones as soon as they became available.
http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/...g-and-scouting
So, if the OP has seen it in CO, then it is illegal and he should try and get the tail numbers off the aircraft and report it to the Game Wardens.
http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/...g-and-scouting
So, if the OP has seen it in CO, then it is illegal and he should try and get the tail numbers off the aircraft and report it to the Game Wardens.
