Nova Scotia group urges government to specify ban on drone use by hunters

[Fenelon]

Boy, they'd be deadly on moose. We have a Phantom 3 Pro series drone here at work. You'd be able to sit on your ATV and cover a 2000 acre cutover in under 10 mins, with video footage of the animal(s) and GPS waypoint. If you saw multiple animals then you'd call the rest of your party over to group hunt the exact area that the animals are in. Even to just locate any tracks in the snow after a fresh snowfall. It wouldn't take you very long to find a moose using this technology. I'm sure there's already people doing it. Think of the potential for a high altitude sheep hunt, or for finding bedded mule deer, elk, etc.

[awndray]

They are about managing the resource/ethics. Same as prohibiting drones.

MNRF managing resources? Laughable.

[rf2]

MNRF managing resources? Laughable.

They certainly aren't responsible for public safety, as you suggested.

[bowj]

MNRF managing resources? Laughable.

they are managing the impact of technology on animals, as they do with firearms and equipment and methods of conveyance.
a hunter could save some serious time scouting with a drone, and some inventive hunter will put some sort of gun on one eventually lol.
governments need to stay ahead of new technology, especially drones, because although I am sure they are fun, they can do damage, intrude on privacy, and take away the fair chase of a hunting. i am surprised they are not illegal everywhere for hunting already, its not like they are new.

[skypilot]

I could see some potential issues around fair chase so no flying and shooting the same day much like already exists with aircraft.

I can't get too excited about drone flying for scouting the landscape and there are already rules in force for drone operation. It would be pretty easy to fine operators thru Transport Canada for inappropriate use just like with aircraft.

Generally speaking, it is somewhat difficult to see animals with the live downlink until the video is actually downloaded and replayed. In other words one wouldn't likely see animals as you flew over them unless they were in the open and then altitude would be low enough to spook them. So once the downlink is recorded, loaded into a computer and replayed with much better resolution, it would be difficult to see animals.

It could be done but somewhat time consuming and harassing wildlife is currently a contravention anyway.

Same fear was expressed with sonar and game cameras once upon a time especially with the live feed to cell phone game cams and people don't normally shoot them.

[mastercaster]

last weekend I purchased a new DJI Phantom 4 Pro, and the video quality I receive when the drone is 3 Km away is amazing. I'm sure I could easily spot moose from way up (300 meters or more) if it was not under the tree canopy. I have not tried scouting with it, I have just tried flying around my home, but if I had the intention I could easily check if any moose or wolves are in any of the fields around me within a couple of minutes, and then decide if i wanted to hunt them (not that I would). The new drones are getting better and better, its amazing what they can do.

I think we should be able to scout with them and hunt the following day. It gives the poor guy (relatively) the same advantage as the rich guy who can go fly his plane around spotting game and go hunt them the next day. But I do think a Law about "not on the same day" would be important to deter people from taking advantage of the technological capability's that would help find game while hunting.


MC

[Deer Wrastler]

I couldnt see an issue with pre season scouting but obviously while hunting its not really fair chase...then again fair chase and hunting dont mean the same to everyone either

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[trimmer21]

I couldnt see an issue with pre season scouting but obviously while hunting its not really fair chase...then again fair chase and hunting dont mean the same to everyone either

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That's a very good reason for legislation that takes the guess work away from those that like to play fast and loose with "ethics."

[LeakyBoots]

Prohibiting drones is more about fair chase than public safety.

[skypilot]

A couple of winters ago, I was flying mine along and over the frozen lake, then over 80 acres of woods/marsh then home. I never saw the turkeys below the drone running from the drone at about 200 ft altitude until I downloaded the video and thus had better resolution.

Unless they have changed, DJI is 720 resolution on the video down link to the Ipad, etc. It is however 2k resolution to the sd card and of course play back from the card to a computer video editor is amazingly clear.

With a chaser for safety, it isn't unusual to fly an old Phantom 3 to a distance of 3 miles(longer but RTH takes over in order to have enough return battery capacity)

I have used my more for fun and as a long distance target camera than anything hunting/animal related with the exception of aggressive actions by a local hawk and the resident osprey who took a run at it.