Drones legal when hunting?

[Where's Bruce?]

Seems like hunting with a drone might be illegal but many hunting videos have drone shot footage so what's the deal? What's a good drone packable for this?

 

[wapitibob]

I believe it's perfectly legal to fly a drone and film you walking in the woods as long as I stay within the faa regs. If I use the drone for any aspect of hunting or interaction with game animals then I would fall under that states game dept regs, and several states added drone language in the past cpl years.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

Sounds like an interesting conversation with a GW in the field.

 

[rbljack]

Sounds like an interesting conversation with a GW in the field.

Yep....I can just imagine it would be hard to convince them that you weren't using to "scout or locate animals....LOL. I wouldn't want to chance it while I had a tag for a hunt, and was in the unit during the season. But the most correct answer would be to check the regs for the specific state...im guessing there are variances from state to state.

 

[Murdy]

If you did spot a trophy with a drone, even if you didn't intend to be scouting, it would probably be awfully difficult to separate that information from decisions about how and where to hunt.

 

[Bubblehide]

Bruce, I have a few different drones if you actually want to try a few of them to get an idea of what you might want to settle on. But, from my understanding, some states treat drone use just like they do flying. I don't recall if it the the NF, NP, or wilderness areas, but there is a regulation that does not allow filming for commercial use. My guess is that you will have a bunch of regulations to weed through, and you will need to weed through them per location.

 

[CorbLand]

If you did spot a trophy with a drone, even if you didn't intend to be scouting, it would probably be awfully difficult to separate that information from decisions about how and where to hunt.

I would imagine this is where intent would come into play.

 

[jspradley]

Laws would vary greatly by state.

I do suspect that a significant amount of drone B-roll footage is filmed after the animal is already taken so as to avoid any sort of legal problems as well as the general hassle of dicking around with the drone while hunting. I would be curious to know what the film makers on here have to say about it

 

[Matt Cashell]

Timely thread in Montana

Drones prohibited from filming Montana hunts, wildlife commission votes | Outdoors | helenair.com

 

[jspradley]

Timely thread in Montana

Drones prohibited from filming Montana hunts, wildlife commission votes | Outdoors | helenair.com

Oh man that’s really vague language....I really hope they clarify that.


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[NeedleCrook]

I have a DJI mavic, it folds down small and my wife and I always take it on vacation. I've thought about taking it hunting just to get some cool footage. The But I decided against it. It wasn't worth dealing with it being legal or not, plus it's just more to pack in. Quality drone though for other uses and very packable.

 

[SHTF]

DJI Mavic Air would be good bruce or the parrot anafi which is really tiny. I just got done researching them as I wanted a drone for when the wife and I go to the islands. The Sunsets are beautiful there and many times I wished I could go up a few 100 feet to catch a different perspective. I can't speak on performance yet as mine is under the tree for tomorrow =-). I do know whatever you plan to get, read up on the Rules and dont forget to register it with the FAA. If its .55 or more lbs then it must be registered.

 

[gjviii]

DJI Mavic Air would be good bruce or the parrot anafi which is really tiny. I just got done researching them as I wanted a drone for when the wife and I go to the islands. The Sunsets are beautiful there and many times I wished I could go up a few 100 feet to catch a different perspective. I can't speak on performance yet as mine is under the tree for tomorrow =-). I do know whatever you plan to get, read up on the Rules and dont forget to register it with the FAA. If its .55 or more lbs then it must be registered.

interesting about the registration of drones. i knew the may 2017 ruling stated it must be registered if you were using it for commercial purposes. i must have missed where that was overruled

 

[SHTF]

They reverted it back to all drones .55lbs have to be registered with the FFA. This was earlier this year I believe.

 

[BackcountryBloodline]

In BC it's illegal to have one in your possession while hunting, no convincing a CO you were just using it to film a few shots the evening before opening day or while hiking in.

 

[Joseph08]

That primarily depends on your State Policies. You should verify that first.