Filming a Waterfowl Hunt with a Drone
 

I'm trying to get some different perspectives on a waterfowl hunt rather than the typical shots I see on TV and YouTube. I'm thinking of staging (meaning acting out) a hunt and using a drone to get areal footage of the geese/ducks decoying, the shooting, the spread layout and blind. I've perused the Hunting Regulations and have found this:

Use any aircraft for the purpose of hunting wildlife, including unmanned aerial vehicles.
Hunt big game within 6 hours* of having disembarked from an aircraft, except for a jet or turbo-propeller driven aircraft (regardless of the purpose of the flight).
Communicate, for the purpose of hunting, the whereabouts or signs of wildlife from knowledge gained from a manned or unmanned aircraft flight to anyone at any time during or after the flight.

The drone is not used for hunting purposes i.e. locating, spotting, luring, etc. It is strictly for the purposes of filming. Seems it might be one of those grey areas. Opinions welcomed.

Filming a waterfowl
 

Good luck getting birds to decoy with a drone flying around!

I don’t think that birds will come into a spread with a drone buzzing around it, regardless of legalities i think there’s a reason it’s not done. Kind of like why you never have fireworks livening up the footage of sitting a deer stand.

He says he's just staging or acting out the hunt for the purpose of film footage.
I'd just call your local CO and run it by them, not sure what they'd say, it does seem like a bit of a grey area doesn't it.

This could be identified a harassment of wildlife if you were to do so.

Going to slightly take this OT. Before drones, I often thought of getting a remote control plane or helicopter, dressing it up like a goose and trying to lure the geese into the spread. Never tried it. I have an acquaintance from the US who uses goose kites on fishing rods. When the geese get near they reel them in to look like a goose landing. Says it works like a charm except it is difficult to stay concealed while reeling, blow a goose call and control a dog all at once.

I've never heard of anyone getting charged photographing wildlife. This is still the same just using it remotely. Another grey area.

What droan are you thinking of using ? Im actually just searching for one with a home function to follow behind my river boat

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...nest-1.3817621

I can understand why that guy was fined. He took the drone to the eagle at a critical nesting time. In my case I am staging a hunt. If geese come to the spread they won't be shot and the drone would be in the air prior to them arriving. But having said that I can see it both ways.

If you are filming your spread before the hunt then you are not hunting ,
However if there are birds flying while you were doing that and wildlife saw the action , you could be in some trouble .
Cat

If you were found flying a RC dressed up for decoying birds you would be in s heap of trouble , no grey area there.
A kite is completely different , it’s not classed as an unmanned aircraft .
Cat

Cat,
When I was thinking of that there was no law regarding unmanned aircraft. To my understanding the laws have changed to coincide with 'drones'.

Any of the Mavic Pro series will do this for you as you can link them to your phone and they will follow you down the river as you cast to the bank... the issue is with the new laws you must have a permit to operate one in a public place. Hope this helps

I would check your province regulations or acts, what I've seen is that they consider drones an "aerial vehicle" which in many provinces you can't use to aid in hunting.

I can see a C.O. saying "you could use the drone to flush birds towards you"


Just saying, it leaves a lot up for interpretation.

Drones these days have a pretty incredible range. i would guess fish and wildlife would likely have a problem with it for a few reasons.

1. You could potentially use the drone to scout before you start your hunt giving you an unfair advantage.

2. I don't know if the birds would be bothered by it or not but if they are the drone operator could potentially use that to their advantage by deterring birds from landing in a certain area or bumping them from surrounding areas.

If you get an answer please post details as I am curious. I would like to be able to use a drone to film upland hunts but have never gotten around to asking if that would be ok or not.

Legality aside,,,, I would be very surprised if the geese acted normally with the drone flying around them.

for the purpose of regulations drones are considered air craft. I called f&w after Christmas to ask about my one property that we always fly the drones at. Wanted to make sure there weren't any grey areas for me or anyone that flies them there.

Essentially follow the air craft guidelines with your drone. If the drones in the air and you hunt it within 6 hours you've broken the law.

I dont think they want too many drones flying around so I doubt they will say go ahead and film your hunt with the drone. Imagine having a drone set to follow you or hover above your blind as your watching from your phone.

On a side note have you looked into the batter life of the drones??? Their not the best.

I would contact your CO However,

If you were to set up and have everything in place. Use the drone to get your footage, of say flying in from the south over the water , showing decoys and blind layouts from the POV of a duck or goose. While leaving your shotguns at home. I can not ever see this being considered for hunting purposes.

(A nice sunset shot using a polarized filter showing decoys and the surrounding fields would make some great video.)

would provide some really cool footage of your set up as well as show areas of improvement. Return 6 Hrs later rerig and commence your hunt.

* the new drone laws coming into place come June(?) are really not a big deal. Do the course , mark your drone. no biggie. Dont forget it is and should always be required to get land owner permission to operate a drone before hand.

I fly a mavic.

when I asked about drones originally to f&w all they did was refer me to the regs at first. When I asked some questions they didnt answer. From there I called around to try and get someone at one of the offices to answer. They specifically stated drones are treated like air craft which makes things easy to understand from there.

The interesting part is first part of the regs that says cant use a drone for the purpose of hunting wild life. If your videos are all hunting related would this fit into that??

Can you have a guy who's only purpose is to film and doesnt hunt at all???

I'd be curious to hear their responses but I dont think theyll give you an answer you'll like.

I think it's such a grey area open to interpretation right now. Look at all these TV show hosts that use drones to film themselves walking into a stand carrying a gun or bow, are they by definition not hunting? I'd stay away from it.