Using drones for waterfowl hunting
 

So are you allowed to hunt using a drone when water fowling? I know you are not allowed to use one when hunting for big game. I ask because a few of my friends use drones to see what their spreads look like from the air, and record some birds :angry3:

They are walking a pretty fine line there, I am not sure what F&W would think if they saw a drone in the air with a spread and guns on the ground.
Cat

I think its ok to get a look at the spread before or after the hunt guns in the truck but i have no legal proof of that as i have yet to look into the legalities.

I do not see any benefit of using a drone for waterfowl or any other hunting for that matter. I suppose you can look at you decoys but at the end of the day you still have to bring the birds into range .Money and time better spent on scouting locations that the birds want to land in and good blinds.Successful waterfowling usually costs time and effort .Gadgets won't do it for you.If I was in a blind and saw one of those things flying over I would be inclined to fine tune my shooting skills on it.

Where i have seen a benifit is for big snow goose spreads guys have been using them to get a birds eye view of the whole spread to better see problems that may flare birds looking from above. Like you said there is multiple things that are way more worth it but if it is allowed it would be able to serve a purpose for those that want to use them.

I would think you would have a pretty tough time explaining to a fish cop that you werent using it to scout for birds. Further to that, you could potentially run the risk of getting dinged with harassing wildlife if you get too close and start ruffling feathers so to speak. Long story short, I think if any fish cop saw a drone around while you were hunting you would have some explaining to do. I don't think it would be worth the hassle. You should get a pretty good idea of what your spread looks like from the boat/shore.
Just my 2 cents. But I think when you start mixing drones with hunting you're playing with fire.

Very bottom of the general regulations tab on the hunting regulations web sight under use of aircraft it states "it is unlawfull to 1. Use any aircraft for the purpose of hunting wildlife, including unmanned aerial vehicles."

Ref: http://www.albertaregulations.ca/hun...s/genregs.html

I know from a guy who is in the drone mapping business for oil and gas and logging that one of there golden rules is UAV's are not to be used for hunting. If you do a quick google search there is a fairly significant fine and jail time for this. It would be best to call fish and game and get a really good understanding of what is ok and what isn't even if you don't have your rifle they still might be upset with harassing wildlife types of issues.

The problem with that law of course, is what constitutes the hunt?
Checking your decoy spread is not looking to see if there are any ducks or geese in it, and this is where it becomes a bit murky at times.

Personally I want nothing to do with drones as far as anything to do with hunting goes at all!:thinking-006:
Cat

Thats exactly the issue. I dont think i would ever pay for a drone for hunting use but if someone were to bring one to look at the spread after a hunt to see what we messed up i wouldnt be against it.
For an example of what im talking about here is a video.https://www.youtube.com/shared?ci=EkiaRm9uMYg

Not suitable
 

I wouldn't think that there would be much of an advantage using a drone when waterfowl hunting. First I would like to think that you are far enough away from the roost that your drone probably wouldn't reach it anyways and secondly those things make some noise. Yes, there's some good drones at a hefty price but I'd like to think it would be suitable for this. Hunting big game in the other hand gives you an advantage as you are mobile and this way you can see for a longer distance.
Typically there's a lot of scouting involved before a bird hunt so there's no need for a drone in my opinion. I'd like to think that this would be the case but there are some people who harass wildlife with these things and it doesn't make for nicely nicely with the F and W

i think a drone would be a huge asset for bird hunting. I scout and hunt some pretty hilly country and can really tough to figure out how many birds are in a spot or what the cover looks like from a distance. Send a drone up, snap a few pics and make a game a plan.

You can 100% take aerial shots of your spread with a drone while bird hunting

While bird hunting...be careful might get taken as a goose...expensive goose.:)

My guess is some guys will graduate to using the drone to flush the birds on far side of lake so they might come to your call and spread. Opens a whole can of worms with the game laws.

See now THAT would be ilegal. I could see charges for hunting with a UAV and wildlife harrasment.

So setting up decoys isn't part of hunting?? Yeah good luck with that excuse.

It's pretty clear to those of us not trying to find a loop hole. Any use of a drone that aids in hunting, in any form, is illegal.

I wasn't really looking for a loophole or anything. Just taking cool videos of your spread, since I have a YouTube channel.

If you had a licensed film production company, maybe you get an expemption ahead of time or something...id bet a YouTube channel isn't going to be good enough for f&w or a judge.

Its pretty clear in the regs so if you post something like that, you're basically inviting charges. They wouldn't even have to leave the office.

Wonder if there would be a charge with shooting down a drone?

Out where I live we seen a drone come into our yard and fly around then started coming to the windows looking into the house . That nice someone tried breaking into the place as far as we can figure people are using them to scope out the next robbery .

There is absolutely some grey area around this issue. I have noticed the past couple years a lot of hunting shows are incorporating drone footage into their shows. It really makes for some neat shots of their setups and scouting missions. Technically those MAY be considered hunting activities by some, much like just taking photos of your decoy spread. IMHO taking photos of your decoy spread has absolutely bearing on the hunt and thus should be totally fine. obviously some will disagree and that's cool. I seriously doubt anyone would have a successful charge brought against them for doing such a thing. but who knows. I would guess a phone call to your local F&W officer would result in an answer in your favour.

A day or 2 without pay in court even if you win is something to consider. And no doubt there will be drones available , if not already , that look like geese and ducks . Where does it stop ?

You must not have much of an idea of what a drone can do. It is absoulutly amassing what you can see live as much as 3 kms away from your truck. A big game animal will soon have almost nowhere to hide or sleep when all you have to do is park on the side of the road and scout a huge area with a drone. Heck, one fellow I talked to figures he could "herd" a moose or deer from out of the bush onto the road.
Going to be very interesting how they tackle the laws on drone use for hunting in the near future.

That is exactly why there are regulations concerning the use of aircraft while hunting, and a drone is considered to be an unmanned aircraft.


From the Wildlife Act

I agree Elk, but there is a lot of wiggle room there. There are also other laws/regs in place about use of aircraft.

That regulation is not worded so broadly by accident, it is worded so it can be applied if you use an aircraft in pretty much any way as part of your actual hunt.

Let me tell you, if I saw your drone in the air, I would certainly shoot it out of the sky. Hunt like a real hunter , forget the drone.

Really? A person is out flying a drone, you see it and shoot it down? You probably shouldn't own guns.

How do all you arm chair haters figure you'll be able to prove anything?
Have any of you tried to follow a flying drone with your eyes?
How would you know where it came from/who was flying it?

I was looking for a cow today and took this picture.

http://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/...psnxyc1dob.jpg

I should probably be locked up for seeing wildlife eh?
My drone should have been shot down, by a psychopath from AO forums.

Maybe people should leave other people and their property the **** alone, and mind their own ****ing business.

We seen a drone on our property out in the country looking in our windows while doing dishes and flying all over the place around our barn and sheds then it went over to the house across the field that night the purse across the field got broke into and the cops said that robbers are using them to stake out places so I'll tell you what I see a drone on my property again it's not leaving.

Careful out there guys, I heard fish and wildlife is using drones that look like flocks of mallards to catch poachers...