USA: Hobby Hunters Use Drones for Hunting

Ian Avery, president of the hunting and fishing association in Nova Scotia, says that far too many hobby hunters are using drones to locate wildlife for killing.

According to Avery, this crosses a line. He considers it highly unethical to use a helicopter, aircraft, or drone for recreational hunting.

Local hunting regulations prohibit hobby hunters from using any type of aircraft for hunting. Avery believes this also applies to drones, even though they are not explicitly mentioned in the law.

No charges filed yet

The association has only asked the government to tighten the laws and specify that no drones may be used during recreational hunting.

According to Avery, no one in his province of Nova Scotia has been charged for this reason so far. Avery believes people should use drones as a leisure activity and not for hunting.

Many aspects of recreational hunting are becoming too high-tech and have nothing to do with the original intent of what hunting is. The existing law does not stop certain people from using remote-controlled aircraft to hunt wildlife Drones can save time when tracking wildlife and can substitute for a lack of know-how.

Wildlife cameras

Not even wildlife cameras are as intrusive as drones. Wildlife cameras are small digital devices activated by a motion sensor. They are often used in terrain where hobby hunters suspect wildlife trails.

Some cameras only take photos, which the hobby hunter must evaluate manually on a computer. The more modern ones send a signal directly to a mobile phone in real time.

Wildlife animals are not the only ones suffering from the drones, cameras, and other devices used by hobby hunters. Many recreational activists also feel pressured and disturbed by these devices.

Furthermore, private individuals walking in the forest could be recorded without their knowledge. The Federal Data Protection Commissioner warned of this as early as 2012. Private individuals are prohibited from setting up cameras in public spaces that can be used to identify persons.

Hobby Hunting and Mobile Phones

Until a few years ago, it was forbidden in Switzerland to use mobile phones while hunting, in order to prevent large-scale driven hunts. Graubünden, for example, recently lifted this ban under pressure from hobby hunters.

For many Graubünden hobby hunters, it had been incomprehensible why mobile phones should not be freely usable in an age of modern technology. Moreover, it had been impossible to enforce the ban. Laws that cannot be enforced are superfluous — so went the hobby hunters' refrain. Actually a pretty clear statement about what ethics, tradition, animal welfare, decency, and so on mean in hobby hunting — namely, absolutely nothing.

A hobby hunter can now commission another hobby hunter to observe wildlife from an opposite slope on their behalf and guide them to the animals. Essentially no different from what drones do.