hunting with drones

[Kevin]

Pretty much everywhere in North America it is illegal to hunt large game for 24hrs after you have been flown in to your hunt camp.  It has to do with unfair advantage and fair chase.  I have just been wondering about the ever increasing use of drone technology.  If you have a camera on a drone you have immediate direct feed from that drone flying around looking out over the bush.  These are much more affordable than getting your pilots license and owning or renting a plane.  Is it legal to hunt using a drone as an information gathering/scouting  device?

[Peter Emberley]

I wasn't aware of the fly in rules to be honest.

[Kevin]

  This is the response from Wildlife office which covers .the drone question.    Interesting that you can't hunt from an ATV nor may you cruse the roads in your truck looking for moose.  I wonder how that it interpreted? 

 

Prohibition on use of aircraft or vehicle

   105. (1) A person shall not hunt wild life from any aircraft or any four-wheel drive motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipped with a caterpillar or track-tread, whether in motion or otherwise, but this shall not limit the use of a vehicle when being used for transportation purposes only.

           (2) A person shall not use any aircraft in locating, spotting or searching for wild life for the purposes of directing or assisting himself or herself or another person to destroy or capture the wild life.

           (3) A person other than the holder of a valid game licence shall not carry or possess a firearm in an aircraft without first having obtained a permit from the minister.

           (4) Subsection (3) shall not apply to equipment carried on any aircraft in compliance with the provisions of the Aeronautics Act (Canada ), the Air Regulations (Canada ) and orders made under them or any aircraft flying a scheduled air service route.

           (5) Where a person violates the provisions of these regulations while in an aircraft, four-wheel drive motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipped with a caterpillar or track-tread and the actual offender has not been ascertained and prosecuted, the person in control of the aircraft or motor vehicle at the time of the offence is responsible for the violation and may be prosecuted as the offender.

           (6) Nothing in subsection (5) relieves the actual offender from liability for the violation.