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Drones ...

1K views 34 replies 6 participants last post by  Clearcut 
#1 ·
I'm a bit confused on what the hunters perspective is on this tool .

As a trapper and NWO I see this tool that has a big plus . For example after setting gear I could easily check with this tool . Saving much time .

As a wood lot owner I can use the tool to routine check woods roads , plantation etc .

I think with the new feds rules I see issues coming about flying and have no way to know if there are people on my lot .

So what is the hunters position on this tool ?
 
#3 ·
What are the new federal rules? That would be the actual regulations and not someone's interpretation of them.
No night flight
No fly with in 75 m of people
No fly above I think it's 90 m
No fly zones with in certain distance of air port
All drones to be marked with owner's name etc

I believe a resolution was passed to have drones not allowed for hunting . That includes us trappers if it gets to regulation unless were granted an exemption.
 
#4 ·
The one I'm looking at hasa 5 km range ,cost about _2000 right now . They seem to be getting cheaper so I waiting a bit . They had a great demo atva wood lot owner days last year . My neighbor has a private golf course use it to fly the course and check for stuff . They have a lot of good uses.
 
#5 ·
Thinking you should look into a bit more. We have hired contractors with drones to perform inspections for us - they have to apply for a permit before they can fly. One of these inspections was in the city (inspecting an occupied building) so me thinks there's situations where the rules you posted are not necessarily for every type of use.
 
#8 ·
checking gear would probably be classed as research or work, therefore commercial, anything deemed commercial requires SFOC (permit). sfoc is quite complex and can take months to get for one single flight. much paperwork as well as 1 million liability insurance.

as a hobby user its getting coplicated and as a commercial user its not worth it. for me anyway.
 
#9 ·
I do believe the federation of angular and hunters passed a resolution about hunting . I can understand the reason about driving ducks or other game .
But as a trapper and NWO I would like to be excluded to check gear .
The use of Drones (UAV's) recreationally was severely impacted when the Federal gov implemented the new Regs back in March.

The key new rules are that recreational drone operators must mark their drone with their contact information, and may not fly:
•higher than 90 metres;
•at night;
•within 75 metres of buildings, vehicles or people; or
•within 9 kilometres of the centre of any airport, heliport, aerodrome or water aerodrome where aircraft take off and land.

Operators of drones for commercial, academic or research purposes are not affected by this measure. The rules that are already in place are effective and most commercial users operate their drones in a safe manner.

Any recreational operator who fails to comply with the new flying restrictions and conditions could be subject to fines of up to $3,000.

Also, the Federation adopted a Drone Policy in 2015:

P1.11.7 Resolved that NSFAH consult with DNR to implement a ban on the use of UAV's or drones to aid in hunting of all species and all game in NS as it is inappropriate and overwhelming technology that would essentially undermine the concept of ethical fair chase hunting and further ban the use of UAV's to aid in harassing hunters lawfully hunting or disturbing wildlife in general. (Passed 2015)
I may be wrong but I do not think the NSFAH policy would interfere with you checking traps.

Might be wrong on this one as well but I think you could still use one for scouting ? Maybe I am wrong and it might be considered an aid in hunting. If that is the case we might want to really look hard at any wording on a ban with DNR.
 
#10 ·
No night flight
No fly with in 75 m of people
No fly above I think it's 90 m
No fly zones with in certain distance of air port
All drones to be marked with owner's name etc

I believe a resolution was passed to have drones not allowed for hunting . That includes us trappers if it gets to regulation unless were granted an exemption.
That is an interpretation. What are the exact rules?
 
#13 ·
I may be wrong but I do not think the NSFAH policy would interfere with you checking traps.
Might be wrong on this one as well but I think you could still use one for scouting ? Maybe I am wrong and it might be considered an aid in hunting. If that is the case we might want to really look hard at any wording on a ban with DNR.
My concern it will . Trapping is defined under hunting .
 
#15 ·
flying also has to be vlos = visual line of sight. if you cant see the quadcopter, its illegal.

system can be rated for 5 or 7 km, whatever. at 200 to 300 yards as soon as you drop behind a couple trees you lose video feed.

flying by video feed to your mobile device is a nono

there are lots of things to keep in mind.
 
#17 ·
There appears to be two sets of regulations. One for commercial operations and another for recreational operations

The commercial operation requires a specific permit. I would suspect it would be very similar to filing a flight plan.

Recreational is not higher than 300 feet but higher than 250 feet above people buildings and animals etc. Out to a max distance of 500m and must be in line of sight.

That gives you a 50 foot window in which to inspect your traps or woodlot or golf course since there may be people or animals present. And that is at a max distance of 500 m from the operator and must be in your line of sight. So essentially you can go straight up to 250ft fly around out to a max of 500m circle if you are on top of a hill, come back and come back down to the ground. People you can see but animals (mice for example) can be under the grass and not visible. I suspect the intention was bigger animals such as big game but that is not what the regs state. (hence the reason for looking at the actual regs)

Can you even see the smaller drones out at 500m? If not that distance is limited to as far as you can see your drone.

And yes it appears that the NSFAH resolution would ban the use of a drone by trappers since trapping is in fact a form of hunting and could also ban the use for scouting since scouting does also fall under the broad definition of hunting. (May be hard to prove though lol.)

It does appear that the new regs has indeed shut down "most" of what they were being used for. It also appears that the regs have also addressed most of the concerns of the every day person. As with most regs it will be the enforcing them that will be the hard part. Not sure who has the responsibility for that lol.
 
#19 ·
I'm a bit confused on what the hunters perspective is on this tool .

As a trapper and NWO I see this tool that has a big plus . For example after setting gear I could easily check with this tool . Saving much time .

As a wood lot owner I can use the tool to routine check woods roads , plantation etc .

I think with the new feds rules I see issues coming about flying and have no way to know if there are people on my lot .

So what is the hunters position on this tool ?
Drones are awesome!

I have a DJI Phantom - hoping to upgrade to a SkySquirell in the very near future - much better imaging technology on the SkySquirell Drones.

I would suggest, after flying for over 2 years, a Drone would not be a good tool for checking a typical trap line, unless you have a clear line of sight for each trap from the air and you are a real good Drone Pilot.
Larger wildlife, easy to pick out - but small critters - almost impossible

Then there are the common issues with actually flying Drones - chances are, if you have poor cel reception in the area you wish to fly, you will have poor communications with your Drone. Signal loss is a common issues with Drones. Lose your communications link, lose your Drone!

Also, woodlot owners and NWO's can be classed as commercial operations or applications - different Drone flying regs for that.

 
#20 ·
The one I saw demoed by DNR at the wood lot days was great. He flew the road of the wood lot right from the main gate . Then circle looking at treatments.

Well see how it pans out . There must be a way to get permits.
Yes it is called a Special Flight Operating Certificate (SOFC) 1300.00 fee for an uncomplicated application.

You must remember what you saw was probably before the new regulations came into effect.
 
#21 ·
Drones are awesome!

I have a DJI Phantom - hoping to upgrade to a SkySquirell in the very near future - much better imaging technology on the SkySquirell Drones.

I would suggest, after flying for over 2 years, a Drone would not be a good tool for checking a typical trap line, unless you have a clear line of sight for each trap from the air and you are a real good Drone Pilot.
Larger wildlife, easy to pick out - but small critters - almost impossible

Then there are the common issues with actually flying Drones - chances are, if you have poor cel reception in the area you wish to fly, you will have poor communications with your Drone. Signal loss is a common issues with Drones. Lose your communications link, lose your Drone!

Also, woodlot owners and NWO's can be classed as commercial operations or applications - different Drone flying regs for that.

So what was the average height of that flight in the video?

With the "vague" description of animals and the difficulty of even seeing smaller animals such as rabbits and birds it would be near impossible to be able to fly under 250 feet and know there are no animals under you. It appears that legally drones are sort of restricted to between 250 and 300 feet.

I am not sure what an acceptable defense would be if challenged to prove that there were no animals under you if caught flying lower than 250 feet over land and possibly even over water.
 
#22 ·
IV been slowly building up for retirement to persue NWO work and general trapping for agriculture and forestry . For the most part the average fenced acreage is about 1000 acres. I'm going to be quite mobile with a camper , four wheeler etc so I can go province wide if needed. I'm only interested in forestry and agriculture. Generally the fenced ares are around open fields . For cattle operations it's relative easy to just drive around . For sheep operations is a different story. Many of the fields are broken down into smaller pastures . Driving around s not quite so easy . Thats were I see the drone having value .
It appears that flying a wood lot road looking for blown over trees may be now more difficult with the proposed regulations.
 
#23 ·
So what was the average height of that flight in the video?
With the "vague" description of animals and the difficulty of even seeing smaller animals such as rabbits and birds it would be near impossible to be able to fly under 250 feet and know there are no animals under you. It appears that legally drones are sort of restricted to between 250 and 300 feet.
I am not sure what an acceptable defense would be if challenged to prove that there were no animals under you if caught flying lower than 250 feet over land and possibly even over water.
Was flying between 75 and 100 ft in the video posted.

Not real easy to see things on the ground even at a low altitude.
 
#24 ·
IV been slowly building up for retirement to persue NWO work and general trapping for agriculture and forestry . For the most part the average fenced acreage is about 1000 acres. I'm going to be quite mobile with a camper , four wheeler etc so I can go province wide if needed. I'm only interested in forestry and agriculture. Generally the fenced ares are around open fields . For cattle operations it's relative easy to just drive around . For sheep operations is a different story. Many of the fields are broken down into smaller pastures . Driving around s not quite so easy . Thats were I see the drone having value .
It appears that flying a wood lot road looking for blown over trees may be now more difficult with the proposed regulations.
So, you are describing a commercial application for your Drone use. Different rules package.

I am just a recreational Drone user right now - new rules package makes it very difficult to fly.
 
#25 ·
The 500 m rule is not an issue for me as far as the trapping goes. Most farm field have some sort of road system. It's walking the fence lines that is the time consuming.
Painting the drone the right color orange should help . I have a pair of hunting coverall .. Guarantee to be seen at 10 km on the tag.
 
#26 ·
Was flying between 75 and 100 ft in the video posted.

Not real easy to see things on the ground even at a low altitude.
So double or triple that altitude it will be virtually impossible to see things like fence breaks animal trails , traps etc and flying below that will be virtually Impossible due to the possibility of flying over animals.

Not much to a drone to paint orange CC. A person in orange coveralls may be visible at 10KMs but even an orange drone may not be visible at 500m. Light conditions would play a big part.
 
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