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Drone-Assisted Hunting To Be Illegal In Alaska

garymortimer (1882326) writes in with news about rules for hunting with drones in Alaska. "At its March 14-18 meeting in Anchorage, the seven-member Alaska Board of Game approved a measure to prohibit hunters from spotting game with such aircraft, often called drones. While the practice does not appear to be widespread, Alaska Wildlife Troopers said the technology is becoming cheaper, easier to use and incorporates better video relay to the user on the ground. A drone system allowing a hunter or helper to locate game now costs only about $1,000, said Capt. Bernard Chastain, operations commander for the Wildlife Troopers. Because of advances in the technology and cheaper prices, it is inevitable hunters seeking an advantage would, for example, try to use a drone to fly above trees or other obstacles and look for a moose or bear to shoot, he said."

12 of 397 comments (clear)

  1. Redefine hunting. by Ranbot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because at some point you can't call this "hunting" anymore. Good for Alaska.

    1. Re:Redefine hunting. by Ranbot · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or did you assume there was a gun on it?

      Nope, I read the article just fine and didn't assume anything. We don't let hunters use automatic rifles. Many states out-law "spot-lighting" of deer for good reason. We don't let fisherman use electro-shock or dynamite to catch fish. There are reasons to limit technology in hunting for the purpose of sport and to give the animals a chance.

    2. Re:Redefine hunting. by TheCarp · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually, I think there are a few legitimate questions here.

      Aside from being done to control populations, it is also done as an activity people enjoy. So there is reason to not make it as efficient as possible. In fact, the worst case scenario for most hunters would be that it become so efficient that the people with the nicest toys end the season before they have a chance to do any hunting.

      Hunters already have plenty of advantage over their prey.

      I mean I generally agree when it comes to straight up problem solving but, when entertainment and sport is part of the process efficient technology is sometimes counterproductive to other goals.

      I could download a bot to play video games for me too. Perhaps it could more efficiently gaurd the bomb in counter strike than I could, thus solving that problem, and leaving me to go do other things.

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    3. Re: Redefine hunting. by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Bow hunting is for unethical assholes. Humane hunters and those that respect wildlife use firearms.

      No matter how good of a bow hunter you are or how good your aim is, simple fact is that an arrow travels at a third the speed of sound, meaning game can both see and hear your shot long before the arrow arrives. Every bow hunting season, forums are slammed by bow hunters that take a heart shot, the buck digs off at first sound, and the arrow ends up in its gut because it had time to travel the foot and a half or so to turn a good shot into an ethical hunter's worst nightmare.

      Rifles do not have that problem. Bullet arrives too soon after first flash for game to react ( usually traveling 10x faster than an arrow ).

      Anyways, as for drones, I don't mind so much that it allows hunters to find game, as infrared does a similar job. The problem I have is that it allows a hunter to know about game that is far away or hidden, encouraging long-distance shots (as soon as distanced game becomes visible), and thereby decreasing the chance of a clean kill.

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    4. Re: Redefine hunting. by Ardyvee · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Five, ten minutes seems like an eternity for me, one who does not hunt.

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      I don't care if I'm wrong. I only care about everyone obtaining something from the discussion.
  2. Sadistic by sjbe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just because you call it game doesn't make it a sport. I really do not understand the appeal of killing animals for fun. To get a meal? Sure. To deal with a pest? Makes sense. To protect yourself? No problem even though it rarely happens. For environmental stewardship? Great. But just for fun? With high powered rifles and drones? That makes that person a sadistic asshole. We're already WAY too good at killing things. If you are out to kill things for "fun" then make it a level playing field and do it with nothing more than a knife.

    Someone who would use a drone to hunt is like someone who plays a game with "god mode" enabled. They're completely missing the point. The point isn't to kill the animal at any cost. Someone who can afford a drone isn't doing it for their next meal. They're just killing to get their rocks off. Pity we aren't more evolved than that.

  3. Re:Fine! by Jmc23 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ah, you sound like one of those civilized types that prefers his animals to live shitty lives with no freedoms and then nicely packaged up for others to feast on. Strangely, exactly the same way a civilized person lives and dies.

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  4. Re:Fair is fair by rossdee · · Score: 5, Funny

    Citizens should have the right to arm bears

  5. Re:Whats the poing of hunting as a sport? by pushing-robot · · Score: 4, Funny

    How is shooting something from hundreds of feet away with a high powered rifle any kind of sport?

    That's because by the original rules the deer got the rifles every alternate week. Ever since we changed things around I've boycotted the sport.

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    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
  6. Re:Red herring arguments by jythie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Actually, you might be surprised how much of the US population still hunts for food. Granted these are generally poor rural people and thus are poorly represented on the internet and media so they are somewhat invisible, but there is a significant number of them spread around the country and they hunt more frequently then the recreational crowd.

  7. Re:Bans Drones not Guns. by DarkOx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    its also because hunting is supposed to be a 'sport'. Hunters constantly are getting access to better and better technology, the Moose, and deer not so much. They playing field is already plenty slanted.

    Over hunting can ruin things for everyone, even non hunters. There is a legitimate social interest in NOT allowing hunters to become more effective.

    In some ways hunting on public game lands is like an MMO. Some people might like to use cheat codes, to avoid the grind of tracking and stalking or sitting and waiting, potentially spending all weekend and coming home without a prize, etc. If you let some people do this though it would ruin the 'game' for everyone.

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  8. I lived in Alaska for 5 years... by AntiTuX · · Score: 5, Informative

    From what I recall from the hunting laws, you had to have a 72-hour "cooling down" period after using a helicopter or aircraft to spot animals.

    Honestly, we (my father and I) were more interested in terrain issues than we were the animals. You want to try to find the path of least resistance, and also making sure that we could actually cross specific rivers, and at what points they were broken open during the winter time. At some places the snow would be so deep that if you stepped wrong, you would be up to your neck almost instantly. That doesn't even count making sure that you weren't in a hunting route for a grizzly bear, which makes things even more difficult. Having something that is the size of a VW beetle running at you full-bore at around 40 MPH is not something I want to ever repeat. It was hard living. It was more a survival thing for us.

    Every winter, there was a herd of about 400,000 caribou that would come within about 50 miles of town. Honestly, getting to the animals was the hard part. Getting one was as easy as taking a 200 yard shot with a high-powered rifle.

    Keep in mind that where I lived, we were 500 miles away from any major city, and the only way in and out was by aircraft. We actually lived off of what we killed and made use of it. We weren't out there looking for the big racks. We were doing it for survival, and we also followed the rules.