PETA vs. Hunters (and the rest of us too)…

Let the drone wars begin…

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has launched a project to use hobby-class drone planes to monitor hunters and capture any “illegal or cruel hunting practices,” the organization said Tuesday.

/snip/

So does all of this jibe with regulations around flying radio-controlled planes in public spaces and using surveillance equipment to snoop on people? The Air Angles project and its tactics are above board and in compliance with the law, PETA said.

“The drones PETA is selling will be flown recreationally (to protect animals), so no license is needed. Commercial use of this technology involves restrictions,” a PETA spokesperson told PCMag.

Full article HERE in PC Mag.

And to counter them… Drone Shield…

DroneShield is a low-cost, easy-to-use device that detects the presence of nearby drones (including RC helicopters, quadrotors, etc) and issues alerts via email, sms, and a flashing light. The goal is to help preserve privacy from low-cost remote-control air vehicles with video cameras.

The DroneShield device only listens for consumer-model aircraft like the hobby-class Air Angels drones PETA is now selling on its website to encourage surveillance of hunters. The device doesn’t scan for the type of aircraft used by law enforcement and it is a passive system-it detects drones but does “not interfere, jam, or damage the drone in any way,” the company said. 

Website HERE.  And they are crowd funding via Indiegogo HERE.

Frankly, I’m worried somebody is going to get shot trying to get these short range UAVs into hunting areas, because they are basically line of sight controlled (500-600 feet), and that will put the user IN the field with both the hunters and the prey; and when that happens it will blow the lid off…

And they only last maybe 10 minutes, so you can bet there will be a lot of claims about hunters shooting them down/destroying them…

Commentary from the Guns website HERE that disagrees with the legality…

This is NOT going to end well, IMHO…

Comments

PETA vs. Hunters (and the rest of us too)… — 17 Comments

  1. If you are hunting on public land, I doubt much could be done against the operators of a drone. On private land however, if a drone flys over your property you can have the operator arrested. At least that is what 3 different LEO’s I know have said. The state trooper who is also going through law school said that property owners have “Air Rights” upto 200 feet. If a drone flys over your property under that, the operator can be arrested for trespass, not to mention for harassment. If the drone has a camera on it there are also snooping and other charges that can be filed. The guy from the sheriffs office told me he would just LOVE to get some the PETA people down around here. Something about showing them area where deer and feral hogs have destroyed waterbird habitats. He showed me some pics, it wasn’t pretty.

  2. Hmmm… So, if I’m on private land could it be open season on drones less than 200 ft AGL?? Just asking? Because, I need practice for upland game birds.

  3. Just remember to lead the target . . .

    Honestly, a little combat drone might be fun. A little dogfight might be more fun that hunting! 🙂

  4. Mark- Understood, and that is the REAL situation, not the rose colored PETA interpretation…

    LL/Rev- LOL, my problem is, unless it holds still, I can’t hit it…

    Jim- Possibility 🙂

    Bill- Lead, lag, whatever… 😀

  5. When told about laws that forbid harassing hunters, they said they don’t care. That’s fine. If they harass me, they could learn a lesson in the 3 S’s.

  6. If I see one, I’m bagging it. However Bill’s got a neat idea–a drone of my own with a servo-fired .22lr rifle action mounted to it (and a camera boresighted to it for aiming purposes) would make for some great aerial enjoyment.

  7. “The shovel? Why that’s to bury the gut pile.”
    “Honest!”