Australian law regarding damage to a Drone, Anyone know?

[Beet]

During the last 2 duck hunting seasons I have had illegal shooters enter private land and shoot ducks on farm dams. This season I will try and film them with my Mavic Mini, my question is, do I have the Law on my side if my drone is shot, Thanks.

 

[Meta4]

During the last 2 duck hunting seasons I have had illegal shooters enter private land and shoot ducks on farm dams. This season I will try and film them with my Mavic Mini, my question is, do I have the Law on my side if my drone is shot, Thanks.

There's no particular law regarding damage to a drone.
It would be dealt with as for any property damage.

Your Mini isn't going to be much use for surveillance because it has a wideangle lens and you'd need to get much too close to get any video worth the risk.
You'd be much better to use a Mavic 3 with its tele camera which has a lot more reach.
Here's a pair of shots from the main (wideangle) camera and the tele camera, shot from the same point a couple of seconds apart.

 

[DARKSeifer]

Pick the Mavic 3, the 160mm telephoto is what you want for that purpose. Stay at 120m alt, 200-300m horizontal distance from them, and they won't even notice. Try to have the sun at your back, so they won't be able to spot it, even if they happen to hear it.

With the sun at your back, the heiligenschein (the bright spot on the ground) is where the shadow of the drone is being projected, be careful to not pass the shadow over them, or they may notice.

If it's windy and the wind blows towards them, increase the distance or film from the opposite side.

With Mini 2 if you are on a silent environment, you'll have to get close, and they'll hear it, so even when if they don't shoot at it, they may stop doing the illegal thing, so you'll get no evidence.

You want to get the footage and go 100% unnoticed, so then you can pick evidence for several days. If they use a car, be sure to film the license plate too when they move away from it.

PS: This will be a long range operation, I'd recommend the Mavic 3 working on FCC mode and finding a good spot to take off at 1.5Km to 2.5Km distance. Don't fly VLOS, or maybe you are the one getting shot at. Chances that they happen to have a Karen app active are negligible, and in any case, the M3 can fly 1Km in just 50 secs.

 

[Beet]

Ok

There's no particular law regarding damage to a drone.
It would be dealt with as for any property damage.

Your Mini isn't going to be much use for surveillance because it has a wideangle lens and you'd need to get much too close to get any video worth the risk.
You'd be much better to use a Mavic 3 with its tele camera which has a lot more reach.
Here's a pair of shots from the main (wideangle) camera and the tele camera, shot from the same point a couple of seconds apart.

Ok, thanks Meta4, yes, it looks like I need an upgrade.

 

[Beet]

Pick the Mavic 3, the 160mm telephoto is what you want for that purpose. Stay at 120m alt, 200-300m horizontal distance from them, and they won't even notice. Try to have the sun at your back, so they won't be able to spot it, even if they happen to hear it.

With the sun at your back, the heiligenschein (the bright spot on the ground) is where the shadow of the drone is being projected, be careful to not pass the shadow over them, or they may notice.

If it's windy and the wind blows towards them, increase the distance or film from the opposite side.

With Mini 2 if you are on a silent environment, you'll have to get close, and they'll hear it, so even when if they don't shoot at it, they may stop doing the illegal thing, so you'll get no evidence.

You want to get the footage and go 100% unnoticed, so then you can pick evidence for several days. If they use a car, be sure to film the license plate too.

Thanks DarkSeifer, good advice, sadly I am stuck with the Mini for the near future, will see how it goes. Hopefully they wont turn up this year.

 

[DARKSeifer]

Thanks DarkSeifer, good advice, sadly I am stuck with the Mini for the near future, will see how it goes. Hopefully they wont turn up this year.

Then still keep the distances, and even if they are just two black spots on the footage you can get close to the car to film the license plate when they move away from it, so that still identifies them.

 

[Beet]

Then still keep the distances, and even if they are just two black spots on the footage you can get close to the car to film the license plate when they move away from it, so that still identifies them.

Yes, getting the plate numbers as they leave is probably the safe way to go.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

If you budget is tight perhaps you might also consider a Mavic 2 Zoom.

 

[Meta4]

If you budget is tight perhaps you might also consider a Mavic 2 Zoom.

For the OP's requirements, the Mavic 2 zoom isn't comparable to the tele camera of the Mavic 3.
It's camera has an optical zoom lens, but it it's not a telephoto.
The M2 zoom lens goes from 24mm to 48mm (35mm equivalent focal lengths.

The Mavic 3 tele camera has a medium telephoto lens with an equiv focal length of 162mm.

 

[PHZ]

Or, just alert the authorities charged with enforcing the game laws about this illegal activity. Save your drone and your hide.

 

[Beet]

Or, just alert the authorities charged with enforcing the game laws about this illegal activity. Save your drone and your hide.

Yes, I have done so in the past, the nearest police are about 40 min drive away, it's about 20 min drive to the state border, the police rarely catch the offenders.

 

[ftcros]

You need documentation to prosecute the trespassers. Try a game cam near where they pass in/out and drone shots to document their activity. If they're duck hunting the typical range for a birdshot is 40 yds and 75 for buckshot. You won't get the detail you want and manage to stay out of range with a drone (and live to tell about it). If you get close get photos of their vehicles. If you hover close they won't shoot at you for fear of hiting their own cars - at least I don't think they will!

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Try a game cam near where they pass in/out and drone shots to document their activity.

Agreed !!
Those trail cams are used a lot for various purposes, and these sort of illegal activities is one for sure.

They are reasonably priced considering they are a long term piece of gear.
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