British Columbia Man fined for hunting with drone.

[Hyperion]

Please read the updated article
The old article was proven to be misinformation

Man fined for flying drone while on hunting trip

A Fort St. James man has been fined $1,000 for flying a drone while out on a hunting expedition. Paul James Hesse was issued the penalty on November 9 in Fort St. James Provincial Court.

www.princegeorgecitizen.com

 

[teeroy]

Please read the updated article
The old article was proven to be misinformation

Man fined for flying drone while on hunting trip

A Fort St. James man has been fined $1,000 for flying a drone while out on a hunting expedition. Paul James Hesse was issued the penalty on November 9 in Fort St. James Provincial Court.

www.princegeorgecitizen.com

Your side of the story didn't work out for your defense it seems. The ban would be tough enough, but losing your drone must have sucked.

 

[Corsair415]

Please read the updated article
The old article was proven to be misinformation

Man fined for flying drone while on hunting trip

A Fort St. James man has been fined $1,000 for flying a drone while out on a hunting expedition. Paul James Hesse was issued the penalty on November 9 in Fort St. James Provincial Court.

www.princegeorgecitizen.com

If he’s telling the truth then that sucks for him. Chances are that he’s not.

 

[teeroy]

If he’s telling the truth then that sucks for him. Chances are that he’s not.

Hyperion is the fella in the news article. He posted his instagram account here...same name. I'll give him the benefit of a doubt.

Instagram Links-- ADMIN EDIT: All Instagram here & only here.

Ante Rapić (@ante_rapic) • Instagram photos and videos

mavicpilots.com

 

[Hyperion]

If he’s telling the truth then that sucks for him. Chances are that he’s not.

I'm Paul James Hesse
I flew the drone on the hunting expedition
I was in the courtroom on that day and I still have the paper work from the case
Ladies and gentlemen, this is why you make sure you know and follow all the laws. It was an honest mistake by a young novice pilot with brand new laws 2 years ago. Ignorance is not a defence as we all know. I told the judge: "I will do everything that I can to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else" So here I am.
Facts: there was no evidence on the drone supporting the "hunting with a drone" theory. I plead guilty to operation of a drone during a hunting expedition.My original Mavic Pro was forfeited to Crown, I asked crown to give it to my local high school's drone class. COVID permitting, I will be going into the school to do presentations on drone laws and legalities to promote responsible drone usage. This is self imposed community service. The conservation service (Keenan-Toop) took 363 days to file a charge against me.
I care about my community, I care about this hobby and I care about hunting as my family's been hunting for generations.
I make a mistake.
I own up to it.

 

[Flightpro]

So it seems as if he has a year to commit to a full winter scout, using his drone, wireless trail cameras and any other robotics type equipment, before he devises a better strategy on summer food plots (if food plots are legal in BC) and/or stand placement. To me, it seems like they could have categorized his drone outside of the wireless camera law, since a drone is an unmanned areal vehicle, which has to be flown. Therefore making it an extension of ones person, expanding eyesight limitations. Wireless trail cameras don’t have to be tended, where a drone does. Even autonomous flight is not like automatic movement notifications. It’s not like he had a drone with a gimbal mounted AK47. He still has to use skills and techniques outside the realm of electronics to gainfully overpower the deer.

 

[teeroy]

I'm Paul James Hesse
I flew the drone on the hunting expedition
I was in the courtroom on that day and I still have the paper work from the case
Ladies and gentlemen, this is why you make sure you know and follow all the laws. It was an honest mistake by a young novice pilot with brand new laws 2 years ago. Ignorance is not a defence as we all know. I told the judge: "I will do everything that I can to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else" So here I am.
Facts: there was no evidence on the drone supporting the "hunting with a drone" theory. I plead guilty to operation of a drone during a hunting expedition.My original Mavic Pro was forfeited to Crown, I asked crown to give it to my local high school's drone class. COVID permitting, I will be going into the school to do presentations on drone laws and legalities to promote responsible drone usage. This is self imposed community service. The conservation service (Keenan-Toop) took 363 days to file a charge against me.
I care about my community, I care about this hobby and I care about hunting as my family's been hunting for generations.
I make a mistake.
I own up to it.

Any idea who dropped the dime on you, fellow First Nations individual or someone else?

 

[JMC3]

after reading it not much seems different. except the hunters defense didn't work.

 

[Hyperion]

Any idea who dropped the dime on you, fellow First Nations individual or someone else?

Yes it wasn't first Nations however, it was 2 gentlemen by the name of Bryan Lodge and David Lodge.
They have an illegal cabin on Little Marie Lake, and they don't like my dad for whatever reason.
I have both of their statements, and man, they're messy and contradictory. I could've had a good case, but I decided to own up to my mistake and plead guilty to operation and take responsibility... After all, I did have and fly the drone.
I do filmmaking and one of my big clients is the local first nations community. My latest project had me filming on traditional key'ohs (aka traplines) which included Marie and little Marie Lake and area.

I'm the young guy in the brown hat

 

[teeroy]

Yes it wasn't first Nations however, it was 2 gentlemen by the name of Bryan Lodge and David Lodge.
They have an illegal cabin on Little Marie Lake, and they don't like my dad for whatever reason.
I have both of their statements, and man, they're messy and contradictory. I could've had a good case, but I decided to own up to my mistake and plead guilty to operation and take responsibility... After all, I did have and fly the drone.
I do filmmaking and one of my big clients is the local first nations community. My latest project had me filming on traditional key'ohs (aka traplines) which included Marie and little Marie Lake and area.
View attachment 118463
I'm the young guy in the brown hat

It must be an odd situation for you, even flying for non hunting purposes on your traditional grounds...can they possibly try and charge you anytime since you don't really have a hunting "season" being indigenous? There must be some factors to be met for them to accuse you of using the drone for that purpose. I admire you for stepping up and taking accountability, but I can't help but to think you sure could have made a case against your charges if you had chosen to do so. I am in full support of your taking advantage of your given rights.

 

[Corsair415]

after reading it not much seems different. except the hunters defense didn't work.

Funny how one gets to be seen as owning up to their mistakes after losing the fight against the charges. This sort of thing should have much stiffer penalties.

 

[Hyperion]

It must be an odd situation for you, even flying for non hunting purposes on your traditional grounds...can they possibly try and charge you anytime since you don't really have a hunting "season" being indigenous? There must be some factors to be met for them to accuse you of using the drone for that purpose. I admire you for stepping up and taking accountability, but I can't help but to think you sure could have made a case against your charges if you had chosen to do so. I am in full support of your taking advantage of your given rights.

Oh! I'm not indigenous, I should've cleared that up, but the rules still apply. If I'm with any indigenous people who are hunting I can't go, even if I'm filming them hunting.
I will try to get some more clarification on that and make sure I get all the proper information.
Don't want to have another "drone incident" as I called it, especially since I'm using a Mavic 2 Pro these days, and it would be a shame to lose that beauty.

Funny how one gets to be seen as owning up to their mistakes after losing the fight against the charges. This sort of thing should have much stiffer penalties.

Just so that we're clear, there wasn't any fight in court, I mean, I could've but I chose not to. And just so you know, I was ready to plead guilty right off the bat, it took 2 years and 2 months to get sentencing.
I didn't hunt at all during that time.
I try to be honest in everything I do, because there's a lot of people that aren't

 

[teeroy]

Oh! I'm not indigenous, I should've cleared that up, but the rules still apply. If I'm with any indigenous people who are hunting I can't go, even if I'm filming them hunting.
I will try to get some more clarification on that and make sure I get all the proper information. Don't want to have another "drone incident" as I called it, especially since I'm using a Mavic 2 Pro these days, and it would be a shame to lose that beauty.

Ah, well then you probably made the right decision. I apologize for the assumption on my part.

 

[Steve L Reid]

That has been the law for many years. I went moose hunting up there in 1994 and asked the rigger if we could hire him to fly us and locate moose and he laughed at us. Good law by the way.

 

[LA 2020]

Are Moose taken for food or trophy?

My brother in AK hunts 1 moose every year for food

 

[Ukung]

Man fined for flying drone while on hunting trip

A Fort St. James man has been fined $1,000 for flying a drone while out on a hunting expedition. Paul James Hesse was issued the penalty on November 9 in Fort St. James Provincial Court.

www.alaskahighwaynews.ca

A Fort St. James man has been fined $1,000 for hunting with a drone.

Paul James Hesse was issued the penalty on November 9 in Fort St. James Provincial Court. He was also prohibited from hunting for one year and assessed a $150 victim surcharge.

The outcome stems from a complaint conservation officers received on Sept. 22, 2018. The next day, officers attended a cabin on Marie Lake, southwest of Fort St. James, where they seized the drone along with a harvested bull moose. After securing a search warrant, they gathered photos and videos showing he had been using the drone to hunt.

Conservation officer Richard Keenan-Toop, who was the lead investigating officer on the file, said it was the first conviction for the offence in British Columbia.

"It was definitely a different one and definitely a learning experience for the Conservation Officer Service for sure," Keenan-Toop said. "But it's not something we see very often, thankfully, because hunting with a drone completely defeats fair chase for wildlife."

As part of the prohibition against hunting for a year, Hesse is also prohibited from accompanying other hunters and the drone was forfeited to the Crown.

What Crown, I din't think Canada was a kingdom !

 

[Ukung]

Wireless trail cameras cannot be used during hunting season in BC.

Fair Chase ?? We do what we do, to dress it in fancy language does not change the fact. I do also hunting, but to shoot a deer from 200 - 300 meters has nothing to do with fair chase.

 

[gemniii]

Darn, guess I'll give up trying to mount my Mossberg 535 under my Mavic mini.

 

[simsurf]

What Crown, I din't think Canada was a kingdom !

Countries like Canada and Australia are part of the Commonwealth where the Queen in technically the head of state. There is crown land or when you are prosecuted by the state they are referred to as the crown.

 

[timdlF]

because hunting with a drone completely defeats fair chase for wildlife."

So using a rifle on a Moose is fair ? I wonder what the Moose thinks? Definitely a non-hunter before you ask.