Flying near wildlife

[CAG]

Because I have been observing, photographing, hunting & caring for animals for about 65 years. You animal rights folks have no idea... ?

Sorry dude, I am a hunter and not an animal rights activist and on top of that have a major in wildlife management. Your barking up the wrong tree. I see you live in Arizona, as do I. I suggest you give the Flagstaff G&F Office a call and ask for the game manager for your area. See what he/she suggests as a distance for videoing. (Removed by moderator).

 

[AMann]

Because I have been observing, photographing, hunting & caring for animals for about 65 years. You animal rights folks have no idea... ?

Sorry, I’m an animal activist of sorts also and do understand.... I actually worked as a wildlife biologist and environmental monitor responsible for preventing wildlife issues on state and federal highway projects, and have had to testify as an expert witness for wildlife and environmental law related crimes when I worked as a NP ranger, but that was my former career for about 35 years, now I am a science and technology teacher and am really enjoying bringing my hobbies in to class to show students how math and physics can be fun and applies to the real world, as well as helping them gain respect for it and for themselves.

 

[CAG]

Photographing from afar with a lens is different than putting an aircraft overhead. Overhead aircraft are noisy and intrusive. Most animals fear and look for dangers from above. With larger game this is not so much of an issue but with small animals, ie prey animals it is. To put a drone, above animals makes them fearful. It causes them to move to a preservation mode. That may mean flight. Many times that is blind flight. Through fences and into other dangers that they would normally avoid.

My point here is that we do not know what fear we put the animal in. To say that they are in fear because they are preyed upon anyway is an ignorant and self serving view. It is an attempt to justify the use of a drone or other aircraft to further our cause. If our actions are causing the animal to look our direction we have changed it's normal "fear" setting and are being intrusive. I find the, "it's ok because it is just an animal" to be ignorant of the world in general. All beings have feelings and fears. And again I have been a hunter for 60 years. I hunt ethically but I also consider that animals have fears and are not just acting on instinct.

A great photo never justifies an unethical process to obtain it.

 

[AnzacJack]

I have been using my mavic 2 zoom to harass the pigeons eating all of the cherries off of the trees. It works pretty good. Bird abatement might be a niche part of the UAS industry that hasn’t been fully explored yet.

Being done here in Australia at some sites

 

[kensteele]

see, sometimes people are passionate about their beliefs; it's not just me. even if i completely disagree, to each his own.

 

[remotepilot]

Some YouTube videos show folks flying their birds into wasp nests. Quite entertaining! I'd love to see your bird getting rid of those cherry eating birds!

 

[Drgnfli]

I suggest you give the Flagstaff G&F Office a call and ask for the game manager for your area. See what he/she suggests as a distance for videoing.

I have called the G&F office a couple times to report a small herd of feral hogs. (no they were not javelina) I was thinking they might want to keep track of how they are multiplying in AZ like they are on the East coast. but the person @ G&F stated they don't care about wild hogs as they are not an "official" AZ game animal. That person on the phone was adamant about not knowing about them at all. I find that not very smart about an upcoming threat to our beautiful state. So, in turn I don't think much of the F&G's thoughts on videoing animals from the air... IMHO!...

 

[dronerdave]

Even dogs or cats are usually freaked out the first few times they see my MP launch and hover but usually get used to it. Still some domestic animals never do. I'd suspect that true with wild animals. At a friends house there are several 150' trees on his property. I like to shoot pics of sunset from his place. He does have a set of hawks nesting full time in one of his trees. The first time I took off one of the hawks was on me fairly quickly. Never attacked but was curious what it was seeing. After flying several times from that spot those hawks now ignore my MP. Same with my Harley... at first the they would bolt out of the nest as I pulled up. After a fashion they got used to my loud bike. So some animals do adapt at times. But if I was to (and I wouldn't) chase those birds around with my MP or go peeking in their nest, my buddies wife isn't afraid of my Mavic and would be after me with a whip. At least with some nesting birds on the ground, if I'm up about 60' it doesn't seem to matter much and they don't seem to notice my quad. If I see the animal fleeing, I go up higher until they can't tell if my quad is nearby.

 

[kensteele]

if the animals don't like the hustle and bustle of city life they should move out in the country for some peace and quiet! ?

 

[MEFfly]

MPP

I've tried shooting deer herds... they are much too alert and take off when you are far out of range for a good photo.

However, I was able to stealthily sneak up on a white heron in a tree in a local swamp recently, and got some reasonable good shots... and at full RAW resolution, this could easily be cropped while maintaining good details of the heron

 

[CAG]

I have called the G&F office a couple times to report a small herd of feral hogs.

Let me know where they are and I can assure you if they are in an area that they can be hunted I know people who will take care of them in short order. G&F (and it is G&F not F&G) will let hunters know about them but they are not a managed animal so the person you talked with is correct. It is not their worry per se. If they are on private property or within the city limits there may be even less than can be done but send me a PM with the info and I will pass it on. Sorry I keep adding to this but I habit several hunting blogs with many, many Arizona hunters, guides etc, several living in the Prescott area, and I have never heard of the hogs either.

I have 48 years in this state and have never, and I repeat never had a bad experience with the people at G&F. And I worked very closely with many people their for many of those years. But again, feral hogs are not managed animals and they have enough worries. But I am not sure how reporting hogs and videoing from the air are related as to doing their job.

And for all of the people who moved to Prescott and still cannot pronounce the city name correctly it is Press-Kit not Press Scott.

 

[CAG]

if the animals don't like the hustle and bustle of city life they should move out in the country for some peace and quiet! ?

That sounds like some of our urban dwellers here in Phoenix. They call the PD for coyotes walking down the street, javelina in the parks and bobcats sitting on their fence. This is the desert you know. They were here first.

 

[CAG]

Let me know where they are and I can assure you if they are in an area that they can be hunted I know people who will take care of them in short order.

Just for info. I am still waiting for the information as to where the "feral pigs" are in the Prescott area. In talking with a number of hunters/guides from that area no one knows of feral hogs in the area. That kind of information moves through the hunting community pretty quickly and everyone I know is saying BS to this one. There is one small herd in the Arizona Strip area that G&F has noted on information for that game management unit (13) saying that there is no restriction on them, you don't need a license to harvest them and take as many as you can find so I would hesitate to say that G&F in Arizona does not care about them. They even give some specific info on where they are located.

 

[Thomas B]

Just for info. I am still waiting for the information as to where the "feral pigs" are in the Prescott area. In talking with a number of hunters/guides from that area no one knows of feral hogs in the area. That kind of information moves through the hunting community pretty quickly and everyone I know is saying BS to this one. There is one small herd in the Arizona Strip area that G&F has noted on information for that game management unit (13) saying that there is no restriction on them, you don't need a license to harvest them and take as many as you can find so I would hesitate to say that G&F in Arizona does not care about them. They even give some specific info on where they are located.

Take the Long Lake road to the west off of State Highway 87 north of Strawberry, just before you get to the open plains. There’s a large herd of feral pigs here. Be careful, they will eat you!

 

[CAG]

I will check with a buddy who lives in Payson and is a guide. No where near Prescott and I have never heard of those either.

 

[CAG]

Take the Long Lake road to the west off of State Highway 87 north of Strawberry, just before you get to the open plains.

Chavez Pass? Word I get back from those that lion, and elk hunt that area, is no feral hogs. Javelina maybe. Pigs don't do well in Arizona. Not the water like Oklahoma and Texas. If you have coordinates I am sure there is someone who will go look.

 

[Rnl]

 

[Rnl]

Wish the quality was better, so neat to watch didn't care about drone at all.

 

[Rnl]

. Here is another, I don't chase and if I see they're spooked I back off. They just keep eating.

 

[Thomas B]

Wonder what they were running from? They should have been calmly grazing. Personally, haven’t seen deer or elk in AZ or Canada “playing chase”.