Five years ago, drone videos were few and far between, so when Tim Brass saw one from Norway scouting a moose, he wanted to get ahead.
“People saw it and they saw the potential for drones being used for hunting and scouting, and so we jumped on it right away,” said Brass, the state policy director for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.
For Brass, jumping meant campaigning for laws against hunting with drones. As a hunter, he saw how drones could violate the fair chase ethics.
"We wanted to draw a line in the sand before these technologies became widespread,” he said, adding that it was Colorado hunters who came to their organization wanting this ban.
"It's cheating to your fellow hunter,” he said.
When BHA helped pass state regulations against hunters using drones, they weren’t mainstream, but today is a different story.
“Colorado Parks and Wildlife Law Enforcement officers are seeing more and more examples of hunters bringing their drones along on their hunts,” said Travis Duncan, a public information officer for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
If someone is caught using a drone while hunting, they could face a $70 to $125,000 fine, but even non-hunters aren’t allowed to take off or land a drone in Colorado Wildlife areas, and it’s very restricted in state parks.
So far, 17 states have passed similar hunting drone bans like the one in Colorado.
