{"id":94,"date":"2014-01-27T22:50:30","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T22:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wildow.com\/wp\/?p=94"},"modified":"2014-01-27T22:50:30","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T22:50:30","slug":"drones-need-to-stop-harassing-hunters-says-alabama-lawmaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/wp\/?p=94","title":{"rendered":"Drones Need to Stop Harassing Hunters, Says Alabama Lawmaker"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Drones Need to Stop Harassing Hunters, Says Alabama Lawmaker<\/h1>\n
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By\u00a0Derek Mead<\/a><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

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Photo:\u00a0Ville Hyv\u00f6nen\/Flickr<\/a><\/h5>\n

We’ve all heard about\u00a0the rise of eco drones<\/a>, but this is something else: In Alabama, the use of drones to harass hunters has apparently become such a problem that a state senator has drafted legislation to explicitly bar such activities.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Roger Bedford, a Democrat, wrote the bill despite harassment of hunters already being illegal in Alabama. As he explains in a\u00a0a draft of bill SB 240<\/a>, “Existing law prohibits a person from\u00a0willfully and knowingly preventing, obstructing,\u00a0impeding, disturbing, or interfering with another\u00a0person who is legally hunting or fishing.\u00a0This bill would specifically include the use\u00a0of drones to harass a person who is hunting or\u00a0fishing within this prohibition.”<\/p>\n

Why is such explicit language necessary? “It\u2019s apparently a growing problem,\u201d Bedford\u00a0told theTimes-Daily<\/em><\/a>\u00a0last week. \u201cAs a lifelong hunter and fisherman, I think if someone is out in the woods or on the water, they have a right to be there without being harassed.”<\/p>\n

It’s a sentiment that any hunter could agree with (“As a hunter I certainly don\u2019t want a drone flying overhead,” wrote Eric Mason on\u00a0ALDucks.com<\/a>), as could just about anyone spending time outside. Who wants to go for a walk while a drone buzzes overhead?<\/p>\n

PETA’s pestering drones at work<\/h5>\n

But it’s hunters, not walkers, that have been the target of drone pestering. Earlier this year, Illinoisalso banned the use of drones to harass hunters<\/a>\u00a0in response to a PETA drone initiativeannounced last April<\/a>. The initiative, which used\u00a0drones\u00a0PETA refers to as Air Angels<\/a>, was aimed at “patrolling the skies [last] fall, capturing footage of hunters engaging in cruel and\/or illegal activities.”<\/p>\n

Naturally, the plan caught the ire of hunters who’d rather not have drones zipping around and scaring off game. And while Illinois and Alabama legislators are fighting back with their pens, somesites like Ammoland<\/a>\u00a0have advocated a more direct approach, writing, “Sounds to me like this will create a whole new shooting sport. ‘PETA Drone Target Shooting.'”\u00a0Noted drone shooting advocate<\/a>\u00a0Philip Steel is surely on board.<\/p>\n

Oddly enough, it’s not the only controversy between drones and hunters floating around. Drones are being been used\u00a0by<\/em>\u00a0hunters in the search for game, which has received pushback\u00a0from wildlife experts and some hunting advocates<\/a>, who feel drones\u00a0<\/a>take the skill out of the sport.<\/p>\n

As Paul Smith, the Milwaukee\u00a0Journal Sentinel<\/em>‘s outdoors editor,\u00a0argues in an op-ed<\/a>, the use of drones poses a “special threat to outdoors ethics.” Of particular interest to the proposed drone ban in Alabama:\u00a0Smith also notes that the use of drones to hunt or harass hunters\u00a0are both\u00a0illegal in Wisconsin, but that hasn’t stopped people from doing so.<\/p>\n

@derektmead<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drones Need to Stop Harassing Hunters, Says Alabama Lawmaker By\u00a0Derek Mead Photo:\u00a0Ville Hyv\u00f6nen\/Flickr We’ve all heard about\u00a0the rise of eco drones, but this is something else: In Alabama, the use of drones to harass hunters has apparently become such a problem that a state senator has drafted legislation to explicitly bar such activities. State Sen. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions\/95"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}