Scouting From the Bar?
Colorado
This evening, I was in the grocery store and happened to pluck a Bowhunter Magazine off the rack. Flipping through it, I noticed a trail camera advertisement depicting three guys essentially "scouting from the bar" as their big buck photos were being wirelessly sent to them. Is anyone else disturbed by this? Well, apparently Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Montana are, and have taken measures to ban the use of trail cameras (some only wireless versions) in their state. Should Colorado be next?
Since it would be a reach for the guy with the camera to get from the bar to the tree while the buck is still standing there, I look at it as more entertainment than "scouting". We have enough nonhunting bureaucrats deciding our hunting rules (See: Parks and Wildlife Commission, Colorado).
In a state like CO, trail cams aren't a problem. Nuisance, maybe, when multiple cams are on a waterhole, but no more of a nuisance than those same two guys coming to check it for tracks every couple days if cams were outlawed.
Wireless are illegal already in Colorado during hunting.
It is not without dilemma. On my private land, I get trespassing. Wireless cams would alert me to that while they are there. If I put them up to catch trespassers, and I happen to get sent a pic of a giant bull or buck during season, is that then illegal?
The hearts of men is the issue, not the electronics. If we could fix that, we wouldn't need regulations.
"Wireless are illegal already in Colorado during hunting."
No - Not really. See page 15 of the Regs
IT IS ALSO AGAINST THE LAW TO: Use live-action game cameras to locate, surveil, or aid/assist in locating/surveiling game wildlife in order to take/try to take wildlife during the same or following day. "Live-action game camera" is any device capable of recording and transmitting photographic/video data wirelessly to a remote device (such as a computer or smart phone). This doesn't include game cameras that record photographic/video data and store such data for later use, as long as the device cannot transmit data wirelessly.
Yep, "during the same or following day" , If I was King For The Day, I would add and "s" to following day, ie, days. How in the hell can this been enforced as currently stated?
I am on the fence on them. I was at my brothers in OK hunting in November he was sending me pictures of deer I was looking that were being sent to his phone as they were taking. Obviously it was not helping me any as I was sitting 20 yards from camera. I do think you could be hunting one part of a property and potentially move to another part of same property and kill a deer you knew was there you just got a picture of and kill it especially with a rifle. I like trail cameras but the cellular one are going a little far IMO.
I don’t want to open Pandora’s box but I am of the opinion, the high tech cell phones of today are sometimes used in ways that might push the limits of fair chase if you really boil it down. If there are ways to cheat then humans will soon find them.
Working on that but so far my phone is unable to come to full draw!
