ChatGPT virtual scouting assistance

I’m never quite sure where my “boundary for too much technology” is when it pertains to hunting.

But you’re definitely across it by a wide margin.
Interesting. I would actually not consider any use of AI web scouting to be “over the line” with fair chase, but I *do* consider a few very common things to be over the line.

Easiest example - shooting an animal from more than ~300 yards away. “Tagged him from 620 yards, double lung shot. He never knew I was there!” No shit, Rambo. They’re evolved to evade lions, not supersonic bullets fired from across the chasm.

At least with web scouting, people still have to *do the work.* You can’t shoot something sitting at your desk, and my guess is that the best spots it will recommend will be what we all already know - far away from the roads, in rough terrain. ChatGPT ain’t gonna get your ass to the top of a mountain before sunrise.
 
I’m never quite sure where my “boundary for too much technology” is when it pertains to hunting.

But you’re definitely across it by a wide margin.
Well I'm glad I've helped find your line ;-) I understand, it pushes my boundaries too. I'm sort of regretting that I posted this. I will say that I don't believe this tool will help you find deer really, but I do think it can be used for educational purposes for new/novice hunters like myself. Sort of like how a flight simulator won't teach you how to fly but it can help you learn about some of the knobs and controls of a plane.
 
Not here to weigh in on whether this is a good idea or not, but a quick PSA for anyone discussing secret spots (or anything like it) with ChatGPT. Unless you're using the premium version and have specifically opted out of data sharing, what you share with the model can be surfaced to other users.

So for example, if you told ChatGPT "here's my elk honey hole, find me others like it in this unit" - that's now part of it's memory. Now when I ask for good spots the model is likely to recommend your spot to me.
 
Interesting. I would actually not consider any use of AI web scouting to be “over the line” with fair chase, but I *do* consider a few very common things to be over the line.

Easiest example - shooting an animal from more than ~300 yards away. “Tagged him from 620 yards, double lung shot. He never knew I was there!” No shit, Rambo. They’re evolved to evade lions, not supersonic bullets fired from across the chasm.

At least with web scouting, people still have to *do the work.* You can’t shoot something sitting at your desk, and my guess is that the best spots it will recommend will be what we all already know - far away from the roads, in rough terrain. ChatGPT ain’t gonna get your ass to the top of a mountain before sunrise.
Unless you hunt with your teeth and claws I don’t think you have room to talk.

Because you would be using more technology then a lion.
 
I’m a software developer. I’m working with AI, LLM’s, and the underlying transformer architecture on a daily basis. This technology has the potential to vastly overstep the lines of ethical fair chase in a way that is only limited by our imagination.

What OP is doing is so incredibly benign in comparison to what a moderately creative developer could do with this tech. I have many ideas on how to use this tech that would simplify my hunts that I won’t make because of my own unease with the implications. I won’t even discuss other ideas so that I don’t feel responsible for seeding the idea into the hunting zeitgeist.

We need to have a serious conversation as a community as to where the ethical line with this tech is. I can’t help but think that this talk should be happening in the wildlife management agencies instead of the hunting tech industry, as the incentives of the agencies have a greater likelihood of aligning with the needs of wildlife and the North American Model.

I wonder if the recent Utah experiment with lower tech rifles should be extended and include a prohibition of anything with a microchip except for a gps sos button.

Ultimately, the problem that we face, not only as hunters, but as a species, is that we now are gods, but for the wisdom.
 
I've played around with Grok a bit to see what it was willing and able to do. Basically asked it a question like all of the folks who never set foot in their sheep unit during 10+ years of applying... It gave away more information than I would have liked, but it actually had a built in limit to how much it would narrow an area down, and explicitly stated that it would be unethical for it to give out more detailed information.
Now that we understand that AI is pulling from the web, to me it becomes all the more important to keep ANY AND ALL unit specific information off the internet. That includes sheep and OIL species. AI analysis of forums is extremely effective, and if we don't want to find out what the consequences of that are we should purge all area specific information ASAP.
 
I’m a software developer. I’m working with AI, LLM’s, and the underlying transformer architecture on a daily basis. This technology has the potential to vastly overstep the lines of ethical fair chase in a way that is only limited by our imagination.

What OP is doing is so incredibly benign in comparison to what a moderately creative developer could do with this tech. I have many ideas on how to use this tech that would simplify my hunts that I won’t make because of my own unease with the implications. I won’t even discuss other ideas so that I don’t feel responsible for seeding the idea into the hunting zeitgeist.

We need to have a serious conversation as a community as to where the ethical line with this tech is. I can’t help but think that this talk should be happening in the wildlife management agencies instead of the hunting tech industry, as the incentives of the agencies have a greater likelihood of aligning with the needs of wildlife and the North American Model.

I wonder if the recent Utah experiment with lower tech rifles should be extended and include a prohibition of anything with a microchip except for a gps sos button.

Ultimately, the problem that we face, not only as hunters, but as a species, is that we now are gods, but for the wisdom.
I think you're right that wildlife management should be taking a roll in how these tools are implemented and developed. Although I can see enforcement being an issue.

And yeah, I'm an arm chair programmer with very little formal training and I started to consider other variables and data that can be exploited. This could get way out of hand with some real skill and resources thrown at this. There are already commercial ai hunting tools available, curious/nervous to see how this evolves and what regulations can be enforced.

I do want to apologize to people about the tone of my original post. I understand the implications of tools like this and I should of been more nuanced about how I approached the topic and been very clear on how i stand with the ethics of this...or just kept my mouth shut until i had more time to think things over. Lesson learned.
 
Interesting. I would actually not consider any use of AI web scouting to be “over the line” with fair chase, but I *do* consider a few very common things to be over the line.

Easiest example - shooting an animal from more than ~300 yards away. “Tagged him from 620 yards, double lung shot. He never knew I was there!” No shit, Rambo. They’re evolved to evade lions, not supersonic bullets fired from across the chasm.

At least with web scouting, people still have to *do the work.* You can’t shoot something sitting at your desk, and my guess is that the best spots it will recommend will be what we all already know - far away from the roads, in rough terrain. ChatGPT ain’t gonna get your ass to the top of a mountain before sunrise.
Be a man and hunt with a spear then!

See where that logic takes us?
 
It’s all about the prompt you put in with any AI. If your prompt is correct you’re able to look at mapping software and pick out spots as well. Hunters still have to get there and know how to hunt.
 
Unless you hunt with your teeth and claws I don’t think you have room to talk.

Because you would be using more technology then a lion.

Be a man and hunt with a spear then!

See where that logic takes us?
I see y’all are the type that only see in black and white, everything is either fully right or fully wrong.

I suppose if you two aren’t hunting with your teeth and claws, then you believe there is and should be ZERO limits on the use of technology and machines in the aid of hunting, right? That’s why you use drones for scouting and thermal scopes to locate prey?

No?

Oh, then we both agree that there is a line *somewhere* along the technology spectrum that would overstep fair chase.

What was your point again?
 
I see y’all are the type that only see in black and white, everything is either fully right or fully wrong.

I suppose if you two aren’t hunting with your teeth and claws, then you believe there is and should be ZERO limits on the use of technology and machines in the aid of hunting, right? That’s why you use drones for scouting and thermal scopes to locate prey?

No?

Oh, then we both agree that there is a line *somewhere* along the technology spectrum that would overstep fair chase.

What was your point again?
Ever hear of something called the law?

Hunt within the law, you're g2g.

That's how biologists actually determine tag allowances/quotas, btw...with the technology and means of take that hunters are allowed to utilize.

Not some Fudd on the internet who thinks any shot past 300 yards is unethical.
 
Ever hear of something called the law?

Hunt within the law, you're g2g.

That's how biologists actually determine tag allowances/quotas, btw...with the technology and means of take that hunters are allowed to utilize.

Not some Fudd on the internet who thinks any shot past 300 yards is unethical.
The government dictates your ethics? Weak.
 
The government decides your ethics? Weak.
It's readily apparent you don't have the slightest clue how seasons and regs are set and evolve.

Fun fact: lots of public input, citizen advisory boards, commissions etc. You know... the way decisions are supposed to be made.
 
......while we are in the thought process of eliminating technology......perhaps we should eliminate all hunting seasons that fall in the rutting season to get on an even playing field.
 
I've been getting some real promising results from using ChatGPT to analyze satellite imagery to build hunt plans for the upcoming deer season. I've been able to provide gps coordinates of an area I'm interested in and it's been able to accommodate for topography, thermals and deer behavior to develop a route a deer might follow. It takes account for bedding and feeding areas, and has listed good spots for setting trail cams. I've also been able to find new spots that fit in specified variables like on public land, with an hour of my house, edge habitat and with a certain distance of a water source. This is all very academic at this point but shows some interesting potential. Thought I'd share. Here's an example path it generated from real satellite imagery, exported a gpx file that can be imported into OnX. Pretty mind blowing. The perpendicular lines show thermal paths

Curious - without having spent time in that area, how would you account for potential hallucination in this case? I don't know what sort of grounding (factuality) it might be using or how tool use might play into the generation of the response to your prompt, but my intuition would be that there isn't a lot in the foundational or post-trained models that would lend itself to much expertise with this task. But, hey, emergence.
 
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