To start this conversation off, the wording on the proposals is ONLY limiting their use on big game ungulates, so use on wolves is still legal and any cell cameras used for security reasons or non hunting/pursuing of big game ungulates is still legal. I personally supported all of the proposals and I will explain why. The wording could be better and much of this is very hard to enforce, but in my opinion if we don’t place some restrictions on technology, the herd quality will be affected. Crack cocaine should still be illegal even tho it’s hard to enforce inside a home, right?! I’m in no way wanting to argue my side is the best, I simply want to give some examples of what I’ve seen and some concerns I have.
Thermals in my experience remove more of the animals natural camouflage than anything else. It doesn’t matter if an animal beds in similar colored terrain or mostly hidden by brush, trees or grass. If even a small part of their body has an unobstructed view, then a thermal can pick that up as a heat signature, even if it’s nearly invisible to the eye. A friend of mine said he saw 6 elk that took 15 seconds to find with his thermal that took him 45 minutes to find just one of them in his binos and spotter due to being bedded in the shade and brush. Another buddy of mine killed a bull last year at 50 yards in the timber, after harvesting the bull two hunters came over and said they were set up on that bull an hour before light across the canyon watching him in their thermal. I ran into two guys in a side by side last year as I was glassing a hillside. They joked that they don’t even need to stop to find a heat signature. The passenger had a thermal while the other guy drove him around until they got a heat signature. They spotted a doe bedded on the hillside I was watching that I never saw had they not pointed it out and likely never would have seen unless it got up. Can that animal use their camouflage to hide anymore? Only if completely out of view.
I love trail cameras and cell cameras, but at what point do cell cams become unfair to the animal? Is having a live feed into the woods really fair on ungulates during rifle season? Especially if satellite becomes available (which it will very soon) you could have a cell camera on every main trail on a hillside and sit in camp until an animal walks by, then go shoot it. How does that animal use their sense of sight, smell, or sound to stay alive?
I realize adding another tool to one’s arsenal increases your chances of getting an animal, but at what point do we as sportsmen agree that this technology really has the opportunity to hurt our ungulate populations. I have extensive experience with thermals and cell cameras. I’ve used them over wolf traps and caught many wolves that way. I’m not opposed to cell cams or thermals, I’m just opposed to using them during a rifle season for ungulates.
Here’s the link to comment on the proposals.
forms.office.com
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thermals in my experience remove more of the animals natural camouflage than anything else. It doesn’t matter if an animal beds in similar colored terrain or mostly hidden by brush, trees or grass. If even a small part of their body has an unobstructed view, then a thermal can pick that up as a heat signature, even if it’s nearly invisible to the eye. A friend of mine said he saw 6 elk that took 15 seconds to find with his thermal that took him 45 minutes to find just one of them in his binos and spotter due to being bedded in the shade and brush. Another buddy of mine killed a bull last year at 50 yards in the timber, after harvesting the bull two hunters came over and said they were set up on that bull an hour before light across the canyon watching him in their thermal. I ran into two guys in a side by side last year as I was glassing a hillside. They joked that they don’t even need to stop to find a heat signature. The passenger had a thermal while the other guy drove him around until they got a heat signature. They spotted a doe bedded on the hillside I was watching that I never saw had they not pointed it out and likely never would have seen unless it got up. Can that animal use their camouflage to hide anymore? Only if completely out of view.
I love trail cameras and cell cameras, but at what point do cell cams become unfair to the animal? Is having a live feed into the woods really fair on ungulates during rifle season? Especially if satellite becomes available (which it will very soon) you could have a cell camera on every main trail on a hillside and sit in camp until an animal walks by, then go shoot it. How does that animal use their sense of sight, smell, or sound to stay alive?
I realize adding another tool to one’s arsenal increases your chances of getting an animal, but at what point do we as sportsmen agree that this technology really has the opportunity to hurt our ungulate populations. I have extensive experience with thermals and cell cameras. I’ve used them over wolf traps and caught many wolves that way. I’m not opposed to cell cams or thermals, I’m just opposed to using them during a rifle season for ungulates.
Here’s the link to comment on the proposals.
Microsoft Forms
forms.office.com
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
