Read thru the little trapping reg book. Not 100% sure on the legality. Short version is you may not use drones to "take" game or furbearers. Does cutting trail qualify as taking?

^^^^^
Does that mean "take" as in hunting or trapping. There are of course some furbearers that may be taken under a hunting license by hunting rather than trapping. I don't know why you couldn't check a trap with a drone. I guess some clarification would be in order here. It probably hasn't been that long since that verbiage in the regs was drafted, so it should be easy to find out what they intended when writing the regs.

From my days on the BOG, I learned that the word "take" means "anything that AST wants it to mean in any particular case!" Be careful!

Pete

Are you allowed to do aerial surveys for beaver?

I would call Alaska inland fisheries and wildlife or what ever it is called in Alaska and find out.

Your "cutting" trail.

I would say that someone would have to prove that your intent in just "flying your drone" was to aid you in "taking" wildlife. They probably could do it if you flew the drone and then cut a trail and used that but that seems a stretch. Nevertheless, I think the wording in the statute is pretty clear that the intent of the law is to prohibit drone usage for anything remotely related to "taking" wildlife. Not worth the risk IMO.

I would think it far less risky to just fire up the Citabria and go have a look. At least there is no fixed, onboard camera in that instance. We have all used the airplane to look for tracks in the snow. If that isn't illegal I don't see where using the plane to cut a trail would be either. Who hasn't done that ?? But the drone certainly might be a problem with the right or wrong member of AST


This might give some clearer ideas

https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=908

Seems to me if you weren't actively hunting or trapping, they couldn't say much about it. But I'm not your attorney, don't take my advice lol

I sent Sgt. Valentine an email a few days ago. Haven't heard back.
All my trail cutting days were before drones, google earth, OnX hunt, etc, Used topo maps. Wonder how much a drone with a camera would cost? How big are they? How easily can you carry one on a snogo?
Pete, I think you are correct!!

I don't know what they cost, I don't have one. You could definitely ride one around on a snow machine though. A guy brought one out and filmed us cutting timber on Dall Island with one a few years ago, seemed like a pretty slick setup. The guy was also really good at flying it, and I'm not much into video games, so I don't know how easy or hard that would be to learn

Just do it. I think google earth would be cheaper and easier.

Is it a law enacted by the Legislature, or a regulation created by the BOG? Find which one, get the notes/minutes, etc., from the proceedings when the law/reg was adopted and see what the intent was. It may be very clear one way or another, or murky.
Don't just rely on some LEO's interpretation.

LEO?...BOG?

The regulation on drones is from the BOG but the definition of TAKE is in statute.......i.e the legislature

This is what I do. I have tons of screenshots from mapper and I look at specific area just before going there and sketch in on the paper map for in the field. Thought about a drone but it seems like one more hassle

Law Enforcement Officer

Alaska Board of Game (regulatory authority)

Thank you Pete .If I'm going to be spending time up there I figured I better know what all these terms mean.

FYI,
(35) “take” means taking, pursuing, hunting, fishing, trapping, or in any manner disturbing, capturing, or killing or attempting to take, pursue, hunt, fish, trap, or in any manner capture or kill fish or game;

(19) “game” means any species of bird, reptile, and mammal, including a feral domestic animal, found or introduced in the state, except domestic birds and mammals; and game may be classified by regulation as big game, small game, fur bearers or other categories considered essential for carrying out the intention and purposes of AS 16.05 — AS 16.40;

Remember your cutting a trail.

Some time weeds just get down into the weeds to much. Personally, i don't think using a drone to scout where to cut a trail is a violation of the "use of drones in taking game". Though, if you want another grey area of law and regulation? Lets tackle same day airborne. If i am out hunting game, and i jump up into the air (both feet leave the ground), Have i been airborne? Can i still continue to hunt that day? Ummh.

The problem with weeds is, like Pete inferred, it's LEOs who determine what's a weed and what's a violation!

Battery life is greatly reduced in the cold and flight time is not much anyway. You can buy a good drone for $1000.00 and a couple mile range, 30 minute flight time in warm weather, less than half in cold.

I prefer flying Google Earth. Less money and better views and can fly almost anywhere in any weather!

I had good luck with buying air photo NEGATIVES of my trapline from Aeromap in Anchorage. They are taken from 5000 feet and are flown at a heading of true north.
At that scale they overlay perfectly with a 1:63000 topo sheet. I overlay mine and hold them against a window. But a guy could do the same with a light table.

It is remarkable how things have changed since the mapping was done...probably 100 years difference between the maps and air photos. Obviously, watercourses have changed the most.

It is possible, when looking at the negatives, to see individual bushes and trees. The negatives are about 10"x10" . I had to get several to cover my entire line. Much cheaper than buying a drone.
I suspect everything these days is digital but they likely still have a lot of those old negatives in storage

You guys are aware of "Alaska Mapper" aren't you?

I think it would be perfectly legal to use it to scout cutting a trail. Heck it is legal to scout for game out of an aircraft, you just can't hunt the same day. That is where I think you might run into issues, can you hunt the same day as operate a drone? Even if you aren't using it to scout for game? I bet if you had an LEO who had it in for you, and you used the drone to see where to cut a trail, then later that day shot a grouse or coyote or whatever, that he might write you a ticket for hunting the same day you operated an aircraft.

A lot of times you have to decide, not if it is legal or not, but whether it is worth the hassle of fighting it in court or not.

Here is another riddle. Regulations states: Your are prohibited from using a cell phone in the taking of game. So if i am walking down a trail and a hare hops out. Just 5 feet from me. I have no firearm or bow an arrow. Just my cell phone. So I throw my cell phone at the hare. Did i violate the regulation?

I know that at times, and on certain proposals, the BOG can spend more time, (some issues MUCH more time), hashing out language than debating proposals. Then the legal department would also spend time hashing out legalese, re-visit minutes from the meeting to dial in intent, and then run said language through the BOG members, State Departments, (ADFG), and Enforcement. And even after all that, it always came down to Field Agents, (my personal slang for a few certain Wildlife Troopers), interpretation and willingness to exert their own version of "intent".

To clarify just a bit my claim of how confusing the word "take" can be...

One of the words in the definition of "take" is to "pursue." And, for example, you must validate your Harvest Ticket immediately upon taking, right?

Does that mean that as soon as you spot a moose and you go after it (thus "pursuing" said moose) you must validate your Harvest Ticket? You are pursuing the moose. But you haven't "killed" it (yet another defintiion of take!) yet.

See what I mean? Troopers will tell you "Of course not!" But the fact remains, you pursued the moose. And take means, among other things, pursue!

This goes to show why I had a bumper sticker printed and stuck to my BOG brief case: "Simplify Game Regulations!"

Pete