PETA has announced they have intentions to purchase drones to film hunters. Do our resident legal eagle members know if a flight over private property for the purpose of video recording legal activities constitutes tresspassing? Obviously Google Earth does the same thing in the literal sense but not with the intent to disturb or report legal activities.

The only precedent I know of is the group who tries to film pidgeon shoots and has had their drone shot down twice. But I have no idea if that was legal or if the authorities let it go for lack of evidence. I'm sure it varies in different jurisdictions but what say you?

What say I?

I say that you should acquire a proper lead and blow that SOB out of the sky.

I say that some folks should put away their tin foil hats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We can use these!

drone load

Activist's Trial Begins In Flyover Of Goose Hunt


January 14, 1999|By Steve Stanek. Special to the Tribune.



Animal-rights activist Steve Hindi testified Wednesday that he did not intend to interfere with hunters when he flew around and over the Woodstock Hunt Club in a motorized "paraglider" as hunters below tried to lure geese.

Conservation police who were at the scene on Sept. 8, 1996, charged him with breaking the state's hunter interference law, which bars citizens from interfering with lawful hunts. Hindi's trial opened Wednesday before McHenry County Associate Judge Gordon Graham.


Hindi was among a group of protesters at the club that day. Some of the protesters were on the ground near the hunt club, making noise and shouting at hunters with the aid of megaphones, air horns, sirens and other noise-making devices.

Hindi flew over the hunt club in the paraglider, allegedly scaring away geese in the process. Three hunt club employees said they watched as Hindi flew into a flock of geese that was heading for them, splitting the flock in two and sending the geese in a new direction.

Hindi, though, denied flying toward the geese. He testified that to do so would have been to risk his life, as the paraglider's flimsy nylon material could have ripped if he had struck a goose.

He said his presence in the skies above the hunters was meant as a form of protest against their hunting activities.

Sgt. Jeff Diedrick, a McHenry County Conservation District officer, testified Wednesday that he arrested Hindi after consulting with a conservation officer from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

While Diedrick testified that state law prohibits interrupting a hunt, he acknowledged that the law didn't define flying over a hunting area as an interruption.

After Hindi's arrest, the law was changed to ban flyovers.

Under questioning by Assistant State's Atty. Robert Beaderstadt, Hindi testified that he believed his actions at the time were lawful.

He said he had done about a dozen similar flyovers in 1994 and 1995 at the Richmond Hunt Club and the Rend Lake Wildlife Refuge and had never been threatened with arrest. He said that because of the law change, he wouldn't fly over a hunting area.

"It was his intention to protest to the fullest extent the law allowed him," his attorney, Judith Halprin, said. "It was his intent to obey the law."

The first day of the trial ended with a dispute over whether the testimony of the late Earl Johnson, who in September 1996 owned the hunt club, could be entered as evidence.

Hindi's attorneys asked the judge to allow the introduction of a transcript of a statement Johnson made as part of the proceedings in the civil suit the hunt club filed against Hindi.

Graham said he would decide Thursday whether to allow introduction of the transcript.

Man Flagged For Flying Near Hunters


April 08, 1999|By Mark R. Madler. Special to the Tribune.



Animal-rights activist Steve Hindi was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months conditional discharge for interfering with hunters by flying a motorized paraglider toward a flock of geese to keep them from being shot.

Associate Judge Gordon Graham also ordered Hindi to pay $450 in fines and perform 150 hours of public service.

Although he will not serve jail time, Hindi still argued the facts outside the McHenry County Courthouse in Woodstock. The Geneva resident said the Sept. 8, 1996, incident at the Woodstock Hunt Club never happened the way prosecutors said it did.


"The flock never broke up," Hindi said. "I was well away from the geese, and I was not in range of the hunters."

In January, Hindi was convicted of violating the state's hunter interference law, which bars citizens from interfering with lawful hunts.

He had flown over the Woodstock Hunt Club, scaring away geese in the process. Three club employees said they watched as Hindi flew into the geese, splitting the flock and sending the geese in different directions. The hunt club closed after its owner died in 1996.

Since Hindi's arrest, the Illinois General Assembly changed the law to specifically ban flights over hunting areas.

McHenry County Assistant State's Atty. Robert Beaderstadt sought a term of six months in the county jail for Hindi, $1,500 in fines and probation to send Hindi a message that he would be punished when he breaks the law.

"In my analysis, I don't believe Mr. Hindi will benefit by or be deterred by incarceration," Graham said.

Hindi is continuing to challenge the state's right to prosecute him for flying the paraglider.

On Tuesday, his attorneys, Rick and Judith Halprin, filed a lawsuit against Graham and McHenry County State's Atty. Gary Pack in U.S. District Court in Chicago to prevent them from interfering with Hindi's right to fly the paraglider. They say operation of aircraft is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, not the state or county.

Good for Illinois!

What a liar Hindi was.....these scumbag whackos are fully willing to risk their lives for their cause. These militant liberals are far more dangerous than God-fearing, conservation-minded hunters. Reason being? They're lonely, misguided fools looking for a purpose to their empty lives....even if it means dying to protest high tide.

quote:

Originally posted by Kathi:
"In my analysis, I don't believe Mr. Hindi will benefit by or be deterred by incarceration," Graham said.

Looks like the 10 gauge is going to make a comeback after all..

So what happened in court?

That was dated 1999?

Just saw this.

Lawmakers Target PETA Anti-Hunting Drones

I hope it passes. I'm not sure if our A-hole governor would sign it though.