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I had the same initial reaction as you, but the nuance here is that Mr. Wingenroth runs a commercial company which specifically advertises UAV flights to hunter

I had the same initial reaction as you, but the nuance here is that Mr. Wingenroth runs a commercial company which specifically advertises UAV flights to hunters for the purpose of 'deer recovery'. So this is not merely a case of putting a wild animal out of its misery, but also one in which the UAV pilot was intending to render services to hunters - it just so happened that the hunters in this event were undercover agents. Therefore, as the prosecution's argument went, Mr. Wingenroth should have known the local rules about hunting at night regardless of whether the hunters were agents or not.

solardev 3y ago
Even if he wasn't approached by undercover agents, why is using a drone to recover deer illegal...? Is it even...? I'm not sure if 1) there is a difference (or should be) between hunting and recovery or 2) if it matters if it's night or 3) if it matters if it's electronically aided or not or 4) if it matters whether it's a spotlight used for mesmerization or a drone with minimal lights (or maybe IR)... Even the judge in this case seemed to believe the laws were confusing and ambiguous and wanted the legislature to clean them up. In that case, I wish they'd just let the man go (and stop enforcing these laws until they're cleaned up and rewritten). --------- Maybe there is some unspoken implication here that Mr. Wingenroth clearly knew this was an illegal act, offered his services deceptively somehow (i.e. maybe drone recovery is legal but drone hunting isn't?), but then why would he advertise such services online, and then why would they nail him for recovery instead of hunting? It just doesn't really make sense. What am I missing?
- HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
  > why is using a drone to recover deer illegal I don't know whether it is or not, or why, but harassing wildlife and livestock is certainly illegal and as someone who's had a drone flying over his herd of horses, I can assure you that it's for good reason. > difference (or should be) between hunting and recovery or 2) if it matters if it's night Are you seriously asking why hunting at night might be illegal? If it helps, I can tell you about my sister-in-law whose horse was shot and killed at dusk. "I thought it was a big deer."
- godelski 3y ago
  > why is using a drone to recover deer illegal...? Is it even...? This is an important part to me. Just because something is illegal does not make it correct. A big reason we have a court of peers in the first place is to have this check. We have jury nullification which is the equivalent to "that law is dumb" or "law is fine, but applying it here is dumb" Not to mention that times change. All rules are made to be broken. I think of all people, programmers would be experts in understanding how any set of rules cannot have complete coverage over all situations. If you don't understand this, go visit your QA team and ask them why this random HN user told you to visit them, and bring donuts or something.
chucksta 3y ago
You realize "deer recovery" means the deer has already been hunted and hit right? At best its in misery, at worst the misery ends in waste.

solardev 3y ago

Even if he wasn't approached by undercover agents, why is using a drone to recover deer illegal...? Is it even...? I'm not sure if 1) there is a difference (or should be) between hunting and recovery or 2) if it matters if it's night or 3) if it matters if it's electronically aided or not or 4) if it matters whether it's a spotlight used for mesmerization or a drone with minimal lights (or maybe IR)... Even the judge in this case seemed to believe the laws were confusing and ambiguous and wanted the legislature to clean them up. In that case, I wish they'd just let the man go (and stop enforcing these laws until they're cleaned up and rewritten). --------- Maybe there is some unspoken implication here that Mr. Wingenroth clearly knew this was an illegal act, offered his services deceptively somehow (i.e. maybe drone recovery is legal but drone hunting isn't?), but then why would he advertise such services online, and then why would they nail him for recovery instead of hunting? It just doesn't really make sense. What am I missing?

HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
> why is using a drone to recover deer illegal I don't know whether it is or not, or why, but harassing wildlife and livestock is certainly illegal and as someone who's had a drone flying over his herd of horses, I can assure you that it's for good reason. > difference (or should be) between hunting and recovery or 2) if it matters if it's night Are you seriously asking why hunting at night might be illegal? If it helps, I can tell you about my sister-in-law whose horse was shot and killed at dusk. "I thought it was a big deer."
godelski 3y ago
> why is using a drone to recover deer illegal...? Is it even...? This is an important part to me. Just because something is illegal does not make it correct. A big reason we have a court of peers in the first place is to have this check. We have jury nullification which is the equivalent to "that law is dumb" or "law is fine, but applying it here is dumb" Not to mention that times change. All rules are made to be broken. I think of all people, programmers would be experts in understanding how any set of rules cannot have complete coverage over all situations. If you don't understand this, go visit your QA team and ask them why this random HN user told you to visit them, and bring donuts or something.

chucksta 3y ago

You realize "deer recovery" means the deer has already been hunted and hit right? At best its in misery, at worst the misery ends in waste.