B&C says no no no

[Wind Gypsy]

B&C has at least taken a chunk out of the social media aspect. Guys who want to cultivate big bucks and run the trail cam photos on the net throughout the year won't be entering those deer in the book come fall. Someone will squeal on them. We know media bragging is a big deal for these "bone hunters," especially a couple of outdoors TV types. Anyway, if B&C says it's not fair, that's a step in the right direction. Maybe it will get some more jurisdictions thinking about these technology issues rather than just looking the other way.

I agree with the sentiment but they didn't say anything against standard trailcam use which is what the lions share of western hunters use. I would say until the last couple years even eastern trailcams were overwhelmingly SD card.

Trailcam pics of booners will still be shared liberally on social media. Some may just hold off on sharing that fresh cell cam pic until a day or two have gone by..

 

[OMB]

Going to have to be an honor system thing unless B&C plans on commissioning the cell cam companies' picture transmittal history for the hunter of every book animal entered.


Say Bobby got a picture of brutus go bed in the NW thicket on Thursday, heads up to the land for the weekend (which he would have done anyway) and shoots Brutus entering the thicket on Saturday night - how do they rule that one? Is a pic from 48 hours ago considered "real time"? Bobby might have buggered up Brutus if he pulled SD cards Friday night but he might not have and got the same info. I've had a bunch of cell cams out in MN for the past couple years. Haven't come across a situation where real time data has changed how I hunt but I'm sure that day will come. [edit: I need to refresh on regs, I think it's actually illegal to use live intelligence from cell cams to "take" deer in MN already]

Another Interesting one:


I recently got a drone because they are cheap. I intend to fly over my/my family's properties in the off season to get a better picture from above and help me plan projects. Sounds like that could be considered scouting and disqualify any book entries (which has at best a 0.01% chance of happening).

I generally agree with where B&C's head is at with these issues but see it being hard for them to draw the line on specific circumstances.

I know of a 200"+ whitetail in my area where the guy was literally having lunch with his group, got the camera alert to his phone, went to the specific area and had him killed in under an hour. I don't know how frequently this is happening in the Midwest, but I'd guess it's not uncommon at this point whether people are admitting it or not.