Bill bans sale of public land trail camera images for hunting

A hunter mounts a trail camera in this photo illustration.

The sale of wildlife trail camera images and location trail data for hunting on public lands would be prohibited under a bill that was heard and quickly advanced from committee Thursday.

House Bill 547 brought by Rep. Jill Cohenour, D-East Helena, seeks to curtail the technological creep into hunting by drawing an ethical red line over the sale of images, video and data on public lands. Supporters of the bill cited services that have been offered in other states where a person essentially scouts areas using trail cameras and then offers those images and locations for sale to hunters.

"It's essentially saying we are not going to monetize the location of our great wildlife resources in the state of Montana," Cohenour told the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee.

HB 547 prohibits sale of images, video or data captured on public land for use "in a way that harms, harasses or kills fish or wildlife." A person convicted of the offense could be fined from $50-$1,000 and face up to six months in jail.

The bill comes as the use of trail cameras to both scout hunting locations and research wildlife has grown in the last 20 years. The use of cameras has been a growing debate in the hunting world under questions of fair chase. A number of states have moved in recent years to either ban or restrict their use and major organizations such as the Boone and Crocket Club adopted policies opposing cameras that transmit images in real time.

Montana's current laws and regulations on trail camera use are complex. Cameras that must be physically checked are legal year-round, but cameras that transmit images remotely are prohibited while in the act of hunting. But state officials have said that does not stop a hunter from receiving the image at home and then going to the field to hunt so long as the phone app has been turned off or connection to the camera is severed.

HB 547 saw several supporters citing similar ethical concerns.

"Hunting's future and social acceptability is dependent upon high standards of fair chase and picking out a trophy animal from pictures and then purchasing the public land coordinates of it jeopardizes that future of hunting and runs counter to Montana's traditions," Katjana Stutzer with the Montana chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers told the committee.

A bull elk with a herd crosses a park in this trail camera photo.

Cohenour has brought similar legislation unsuccessfully in the past but did carry a bill that prohibits the use of location data generated by wildlife wearing GPS collars for the purpose of hunting.

The committee passed HB 547 on a vote of 12-7 with several Republicans joining all Democrats in support. The bill now moves to the floor.

Tom Kuglin is the deputy editor for the Lee Newspapers State Bureau. His coverage focuses on outdoors, recreation and natural resources.

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State Reporter/Outdoors Reporter

Tom Kuglin is the deputy editor for the Lee Newspapers State Bureau. His coverage focuses on outdoors, recreation and natural resources.

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