Indiana has first drone deer hunting conviction

Indianapolis — The state of Indiana recently prosecuted two hunters who used a drone for weeks to illegally track the movements of a prize 17-point buck in the southern part of that state, before harvesting the animal on the second day of the season.

The case represented the first time deer hunters in the Hoosier State had been prosecuted under a 2024 law, that amended state regulations for the use of UAVs in hunting. Under the statute, a hunter cannot utilize a drone to search for or pursue an animal 14 days prior to that opening day of hunting season for that species, through the last day of the season.

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Indiana Conservation Officer Josh Thomas said his investigation began in the small rural town of Madison where a number of deer were regularly seen roaming near the city. Thomas began keeping an eye on the herd. During his observations, he encountered a group of young hunters, who were using conventional means to observe the animals’ movements in the weeks leading up to the opening of deer season last fall.

“Before work, they were getting up on top of their roof with a spotting scope to spot deer,” he said. “We’re talking three, four, five in the morning, before the sun’s up, they started noticing a drone in about the same location, coming up and then skirting all the properties where this (deer’s) travel is typical.”

The hunting season started on Oct. 1, 2025, and by the next day, two men, one of whom had been identified as the drone’s owner, bagged a huge buck. Thomas took his investigation to prosecutors and a judge issued a search warrant calling for the examination of the drone and its controller.

“We took that to what we call a high-tech crime lab and had the flight logs pulled,” he said. “They showed everywhere that the drone had been, which was pretty damning for the suspects. That drone had flown every single day and sometimes up to seven times a day. From there we interviewed the suspects to an extent. They didn’t have much to say after that. The reality is that the controller and that drone made the case.”