May 29th, 2007
Hunting for off-roaders with treecams
If you’ve been walking in the woods lately and felt someone watching you, maybe they were - via surveillance camera. In northwestern Minnestota, the Department of Natural Resources is using cameras hidden in the trees to catch scofflaws breaking the law, reports the Associated Press.
Currently, the DNR is mostly using the cameras to catch all-terrain vehicle (ATV) users enter wildlife management areas illegally, causing erosion and disturb wildlife.
“It’s not something we’d use widely,” said Dennis Simon, DNR wildlife management section chief. “But where we don’t really have other alternatives, it’s another tool in the toolbox.”
“It’s very tough catching those people in the act,” said Donovan Pietruszewski, DNR area wildlife manager in Karlstad. “We don’t have a WMA up here without signs of illegal cross-country ATV travel. It’s a huge issue here.”
One of the offenders pleaded not guilty and claimed entrapment and invasion of privacy. He also argued the cameras were unconstitutional. However, the County District Court Judge ruled that the ATV owner had no expectation of privacy on land owned by the state, that there was no entrapment and that use of the cameras wasn’t unconstitutional. He was ordered to pay the fine.
