Shooter Thought DJI Inspire 2 Was Interfering With His Hunt

Aerial cinematographer James Allred wanted to get some beauty shots of steam rising from the surface of a lake hear his Utah home on January 6th, but instead, his brand-new DJI Inspire 2 drone was damaged by shots fired by a duck hunter upset about his activities.

The hunter now faces criminal mischief charges, and possibly more.

The website Digital Circuit reports that the temperature was -18 when Allred started flying the drone. He thought it was behaving erratically, so he landed the aircraft and waited for things to warm up a bit. The drone is only rated down to -4 fahrenheit. When he resumed flight ... still below that threshold, the link between the aircraft and the controller was lost, he said.

It stopped over the duck hunter, who got annoyed and opened fire on the aircraft. He took three shots, and hit the drone up to 28 times.

Somehow the aircraft continued to fly. Allred recovered his drone, and called the sheriff.

They met at the sole access point to the hunting area. When the hunter showed up, he admitted to shooting the aircraft because he had driven a long way to hunt, and the aircraft was scaring the birds and disrupting his plans.

The sheriff ticketed the hunter, charging him with criminal mischief. Other charges may be forthcoming. Allred said he plans to talk to the County Attorney to see if Destruction of Property could also be relevant in the case.

While Allred wants to be made whole, he also wants to use the incident as a teachable moment, according to the report. He would like to have the hunter repay him for his drone, which he uses in his business, and have them both appear in the media to explain their positions and what they have learned. He said he hopes something positive can come from the incident, rather than just a media circus that paints either drone operators or hunters in a negative light.

(Image from file)

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