Filming nature in Texas froma drone. Can or cannot do?

[johnhoward28]

Okay, I live in Texas. My primary reason for getting my part 107 is so that I can film nature. But a recently found that the Texas Parks and Wildlife say you cannot film nature with a drone. I am beginning to wonder if the is ANYTHING you can actually film with a drone anymore. Seems like they might as well not exist.

Can anyone from Texas here give me a little more clarity on this? Can I or can I not take video from a drone of nature and wildlife for my YouTube channel?

 

[Dugdog47]

You only need a license if you're making money.

 

[wafflejock]

Yup so long as you don't hit the monetize button on vids or have your vids default to monetized you're definitely well within the rules, even then it's not as though the FAA is hunting down every little FPV channel on youtube to bring them down, is more that if doing commercial work then you need to follow some more rules and keep better logs of things and in some cases can apply for permits to bend the rules on a temporary basis for sake of commercial shoot etc.

Regarding nature shots the only things I'd caution about are:
A. use common sense, quads can be noisy scary foreign things in the air to wildlife so try to keep your distance and not spook things too much... if they run off no harm no foul IMO but don't want them crashing into your quad/attacking it and getting cut up or otherwise having actual physical encounters needlessly hurting the wildlife
B. You are not allowed to take off or land on national park land, so it's okay if you are at a flying field that happens to have some trees and deer nearby (the case here), but you can't go to yellowstone and chase bears down a mountain ;D

Oh also regarding B can technically take off and fly over national park land but can't be on the land when you take off or land, since the air is the domain of the FAA and the land is the domain of the parks department I believe, but in any case just don't push that line and should be fine.

 

[Dugdog47]

Just get one of these it ain't like there's feds sitting around in the woods waiting to catch drone pilots lol:

 

[johnhoward28]

Yup so long as you don't hit the monetize button on vids or have your vids default to monetized you're definitely well within the rules, even then it's not as though the FAA is hunting down every little FPV channel on youtube to bring them down, is more that if doing commercial work then you need to follow some more rules and keep better logs of things and in some cases can apply for permits to bend the rules on a temporary basis for sake of commercial shoot etc.

Regarding nature shots the only things I'd caution about are:
A. use common sense, quads can be noisy scary foreign things in the air to wildlife so try to keep your distance and not spook things too much... if they run off no harm no foul IMO but don't want them crashing into your quad/attacking it and getting cut up or otherwise having actual physical encounters needlessly hurting the wildlife
B. You are not allowed to take off or land on national park land, so it's okay if you are at a flying field that happens to have some trees and deer nearby (the case here), but you can't go to yellowstone and chase bears down a mountain ;D

Oh also regarding B can technically take off and fly over national park land but can't be on the land when you take off or land, since the air is the domain of the FAA and the land is the domain of the parks department I believe, but in any case just don't push that line and should be fine.

Thanks. My concern is not the FAA. I know all their regs. My concern is the TPWD. FAA makes federal laws, but local and state authorities are making their own laws, making the issue so complex that basically taking a drone off from the most benign place could land you in trouble.

Are you aware of this code by the TPWD (taken from https://uavcoach.com/drone-laws-texas/)

“Texas Administrative Code §65.152 // 2005

The use of drones to hunt, drive, capture, take, count or photograph any wildlife is unlawful”

Okay, the word here is ANY wildlife. That includes everything. How can you possibly video nature without catching footage of some form of Wildlife? Sure, people will respond, "Well, they are just talking about using drones for hunting", or "They are just talking about game animals" but that is not what it says.

 

[wafflejock]

IANAL but my brother is and in general what you are saying at the end is what the truth is the word of the law is different from the intent of the law if anyone took you to court for flying around in a field because a bird flew by in view I don't think you'd have a serious problem contending it. If you take the simple test and register for $5 for now you're within the bounds of the rules for now (rules changing with remote id and whatnot most likely but for now this is true).

If you want to be sure would contact that specific department and see what their stance is on general flight and/or see about getting what is written in that specific state code but it does seem largely focused on using quads for commercial purposes of managing animals (killing predatory animals, herding etc.) or hunting wildlife.

 

[johnhoward28]

IANAL but my brother is and in general what you are saying at the end is what the truth is the word of the law is different from the intent of the law if anyone took you to court for flying around in a field because a bird flew by in view I don't think you'd have a serious problem contending it. If you take the simple test and register for $5 for now you're within the bounds of the rules for now (rules changing with remote id and whatnot most likely but for now this is true).

If you want to be sure would contact that specific department and see what their stance is on general flight and/or see about getting what is written in that specific state code but it does seem largely focused on using quads for commercial purposes of managing animals (killing predatory animals, herding etc.) or hunting wildlife.

I agree with you. My problem is I have a deeper understanding of how Game Wardens work. The GW is the one you deal with and they are the ones that basically decide how they are going to enforce the law. A "Wide Brush" stipulation such as this one "photograph any wildlife is unlawful", is too broad and ambiguous. The leeway for creative interpretation is immense. I agree that the law is intended to apply to people engaged in hunting or wildlife management, but that is not strictly the wording used, making it easily applicable to anyone filming nature for any reason.

I am a professional photographer and videographer. I plan to use my footage professionally. Just this morning, I took a 4K macro video of a caterpillar eating a leaf. I will probably use this footage as stock footage for sale on my Adobe account. I also have a successful outdoor sports-related YouTube channel. Areal footage could add another level to my outdoor videos, but I cannot guaranty that some form of wildlife will not be unintentionally captured.

My curiosity is, why does it matter whether I shoot footage of nature with a drone or a DSLR camera? Why is one legal and marketable, and the other is not? It seems very illogical to me.

(To everyone) Just FYI, I know all the FAA regs, so there is no need to keep repeating them. This thread is about the specific laws in Texas dealing with the videoing of wildlife from a drone.

 

[wafflejock]

Gotcha, I'm more familiar with the FAA regulations than the parks, but in any case if doing the flying primarily for commercial purposes then a part 107 license would definitely help a lot in terms of arguing the case for flying commercially (and knowing what is allowed in those circumstances), but for flying to capture wildlife it definitely sounds like there's more hurdles there in TX at the very least if want to keep it 100% "in bounds". Sounds like you already know who all you'd need to deal with regarding the local authorities, so thinking best bet is to understand what their concerns are or what is enforced regarding those regulations and how (aside from contacting a lawyer if want to be really really sure and have someone to back you up if it were to come to court ) Again not a lawyer here so take it all with a grain of salt and not as legal advice (I'm a software engineer so closest I get to legal is dealing with non-disclosure agreements NDAs and software licenses in general)

 

[johnhoward28]

Gotcha, I'm more familiar with the FAA regulations than the parks, but in any case if doing the flying primarily for commercial purposes then a part 107 license would definitely help a lot in terms of arguing the case for flying commercially (and knowing what is allowed in those circumstances), but for flying to capture wildlife it definitely sounds like there's more hurdles there in TX at the very least if want to keep it 100% "in bounds". Sounds like you already know who all you'd need to deal with regarding the local authorities, so thinking best bet is to understand what their concerns are or what is enforced regarding those regulations and how (aside from contacting a lawyer if want to be really really sure and have someone to back you up if it were to come to court ) Again not a lawyer here so take it all with a grain of salt and not as legal advice (I'm a software engineer so closest I get to legal is dealing with non-disclosure agreements NDAs and software licenses in general)

Thanks. My hope in posting this question is to get some first-hand feedback from Texas drone flyers about their personal experience in this regard.
I am a professional. This means that if I do something, I do it to make a profit. I am not a hobbyist. Hobbyists spend thousands to tickle their fancy. If a professional operated this way, they would go bankrupt. I do not wet my pants because I can fly a remote-controlled ariel vehicle that does flips. It does flip, big whoop-dee-do. If that is what floats people's boats, great, but the only thing that matters to me is if it can be profitable.

That is what all this research is about. Is it worth it for me to invest in a quality drone? When I started my youtube channel I was using a smartphone. I did research and made the decision to invest a couple of grand in better camera equipment. I have made that money back many times over. That was a good investment.

From what I am learning from my research, it just appears that it is way too complex and expensive to make a drone profitable. There may be some people in some narrow niche markets that can do it, but they are dedicated to that one thing. I am looking at a drone as just a side element to my main production for some creative shots. It just does not appear feasible at this time.

Maybe one day when all the crazy hoopla surrounding drones dies down, regulations will be a lot more reasonable and it will be more practical. The current environment is just too populated with snowflake outraged Karens.

 

[wafflejock]

Yup would say check out Tommy/ummagawd, nurkfpv, or vanovers recent vids on rotor riot about commercial shoots for some info but it is mostly good if doing advertisements or little bits for movies where a helicopter is impossible or cost prohibitive. For smaller businesses where quad flying isn't their focus the rules in various states and cities can be cumbersome to say the least, but I've never personally had a problem with the last few years I've been flying. At most was asked to wait till a policeman was done training with his dog in the park one time, every other interaction with people asking about the quad has been out of curiosity or desire to potentially get one

I'm just outside Chicago right outside the no fly zones around midway and O'Hare (lucky spot)