With many outdoor grows in full flush here in Oz, the usual paranoia is creeping in. Its still illegal to grow your own here so with an end to the season in sight the tension grows. Urban gardeners have any number of ways to forfeit their efforts through rip-offs, tip-offs or plain bad luck. Holding your shit together for so long only to lose it all must be the absolute pits. The thought might be, then, that grows in bush or farmland away from prying eyes are a safer option and in some ways they are, with caveats. Don't know how it is in the burbs, but I've heard about the increasing use of drones by Shires and State authorities for certain jobs usually done by people. Landholders are required to have firebreaks around their boundaries (for all the right reasons) and shire rangers traditionally drove around checking they'd been done. They'd also assess tertiary road conditions, drains, fences and vegetation while they were at it. These days its more cost-effective to send up a drone to do all that and they don't need to make appointments before a fly-around. I also heard last year of a farmer getting pinged by his local council for leaving his pool gates jacked open, as sighted by a drone checking pool safety on rural properties. Then, there are stories about privately operated drones snooping along creek beds and over bushland on the hunt for easy pickings... this in addition to aerial surveys conducted throughout the year by various Govt. departments. Growing remote is tough enough without having these damned things to contend with. Ultralights were a menace, but being so cheap and easy to use drones are next level.
I'm not clear on the legalities of incidental (not targeted) discovery of backyard or farmland grows by authorised drone activities and how/if that information is passed on to LE for action. Maybe someone here knows the score. If you're not around to see it flying over your property or bush garden I guess there's not much you can do about it, and even if you are around there's still not much you can do. I'm fairly sure you can't shoot it out of the sky or otherwise interfere with it, though an errant boomerang or golf ball strike may stand up in court. A quick scan of Federal drone laws states non-government users can't fly over private property though it does happen more than people might realise. Has anyone had an experience with them either as a pilot just up there having a look around, or, maybe being underneath one you didn't really want being there?
I'm not clear on the legalities of incidental (not targeted) discovery of backyard or farmland grows by authorised drone activities and how/if that information is passed on to LE for action. Maybe someone here knows the score. If you're not around to see it flying over your property or bush garden I guess there's not much you can do about it, and even if you are around there's still not much you can do. I'm fairly sure you can't shoot it out of the sky or otherwise interfere with it, though an errant boomerang or golf ball strike may stand up in court. A quick scan of Federal drone laws states non-government users can't fly over private property though it does happen more than people might realise. Has anyone had an experience with them either as a pilot just up there having a look around, or, maybe being underneath one you didn't really want being there?