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Tennessee agency previews rules to allow drones for locating wounded deer
Summary
Colonel Dale Grandstaff previewed a draft rule allowing drones to locate and recover mortally wounded or dead deer on private land, with FAA‑certified pilots, thermal imaging, a proposed 30‑minutes‑after‑sunset to midnight window, and registration for commercial operators; the rule will be voted on at the January commission meeting in Dyersburg.
Colonel Dale Grandstaff, presenting at the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission’s December meeting, previewed a draft rule that would permit the use of drones to locate and recover mortally wounded or dead deer on private property with landowner permission. The General Assembly this spring authorized drone use for recovery with an effective date noted in the presentation as 08/01/2026, and the commission will consider a final rule at its January meeting in Dyersburg.
Grandstaff said the agency’s draft limits operations to situations where a deer is “reasonably believed to be mortally wounded or dead” and only after traditional tracking has failed. The proposal would allow flights beginning 30 minutes after…
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