Michigan targets drone entrepreneur; now faces lawsuit over unconstitutional application of the law

Lansing, Michigan; July 27, 2023: Today, a federal lawsuit was filed to challenge a Michigan statute that the Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) has interpreted to ban the use of drones to locate already downed game.

Michigan’s “Drone Statute,” passed in 2015, bans drone-assisted “hunting,” which the Michigan DNR interprets to include using drones to locate downed game, even after the hunter has stored his weapons. The DNR has warned that the law applies to Mike Yoder’s company, Drone Deer Recovery Media, Inc., which helps hunters locate downed game just as a hunting dog does. Violators can face up to 90 days in prison or a fine of up to $1,000.

“Drone Deer Recovery is providing a valuable service that is less environmentally intrusive and more humane than alternatives, yet Michigan is stretching the law to ban it,” said Donna Matias, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. “The Constitution protects Mike’s First Amendment rights to create and disseminate information collected by the drones and his customers’ right to receive it.”

Mike Yoder developed Drone Deer Recovery Media after seeing a Wisconsin hunter use a drone for game recovery and observing aerial photography used by realtors. He realized that using a drone to find the downed game was far less environmentally disruptive and more likely to find the animal than tracking dogs or trail cameras.

The case is Yoder and DDR Media, Inc. v Lott, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.