1. (a) This section does not apply to the following:

   1. (1) The department or the department's designee.
   2. (2) Employees or agents of a governmental entity while performing official duties.
   3. (3) Employees or agents of an educational or research institution acting for bona fide educational or scientific purposes.
   4. (4) Use of an unmanned aerial vehicle to assist, provide care for, or provide veterinary treatment to a specific wild animal.
   5. (5) Use of an unmanned aerial vehicle to monitor areas of agricultural production or to monitor nuisance wild animals.

2. (b) As used in this section, "take" means to:

   1. (1) kill, shoot, spear, harm, catch for the purpose of killing, trap for the purpose of killing, or pursue for the purpose of killing a wild animal; or
   2. (2) attempt to engage in conduct under subdivision (1).

3. (c) During the period:

   1. (1) beginning fourteen (14) days before the hunting season for a particular wild animal species; and

   2. (2) ending upon the expiration of legal hunting hours on the last day of the hunting season;

      a person may not knowingly use an unmanned aerial vehicle to search for, scout, locate, or detect a wild animal to which the hunting season applies as an aid to take the wild animal.

4. (d) A person may legally operate an unmanned aerial vehicle with infrared abilities to locate and recover a legally taken wild animal. This subsection does not authorize a person to:

   1. (1) enter the property of another person; or

   2. (2) recover an animal from the property of another person;

      without the permission of the landowner.

As added by P.L.111-2016, SEC.16. Amended by P.L.107-2017, SEC.1; P.L.25-2024, SEC.2.