Deer Trail clerk returning checks for drone-hunting licenses

Mayor Frank Fields demonstrates drone hunting technique

Deer Trail can't keep up with demand for licenses to hunt unmanned aerial vehicles — even though the town hasn't yet passed an ordinance allowing them to be issued. Town clerk Kim Oldfield stopped counting two weeks ago, when the tally of personal checks made out to the town of Deer Trail hit 983 and $19,006. The checks came from all over the U.S. Oldfield said she returned as many of the checks as she could before the work became overwhelming. The town began pondering licenses to hunt drones — with a $100 bounty attached — in July. "I'm still getting the letters," she said. "I'm just throwing them in a big pile." Town residents will vote on the ordinance in a special election Oct. 8. But town resident Phil Steel, who proposed the ordinance, has already started selling novelty versions of the licenses through his own online company. On Tuesday, he said he'd sold 100 fake licenses and donated a portion of his $2,500 take to the town during the monthly board meeting, Oldfield said...more