Robotic Moose Acts Real, Even After It's Shot

Robotic Moose Acts Real Even After It s Shot AG WORLD Ag World A Quebec man builds and sells life-like robotic moose decoys designed to help catch poachers who take the animals illegally     Alain Larochelle in Victoriaville Quebec makes a full-sized robot moose that s very convincing because it acts real even after it s been shot     Larochelle makes the decoys in his basement and sells them only to government authorities in the fight against poaching      Originally I started out making only 2-D and 3-D bow and arrow targets animal forms but then a Fish and Wildlife officer came and asked me to make decoys Larochelle says I ve been making decoys for 15 years now and it s a fulltime business I ve made about 10 of this latest robotic moose design and have sold them into numerous areas including Quebec New Brunswick Ontario Nova Scotia and Maine I ve also sold wild turkey decoys into Ohio     Larochelle points out that he has also sold 20 regular moose decoys that do not fall down when shot He has also designed and sold a unique floating moose     Larochelle s life-like falling moose decoy is made from a synthetic hard foam The finished product weighs less than 60 lbs and can be assembled in about five minutes It comes apart into three sections with the heaviest one weighing about 30 lbs     Inside the hollow frame Larochelle strategically positions various remote-controlled electronic motors so the decoy is actually battery-operated It is controlled by an enforcement officer hiding in the area and it can be made to move like a real moose     When it s shot the officer simultaneously directs it to fall down When the hunter begins to approach the officer uses his remote control to raise the moose s head as though it s looking at the approaching enemy     According to Nova Scotia s Natural Resources Division director John Mombourquette eight hunters have already been charged with poaching since his staff started employing moose decoys in sting operations      The decoy is so realistic that all of the arrests have so far have happened during daylight hours he says The hunters thought they had shot a real moose It wasn t until afterwards when an officer was taking their statement that they found out they had shot a decoy     The decoy s internal electronics are carefully positioned to decrease the possibility that someone will put a bullet through any of them     Mombourquette s department began using the moose decoys this year in ongoing investigations of illegal hunting on the mainland      We don t set this thing up just on a fishing expedition to see if someone might shoot it Every one of these operations are long drawn-out investigations targeting specific individuals in known problem areas he says One officer operates the remote controls another runs a video camera and there s also an arrest team to do the take down     The robotic moose are affordably priced at between $2 000 and $3 000 each     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Alain Larochelle Taxidermie & Pro-cible Enr in English - Taxidermy and Professional Target 91 Maurice Victoriaville Quebec Canada G6P 7N1 ph 819 758-3811; tlarochelle@csbf qc ca

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