In August 2023, the Kansas DWP announced that “no person shall place, maintain or use a trail or game camera on department (public) lands,” infuriating many deer hunters. At least part of the thinking two years ago had nothing to do with actually scouting a buck. One of the Kansas commissioners said: “In some places … cameras are used to spy on other hunters. And some people recoil from [seeing] a camera. They’re private. They don’t want to have somebody take their picture and then have it on Facebook.” Lauber went on to say that trail cameras are sometimes used by hunters as a means of staking claim to a particular section of public land.

Earlier this year, the KDWP agreed to reassess the ban, leading public-land hunters to have hopes that cameras would again be legal this season. With scouting time upon us, some tech-savvy Kansas hunters have gone on AI chatbots like Grok to inquire about updates on the camera ban. They were overjoyed to read Grok’s response in July: “you can legally use trail cameras on public land in Kansas in 2025, but they must be labeled with the owner’s name or Kansas DWP permit number, as per the Kansas Hunting and Furharvesting Regulations Summary. There’s no outright ban on trail cameras for deer hunting…”

Great! But wait a minute! Earlier this January, commissioners with the KDWP did review the camera ban, but decided to leave it in place. The 2025 Kansas hunting regs clearly state: “Trail or game cameras are prohibited on public lands and Walk-in Hunting Access Areas.”

Takeaways: Don’t use a camera on any public area in Kansas. And don’t believe everything you read from AI, you need to read your state’s game regulations before every season and follow those to the letter of the law.