Four Manitoba men have been fined thousands of dollars after being caught using a spotlight to hunt at night in southwestern Manitoba over a year ago.

With the help of aircraft surveillance, Manitoba Conservation officers and police caught the four men "spotlighting" on Dec. 12, 2016.

The practice sees hunters shine a powerful and focused artificial light into the eyes of animals such as moose, elk and deer, causing the prey to stop moving and therefore making it easier for them to be killed.

This photo shows the aerial surveillance of the four hunters using a spotlight to hunt at night near Glenboro, Man., in December 2016. (Submitted by Manitoba Sustainable Development)

A news release from Manitoba Sustainable Development Friday says officials were responding to numerous complaints of night hunting in the area when they spotted the hunters in a pickup truck on a municipal road near Glenboro, Man., shortly before 2:30 a.m.

Officers followed the truck from the air and watched as a spotlight was used a number of times to light up a privately owned field in an area very near to homes.

When officers on the ground tried to stop the vehicle, it sped off, but the driver lost control of the truck after a short chase and ended up stuck in a ditch.

The four men were arrested at the scene.

Three men from Portage la Prairie, Man. — ages 25, 31 and 44 — and a 34-year-old man from Sandy Bay, Man., pleaded guilty Oct. 30, 2017 to hunting vertebrate animals at night with lights.

The four men face fines totalling $4,000. A 1995 Chevrolet Silverado and various hunting equipment, including a rifle, were seized and forfeited as part of the investigation.

Imagine waking to the sound of gunfire or finding animal guts piled up on near your driveway. Residents in rural Manitoba make those complaints after night hunters have been in their area. CBC reporter Sean Kavanagh and videographer Jaison Empson went out on a patrol with Conservation officers in a effort to hunt the night hunters. 4:23

Indigenous people with Indian status have the right to hunt for sustenance purposes throughout the province, including hunting at night, provided those areas don't have any restrictions.

Spotlighting is illegal in many provinces, but is technically legal for Indigenous people in Manitoba on Crown lands or on private land where they have the right of access. Last fall, however, Manitoba Metis Federation members voted to ban spotlighting.

Spotlighting became a flashpoint of controversy after reports of spotlighting near farms in February 2016. In January 2017, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister came under fire for saying divisions between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people over hunting at night were "becoming a race war."

The Manitoba Wildlife Federation's NightWatch campaign has called on the provincial government to ban spotlighting altogether and work with hunters to create a new hunting policy that is safe and sustainable.