# Does "human hunting" actually exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2012, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163 "2012-11-16T06:07:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/21 "2012-11-16T13:24:08Z")
There was a big uproar over supposed “Bambi Hunts”, where men “hunted” naked or near=naked women, using paintballs. It was eventually all said to be a hoax, but I’d be very surprised if someone didn’t actually do this. If they hadn’t thought of it before this story became big news, they certainly were introduced to the idea. There certainly are enough people out there open to the idea od such sex-tinged human hunting. And it needn’t be limited to guys hunting women. > **[Hunting for Bambi](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hunting-for-bambi/)** > > Has a Las Vegas business conducted hunts of naked women by paying customers armed with paintball guns? Certainly they’re still selling videos purporting to show such hunts. They’re easy to find with a search engine. By the way, this site, fro m sa respectable magazine, claims such hunts have taken place. I can well believe it. [http://www.utne.com/2003-07-01/HuntingForBambiNotAHoax.aspx](http://www.utne.com/2003-07-01/HuntingForBambiNotAHoax.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/22 "2012-11-16T14:00:56Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > But the British never tolerated such an attitude towards innocent people. The only bounty offered for Aborigines was for live capture of aggressive guerrillas (and their families), and stressed that anyone killing any peaceful Aborigine or capturing Aborigines outside settled areas would be tried and imprisoned if guilty of kidnapping and hanged if guilty of murder. > > That’s all completely incompatible with suggestions of government sanctioned \*hunting \*Aborigines. Governor Macquarie of New South Wales reportedly authorised the use of firearms by any settlers approached by natives; there are also records of advertisements being placed in local papers offering to shoot Australian natives for a fee, ignored by the local law enforcement; the same order offering the bounty you mentioned also permitted the shooting of anyone who resisted capture; raids were carried out on settlements due to such things as chicken stealing, and somtimes simply gave a number of people who were to be killed, with no concern whatsoever if those killed were the same as those accused. I’m sorry, but there are far too many records of random killing of Australian natives to simply hand wave away as ‘didn’t happen’. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/23 "2012-11-16T14:19:13Z")
> [@hberi](#): > > Do tribes still head hunt in nuigini? New Guinea? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/24 "2012-11-16T15:05:19Z")
> [@rogerbox](#): > > There really was an alaskan world-class hunter who hunted prostitutes before one got away by flagging down a trucker. I’ve never heard of any groups of hunters hunting each other though. > > [Robert Hansen - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hansen) The Wikipedia page suggests the claims that Hansen hunted his victims are apocryphal. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/25 "2012-11-16T15:19:40Z")
Is there any factual basis to a recurring movie trope that has the KKK abducting a black man and releasing him in the woods so they can hunt him down? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/26 "2012-11-16T15:22:16Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I don’t know about Australia, but in South Africa, the Boers definitely organised groups (“Kommandos”) to hunt down [Bushmen](http://books.google.co.za/books?id=_ooA8Jln5ioC&pg=PA75&lpg=PA75&dq=Thomas+Pringle+bushmen+genocide&source=bl&ots=NSb3jGH2IW&sig=nHPLvZTkAjWFTz8CkECnqHt_BkA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=cSmmUIeTHMKQhQfy5IHwCw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Thomas%20Pringle%20bushmen%20genocide&f=false) like animals - sometimes taking heads, and murdering indiscriminately. So? 20th cent.: Turks, Armenians, Germans, Poles, Hungarians, Romanians, Cambodian communists, Moslems Christans Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Taliban. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/27 "2012-11-16T15:42:03Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Governor Macquarie of New South Wales reportedly authorised the use of firearms by any settlers approached by natives; there are also records of advertisements being placed in local papers offering to shoot Australian natives for a fee, ignored by the local law enforcement; the same order offering the bounty you mentioned also permitted the shooting of anyone who resisted capture; raids were carried out on settlements due to such things as chicken stealing, and somtimes simply gave a number of people who were to be killed, with no concern whatsoever if those killed were the same as those accused. > > I’m sorry, but there are far too many records of random killing of Australian natives to simply hand wave away as ‘didn’t happen’. Ahh, I think what I read must have been a mention of those newspaper ads. Any idea when the last ones existed? I had a fuzzy recollection of “around 1970”, but I could be way off. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/28 "2012-11-16T15:55:28Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Ahh, I think what I read must have been a mention of those newspaper ads. Any idea when the last ones existed? I had a fuzzy recollection of “around 1970”, but I could be way off. Not sure, not in the 1900s though- 1970 was IIRC when Native Australians gained full legal rights, but I’m pretty sure any quasi-legal killing stopped quite a long time before then. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/29 "2012-11-16T16:50:42Z")
Okay, thanks, mate. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/30 "2012-11-16T17:30:11Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > So? 20th cent.: Turks, Armenians, Germans, Poles, Hungarians, Romanians, Cambodian communists, Moslems Christans Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Taliban. :rolleyes: Your point is? ---
**Author:** ![Atakapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@Atakapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atakapa)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/31 "2012-11-16T18:35:52Z")
Apparently African Pygmies were regarded as subhuman and hunted by rebel and loyalist militias during the Congolese Civil War. Their flesh was believed to have magical properties by some factions, while others used cannibalism to extend their food supplies. Albinos also have a string of rotten luck, with Tanzanians targeting them to such a degree that many have fled to islands in Lake Victoria. The body parts of an albino can fetch hefty amounts on the black market, due to the belief that they are very powerful in magic. Lovely place, central Africa. ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/32 "2012-11-16T20:14:13Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The Wikipedia page suggests the claims that Hansen hunted his victims are apocryphal. If that’s true I’m sorry for spreading misinformation, but I’ve read that he did indeed hunt his victims from other sources. I forgot the man’s name, so I googled “Alaskan serial killer hunter”, clicked the wiki article, skimmed it to see it was who I was thinking of, and then posted the link. Even if he didn’t actually hunt his victims (I think he likely did, but it may be up for dispute), I think it gets the OP a bit closer to what he’s looking for than bushmen raiding each other, etc like the rest of the discussion seems to be going for… my take on the OP is he/she is looking for good ol’ boy modern hunters who are searching for “the most dangerous game of all”. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/33 "2012-11-16T20:24:53Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > :rolleyes: Your point is? Each one of these organizational groups organized legal roving search-out-and-murder bands. To me that sounds like human hunting. I left out the Soviets and the Chinese, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/34 "2012-11-16T20:44:41Z")
I suspect that mentions of Robert Hanson don’t help the OP at all, given that he mentioned them himself in the second paragraph. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/35 "2012-11-17T04:48:58Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Each one of these organizational groups organized legal roving search-out-and-murder bands. To me that sounds like human hunting. I left out the Soviets and the Chinese, of course. Again, that doesn’t explain what your _point_ was - by which I mean the reason you started you post with “So?”, since I never said anything to contra-indicate that it happened elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Vicullum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/6de8d8/32.png) [@Vicullum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicullum)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/36 "2012-11-17T06:08:32Z")
Surprised no one mentioned this yet, but one historical case of “human hunting” is that of [John Colter,](http://lewis-clark-trail.us/History/ColterPart4.php) a member of the Lewis & Clark expedition who was later captured by Blackfoot Indians in 1809: > [@](#): > > The next year, Colter and Potts were attacked by Blackfoot Indians while trapping beaver. They killed Potts, and Colter awaited his own execution. To his astonishment, they stripped him naked, took all of his possessions, set him free and told him to run. Colter had become the prey in a game of “human hunt”. He managed to elude most of the group but a single pursuer was closing in on him. He killed the lone assailant with his own spear, took his blanket and continued to run until he came to a river. There he hid under a pile of logs until he felt sure that the others had abandoned the chase. He walked the two hundred mile trail back to Fort Raymond with only a blanket for warmth and bark and roots for nourishment. After eleven days he stumbled into the stockade, more dead than alive. ---
**Author:** ![Astrid1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Astrid1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astrid1)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/37 "2020-12-10T16:23:27Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Even under a state of Marshall law, anyone killing an Aborigine outside a settled area was tried an hanged if found guilty. I registered to this page just to ask you (and probably correct you) : do you mean Marshall (the politician) or did you meant MARTIAL law? Of course they have two totally different meanings. You just pronunce them in a slightly similar way 😜✌😉 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/38 "2020-12-10T16:32:14Z")
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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163/39 "2020-12-10T16:36:18Z")
> [@Astrid1](#): > > I registered to this page just to ask you (and probably correct you) : do you mean Marshall (the politician) or did you meant MARTIAL law? **Astrid1** , welcome to the boards. Since **Blake** last posted in 2016, I am pretty sure he is not going to respond, or be concerned about the correction. He clearly intended “martial” law. We prefer that old threads in General Questions only be revived to provide new factual information, not to make minor corrections to 8-year old posts. Therefore I am closing this. Colibri General Questions Moderator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-hunting-actually-exist/641163.md?page=1)