Well, there are plenty of opportunities for a fuck up during a real hunt, too. Presumably the attendant avoids getting shot by not actually standing in front of the gun while people are firing it.
I’d guess the attendant does this.
They are. For an extra fee, you can have the animal you killed processed and the meat sent to you.
No, I don’t think so. This first popped up on news stories five months ago. If it was a hoax, I’d think someone would have noticed by now. In the Daily Show story, Samantha Bee actually went out to Lockwood’s ranch, IIRC.
Did your friend do the target practice or did he/she actually hunt for a live animal? I have no doubt that there is actually a ranch, with animals, and with guns that can be shot over the internet, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the real-live animal hunt is a publicity stunt/hoax to get the word out about their other services.
Several reporters went to the “Hunt for Bambi” ranch, IIRC.
Well, according to the article, Howard Giles of San Antonio recently became the first person to use the system to successfully kill an animal. The only other services offered by the ranch are target shooting and real, physical hunts, according to their website.
Perhaps, but the life of that story was about a week. As soon as Las Vegas officials began investigating the guy, he owned up to the hoax. In the case of online hunting, several months have passed since this was initially reported and many people claim to have used the service. Several other states are actually making laws against the practice based on Lockwood’s actions. Now, none of this is conclusive proof, but it sure sounds like the real deal.
I think it would be cool if they linked a couple of these things together added some wheels, armor, and a target, and let the hunters take shots at one another’s contraptions.
That’s a hell of a lot cooler than online hunting. There should be some kind of real-life battle competition controlled by online first-person shooters.
Here’s an idea. The U.S. Army builds a new fleet of war robots: 10-foot-tall armored walking robots with machine guns and grenade launchers. They are all hooked up to radio control devices which are all wirelessly connected to a central computer server. This server is controlled by a computer program, which is marketed as a first-person-shooter in the US and sold in software stores. (It would have to be expensive for it to pay off, but believe me it would sell like crazy!)
When you buy the program, you are registered to a combat robot serving in a war-zone which is then activated and sent on its way. The player is responsible for controlling and using it to fight the enemy. If it is destroyed the player can no longer play unless he re-registers to another armored robot which would cost more money. Eventually a system of flight simulators controlling flying helicopter robots could be implemented using the same technology.
How could you trust American gamers with these deadly machines, you ask? There would be a microchip worn by all American soldiers and personell, plus all allied vehicles and all the other combat robots. This chip would block the robots’ targeting systems, so that trigger-happy kids could not fire at allied forces.
I don’t even think one can call this hunting, because you’re not actually out there HUNTING for something, you’re just sitting around at home waiting for something to show up. Color me unimpressed.
Now from a stand with a severely handi-capped hunter, this type of technology could be great. But at home and online with non-severely handicapped hunters, it’s pretty lame and boring. On hunting related forums, the dislike for this activity is pretty much unanimous.
I think that in the long run this type of activity will only help animal right nutcases in imposing their cultural values on others via hate legislation and propaganda dissemination.
I agree with this. The thing that bothers me about this is that it’s so disconnected from actual hunting. It’s like getting off on killing far away animals.
And fuck the guy in the wheelchair who couldn’t hunt. I’m not going to cry for him. Online hunting isn’t actual hunting, unless the only thing you get out of hunting is the fact that an animal dies in the end.
I agree with the OP. Pretty soon this sort of crap will evolve to the point where you don’t even aim the gun. The idiots will just pay someone else to kill the animal for them. Eventually they’ll even pen up their prey in a fence and take all the sport out of it. In fact, I’ll bet this will finally evolve to the point that people won’t even SEE the animal that provided their meat. They’ll just walk into some type of disgusting store, look at a bunch of pre-wrapped meat packages, and swipe their credit card. Good thing that hasn’t happened yet. That kind of hunter would really suck.
It’s lame, it’s weak, it’s bullshit. It’s even worse than the lazy assholes who fly to Texas to shoot fenced in exotics. None of it is hunting, it’s just jerking off. It’s not much more than a critter firing squad. Either get out there and hunt for real, or don’t hunt at all. Get cold and wet and tired, and stomp around for hours without seeing anything. I don’t care about the crippled guy either. I’d think he had more important things to worry about than clicking a mouse to kill something hundreds (or thousands) of miles away.
Either you kill and butcher your own meat*, or you pay someone to do it for you. If you’re not hunting, you’re killing by proxy. Doesn’t matter whether this proxy is a mouse button, a slaughterhouse employee, or a boat crewmember with a net. This merely fits somewhere on a scale between shooting it yourself, and picking it off the shelves at Albertsons. At least the participants are aware that their burger was once an animal.
Get over it.
*I’ll concede an exception for vegetarians. Kinda wierd, but I’ll admit a grudging admiration for their consistency.
There’s nothing for me to get over. I’m an unrepentant carnivore. I buy fat bloody steaks at Ralph’s. I have occasionally gone hunting and fishing. I do not sit on my dead ass, mouse clicking on animals to kill them. I went out, froze my ass off, fell in the mud, got twisted ankles, the whole nine yards. And, I did eat whatever I took. What these guys are doing is not hunting, not by any stretch of the imagination. There’s a whole lot more to real hunting than just the kill. Like I said before, they’re just jerking off.
Did you even understand the comment you were attempting to address there, SteveG1? When you get your steak at Ralph’s, you’re doing even less work to get your meat than the online hunter. Does that make your actions “lame, weak, and bullshit?” If not, why?
Yeah, I hate those pricks that don’t wear crudely-cut animal skins and throw spears at animals the way REAL hunters do. :rolleyes:
Again, I can understand why people feel that online hunting is less sporting than the actual act. What I don’t understand is the level of vitriol. I don’t foam at the mouth when someone plays my favorite video games on the “easy” setting, or call people names because they play flag football instead of tackle. Even if I considered their activities cheating, who really cares when they aren’t in competition with anyone?
You buy a steak for the purposes of feeding yourself.
You hunt for the purposes of killing an animal.
There’s nothing wrong with getting a steak by going about it in the most convenient way possible. You just need to eat, that’s all; who cares how the food gets on your plate?
However hunting is not supposed to be convenient. It is supposed to be a challenge, so it’s cheapened by doing it online instead of getting up early in the morning and going out in the woods.