News & Politics - Internet Hunting?

Katis · 11-17-2004, 01:28 PM

Quote:

HOUSTON, Texas (Reuters) -- Hunters soon may be able to sit at their computers and blast away at animals on a Texas ranch via the Internet, a prospect that has state wildlife officials up in arms.

The Web site already offers target practice with a .22 caliber rifle and could soon let hunters shoot at deer, antelope and wild pigs, site creator John Underwood said on Tuesday.

Texas officials are not quite sure what to make of Underwood's Web site, but may tweak existing laws to make sure Internet hunting does not get out of hand.

"This is the first one I've seen," said Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wildlife director Mike Berger. "The current state statutes don't cover this sort of thing."

Underwood, an estimator for a San Antonio, Texas auto body shop, has invested $10,000 to build a platform for a rifle and camera that can be remotely aimed on his 330-acre (133-hectare) southwest Texas ranch by anyone on the Internet anywhere in the world.

The idea came last year while viewing another Web site on which cameras posted in the wild are used to snap photos of animals.

"We were looking at a beautiful white-tail buck and my friend said 'If you just had a gun for that.' A little light bulb went off in my head," he said.

Internet hunting could be popular with disabled hunters unable to get out in the woods or distant hunters who cannot afford a trip to Texas, Underwood said.

Berger said state law only covers "regulated animals" such as native deer and birds and cannot prevent Underwood from offering Internet hunts of "unregulated" animals such as non-native deer that many ranchers have imported and wild pigs.

He has proposed a rule that will come up for public discussion in January that anyone hunting animals covered by state law must be physically on site when they shoot.

Berger expressed reservations about remote control hunting, but noted that humans have always adopted new technologies to hunt.

"First it was rocks and clubs, then we sharpened it and put it on a stick. Then there was the bow and arrow, black powder, smokeless power and optics," Berger said. "Maybe this is the next technological step out there."

Underwood, 39, said he will offer animal hunting as soon as he gets a fast Internet connection to his remote ranch that will enable hunters to aim the rifle quickly at passing animals.

He said an attendant would retrieve shot animals for the shooters, who could have the heads preserved by a taxidermist. They could also have the meat processed and shipped home, or donated to animal orphanages.

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Ok, this is total B.S. If you can't haul yourself out your house to hunt, you shouldn't hunt. It's unfair to the animals, who can't exactly smell or see the hunter. Part of hunting is tracking, not being seen, etc. It gives a completely unfair advantage to the hunters. Stupid.

LittleMilkJug · 11-17-2004, 03:43 PM

If they really want to shoot animals why can't they 'kill' digital ones?

Ambular · 11-17-2004, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Katis
It's unfair to the animals, who can't exactly smell or see the hunter. Part of hunting is tracking, not being seen, etc. It gives a completely unfair advantage to the hunters. Stupid.

It's like going hunting in a zoo. The animals have no chance whatsoever.

I'm not against hunters who kill animals and utilize every part of it - my uncle used to take all the meat off the deers he shot and the family ate it. That's fine; it's no different than getting a burger at McDonalds.

But people who kill just for sport - they bother me.

haylz80 · 11-17-2004, 09:49 PM

I don't agree with it either, but what disturbs me even more is that no doubt some whacko is going to think this is a good way of killing people off. No chance of getting shot back if you aren't even there.

It's just a scary scary thought.

mh67511 · 11-17-2004, 10:03 PM

They already do stuff like that in the military aka missiles.

Anyways I don't get how it works! You click a button and it triggers a gun to fire? How do you move and aim the gun? How do you see the animals? Seems ridiculous to me. Now if they had a program for killing skunks and snakes I'd be all over that, although it'd be kind of hard to shoot a snake lol.


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