Hunting can be a real hassle — muddy boots, bad weather, driving to the woods, etc. Not to worry. Now you can slaughter animals without getting up from your computer.
HOUSTON, Texas — 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…. 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.
Wow. I can blast deer right from my living room.
Now, I don’t have a gripe with hunting, but killing real live animals as part of a computer game — suffice it to say it doesn’t strike me as the healthiest use of one’s time.
This comes via Oxblog, who remarks, “Only in Texas.”
1
By JP
I am SO there. CNN doesn’t give the URL, but I’m gonna bag me a bambi.
Woohoo!!
November 18, 2004 @ 10:51 am | Comment
2
By boo
Not quite. Shooters will be able to fire ten .22 caliber rounds at paper and silhouette targets.
I put the URL in the comment above.
They say in the future they plan to have a hunting option, but it’s clearly a trophy thing, meaning it won’t be cheaper or easier than real hunting.
I imagine a lot of people will sign up for it once, just for the newness factor. Although I haven’t touched a firearm for many years, I remember what it was like and I can’t imagine any of the thrill translating to a web interface.
November 19, 2004 @ 6:46 am | Comment
3
By richard
Boo, I heard the site owner interviewed last night on NPR, and he said the mechanism is now in place to kill animals from your computer, and he is in the process of populating his ranch with animals. The guy is proud of this, and sees it as a great sport. I see it as bizarre as hell.
November 19, 2004 @ 9:21 pm | Comment
4
By Ron
Whoever has come up with this idea isn’t very smart.
Hunting deer is one thing, but wait until someone (accidentally or otherwise) blows the smithereens out of a human wandering on that ranch.
Then it will be real (legal) fun.
Should have believed it when I read that Texan brains weren’t even qualified to be auctioned off on e-bay! Isn’t Bush a prime example?
Cheers!
November 19, 2004 @ 11:54 pm | Comment
5
By ACB
Why don’t they just buy Quake like the rest of us?
November 20, 2004 @ 4:20 am | Comment
6
By ACB
Hey, isn’t this just like US marines using drones to bomb people in Iraq, it’s not new, it’s not interesting real hunters would stear clear because it takes the skill out of tracking down an animal.
November 20, 2004 @ 4:22 am | Comment