# hunting via internet



## dleier (Aug 28, 2002)

'Hunting' via Internet worries Texas officials

Reuters - Nov. 17, 2004

HOUSTON - 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.

A controversial 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 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 whitetail 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.

Berger 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.

He also 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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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

You have got to be friggin kidding me!!
:eyeroll:

Bob


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Not for me...but I gotta say...that guy came up with a novel idea....and you can bet there will be people who use it.


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## MRN (Apr 1, 2002)

Why not mount it on a remote control vehicle too?
Or on a remote control plane - like the millitary has...

How come the little light-bulb that says "This isn't a good idea" didn't come on for the guy? Must be burned out...

M.


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## Remmi_&amp;_I (Dec 2, 2003)

And just think of the free publicity it will get!


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## Powder (Sep 9, 2003)

I think he already has gotten free publicity. Earlier this week (Mon.?) The Today Show was running a segment about hunting via the internet. I had to leave for work so I didn't get to see it.


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## strand (Sep 29, 2004)

That's just ridiculous. :eyeroll:


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## jacks (Dec 2, 2003)

I wouldn't have a problem with it if it was for disabled people only.


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## fishhook (Aug 29, 2002)

I have a problem with it. You are actually killing wildlife from the freindly confines of your computer room. Half these losers will probably be spanking the monkey while they hunt.......joy joy.

Nothing wrong with hunting video games, but to take a life of anything doing it from a living room is not ok.

And the argument may come that disabled people cannot hunt....bull crap. There are ground blinds all over the country specifically for disabled people. A good friend of mine and my dad's was paralized from veitnam and had a car hunting permit. Some i'm sure thought he was a slob shooting from his car, but as he got older that is the only way he could hunt. We had wheeled him out to goose hunt and everything else, before his weight got the best of us. As he got older he was out designated poster while we walked. So that crap is no excuse.

What a joke. The world is going silly. :eyeroll: :eyeroll:

Why don't they just call a spade a spade. It's for nerds who want a big trophy mount on the wall and this way they don't even have to get dirty..pathetic


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



> I have a problem with it. You are actually killing wildlife from the freindly confines of your computer room. Half these losers will probably be spanking the monkey while they hunt.......joy joy.


uke:


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

You also better have a high speed internet connection too. If it takes even a few seconds for the view to reach the shooter and a couple of more between the viewers trigger pull and that of the weapon there is a greater than normal risk of wounding an animal.


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## buckseye (Dec 8, 2003)

....and some one still has to tag, gut and recover the animal. Pretty hard to do if your not there. :eyeroll:


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## Militant_Tiger (Feb 23, 2004)

Frankly I think this would be a sweet idea provided it was set up over a prarie dog field with some nice flat shooting caliber. Make people pay 20 bucks to take a pot shot at a PD, but this is a horse of a different color entirely.


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## ND decoy (Feb 1, 2003)

This has got to be the worst idea I have heard of in a long time. Nobody can reallt call this hunting. It takes every thing that I enjoy about the sport away. How are you going to tell the story to your buddies about this hunt.

I was sneaking up on the record book animal and all of a sudden the pizza timer went off and spooked him.

This is just another thing that PETA and the non hunting public will use to see us as blood thirsty bambi killers.

To me hunting is about fair chase and the experience of the outdoors. Having a story to tell after it all over with. The only thing that this can do for our sport is hurt it.

Sorry for getting up on the soap box but this one just rubs me the wrong way.


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## StillKillsTheOldWay (Nov 14, 2004)

It gives me the Red *** just as bad as any of you guys since the said service only creates a myriad of BAD!!! outcomes, but unfortunately I see the guy making a pretty hefty profit. Just another case where you don't know whether to blame the producer or the consumer. :eyeroll:


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## i_love_177 (Oct 20, 2004)

the problem is even if that does happen and u have to pay to shoot the animal look at it this way if u set up all the guns in one line then had simulated deer run by and u shoot and miss duh theres going to be a scam going on definitly theres no way ur going to beable to SHOOT deer from ur home its rediculous and the handicapped they can still go out there and shoot


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## Dan Bueide (Jul 1, 2002)

This came up last year - someone actually posted a link to the site - it was shocking. But, really, why does this surprise anyone? This is just the next logical and technology-assisted form of canned hunts. What's the difference if you walk/drive to within 100 yards of a live but pre-determined dead shooting target or "left-click" the poor bastard from the 82nd floor of the Sears Tower? In each case, the "trophy" is acquired, the cape and meat show up on your steps in about two weeks and you've got bragging rights with all your buds about how you slewed the mighty beast. In both cases, we're just a few notches closer to swaying the tolerant non-hunting majority to jerk our tickets just like they did in four provinces of Australia.


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## DJRooster (Nov 4, 2002)

Doesn't surprise me! Heck some people will go out in a fenced in yard and shoot whatever they fancy and call it hunting. Nothing is sacred anymore!


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## Remmi_&amp;_I (Dec 2, 2003)

fishhook said:


> I have a problem with it. You are actually killing wildlife from the freindly confines of your computer room. Half these losers will probably be spanking the monkey while they hunt.......joy joy.


Why does the _*spanking the monkey *_comment have to appear right when I take a sip of hot coffee? Fishhook, you owe me one Jeffry Beene dress shirt and a TJMAXX tie ! :beer:


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## jamartinmg2 (Oct 7, 2004)

Remmi_&_I said:


> fishhook said:
> 
> 
> > I have a problem with it. You are actually killing wildlife from the freindly confines of your computer room. Half these losers will probably be spanking the monkey while they hunt.......joy joy.
> ...


Remmi.... you can use that shirt and tie for pheasant hunting on your road trips to Minot! That way when you get a little pheasant blood on them it won't be a huge deal.


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## Ryan.Anderson (Oct 12, 2004)

SOOOOO, there's actually people who want to just shoot an animal online? What happens to a wounded animal? How the hell could it be considered hunting from the confines of your computer room? Dumbest idea I've ever heard. Even stupid if handicap people used it. The point of hunting isn't to KILL things. Why not just let the handicap kid go to a butcher shop and shoot a cow instead. He'll get the same enjoyment out of it. Buck fever is a part of hunting, freezing your *** off is a part of hunting, working hard is a part of hunting, holding a gun steady on your own is a part of hunting. There's no way you'll ever get the full experience of hunting by sitting at a computer. Anyone who dissagrees has never actually been "HUNTING". The online prarie dog hunt isn't a bad idea, but it sure doesn't seem fair to even the prarie dogs. I believe that even a prarie dog should have the chance to spot you and run down his/her hole. Remote controll hunting just doesn't seem fair. Just think of the possibilities of it. You could have a remote controlled gun every 100 yards in the area, and no deer would ever be safe. The poor deer wouldn't have a chance in hell to survive. Some people just forget that ethics is supposed to be a part of hunting.


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## Remmi_&amp;_I (Dec 2, 2003)

jamartinmg2 said:


> Remmi.... you can use that shirt and tie for pheasant hunting on your road trips to Minot! That way when you get a little pheasant blood on them it won't be a huge deal.


That is a great point.....I may have to try that one again tomorrow!


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## ND decoy (Feb 1, 2003)

I could be wrong about this but I don't this group had disabled hunters in mind when they set there site up. All you would have to do is look at the price that they are charging and I think that would shoot that theory out the window. There was an piece in the Bismarck tribune about 2-3 weeks ago about a disabled kid who if I remember right the kid was blind and in a wheel chair. Some guys from Bismarck set up a hunt with the Game and Fish and Dean Hildebrant for this kid to take a deer with a cross bow at the Amoco refinery in Mandan. Again if I remember right with the kid being blind they had to line the cross hairs up for the kid but he pulled the trigger and got a 4x4.

Now those guys were helping a disabled hunter. If any body else saw it in the tribune maybe they could post a link to it for others to read.


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## mr.trooper (Aug 3, 2004)

How is the attendant thing ging to work? i hope that he can shut off the gun somehow, and is in a bulletproof box, because you know some yahoo is going to use a stolen credit card to pay, and then shoot him in the butt when he goes to get the animal.


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## TANATA (Oct 31, 2003)

MRN said:


> Why not mount it on a remote control vehicle too?
> Or on a remote control plane - like the millitary has...
> 
> How come the little light-bulb that says "This isn't a good idea" didn't come on for the guy? Must be burned out...
> ...


No, the money bulb was just bigger.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

there was a story about this on the NBC Nightly news tonight.They interviewed the guy.Right now it is just shooting targets.You actually fire the gun using your mouse.He says he hopes to have it for live animals next year.The Texas GNF is going to propose a law to make it manditory to be on the premises when hunting.Not shooting by "remote control".


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## Niles Short (Mar 18, 2004)

I can honestly say that this at no surprise at all


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## GunRunner (Oct 18, 2004)

HEY, that gives me an idea!....why dont we setup remote control dive bys now!........

makes as much sense.

so what if you do kill an animal via the internet. what happens to it. does it sit in the field and rot?.....do they pack it in dry ice and ship it to you?

pretty kewl for targets, pretty asinine for hunting.


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