Let me say, I love hunting.  I do it all the time.  Especially deer and now rabbits.  But this is un-fricking-believeable and I would never do it:

Hunting via Internet?
Officials wary
Computer controls rifle-camera combination

Updated: 11:38 p.m. ET Nov. 16, 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, http:/www.live-shot.com, 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.

Link to the above article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6507424

Other links: http://www.deertexas.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=001611

Here is the gun you (and anyone else with the internet and a computer who pays for this service) can move around and shoot with your own personal computer (most likely deer):

http://www.boomspeed.com/tomp/johnsgun.JPG

Let me say, I love hunting.  I do it all the time.  Especially deer and now rabbits.  But this is un-fricking-believeable and I would never do it:

Hunting via Internet?
Officials wary
Computer controls rifle-camera combination

Updated: 11:38 p.m. ET Nov. 16, 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, http:/www.live-shot.com, 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.

Link to the above article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6507424

Other links: http://www.deertexas.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=001611

Here is the gun you (and anyone else with the internet and a computer who pays for this service) can move around and shoot (most likely deer):

http://www.boomspeed.com/tomp/johnsgun.JPG


This is wrong in soooooooo many ways!

that is not right at all. that takes the sport out of hunting and turns it into a videogame. hunting is a game, you have to outwit the prey. if you take that away then it degrades the sport and turns the animals into nothing more than targets. i used to hunt and i never baited, i walked my ass off through miles of bush and often came home with nothing. this internet hunting makes me just ill.

I wonder if he moves the gun to different places.  The deer in that area have to know about that gun by now.

Definitely sounds like a bad idea for any number of technical reasons.

The trial lawyers probably love the idea.  If the internet-hunting business gets off the gound, it is a certainty that somebody is gonna get shot.  Bring on the lawsuits!  ;D

Definitely sounds like a bad idea for any number of technical reasons.

The trial lawyers probably love the idea.  If the internet-hunting business gets off the gound, it is a certainty that somebody is gonna get shot.  Bring on the lawsuits!  ;D


I wanna be a lawyer!  ::)

This is not only stupid but it is also wrong on so many levels. I am a hunter also, and as a hunter I would never be part of something this F'ing rediculous.
WTF is wrong with people?!? >:(