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View Full Version : Hunting Goes High-Tech



peace
December 3rd, 2008, 09:24 AM
Well, those wholesome and simple ways of killing are long gone. Now shooting animals for sport seems less a bucolic escape from Blackberries and work and iPhones and traffic, and more like an extension of the Bluetooth world we're supposedly evading. Today's hunters use GPS devices so they don't get lost, and their bear-hunting dogs wear fancy remote-control tracking collars so they don't do the same. We map out deer trails in advance with motion-sensor cameras, and use night-vision goggles to spot treed raccoons instead of just shining a two-dollar flashlight up there like my granddaddy did when he'd take us coon hunting.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there are roughly 100,000 fewer people hunting every year in the U.S. in the five-year span from 2001 to 2006—down from 13 million hunters to 12.5 million—yet we still spent $22.9 billion dollars on the sport in the last year of the survey. Today, there are thousands of offbeat products looking for a piece of that pie, so instead of walking into the woods chomping on watermelon-flavored Dubble Bubble like I did as a boy, sporting goods advertisers now tell you you'd better worry about the deer smelling your breath. Which brings us to "Gum-o-Flage," a specialty gum that "creates a natural scent that won't spook game." It comes in Alfalfa Honey, Pine, and Apple. Because you know if there's one thing a deer will not tolerate when it's being shot, it's garlicky halitosis.


Full article: http://www.newsweek.com/id/170823?GT1=43002

Oooh, but hunting is a way to get back to nature, like our ancestors did, they say... :gun:

Nickle00
December 3rd, 2008, 10:07 AM
If you want to get back in touch with nature why not go hiking or take a swim in the lake? :rolleyes:

vigilant20
December 3rd, 2008, 10:27 AM
I would think, if anything, this would be the point of interest for this forum.


According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there are roughly 100,000 fewer people hunting every year in the U.S.

animallover7249
December 3rd, 2008, 11:28 AM
Even though there are less hunters, with more technology I bet they still kill almost the same amount of animals. :(

PlaybackGuru
December 3rd, 2008, 02:30 PM
I bet they kill more, of that 100k that are not hunting this year how many do you think ever were "successful hunters"?

peace
December 3rd, 2008, 07:21 PM
It seems to me that state regulations are trying to make up for fewer active hunters with longer seasons and more liberal bag limits. In my city, bowhunting season lasts 3 months!