The evolution of technology in the weaponry in America has shaped the deer hunting community into what it is today. Many deer hunters could argue that technology has improved the sport and made it more fun and easy for everyone. However, others believe that the advanced technology used in hunting today has caused it to be too easy and has taken away from the sport aspect of it altogether. I agree with the latter argument. I believe that today’s technology has led deer hunting to become too easy. A sport that was once only practiced by those who had athletic ability and stamina now can be practiced by nearly anyone of any age or size.
In prehistoric times, hunters used weapons that were made with little more than sticks and stones. They might have used spears or bows and arrows of some kind to kill their prey. This would have taken a lot of special talent because the hunter would have most likely had to track down the deer and get somewhat close to it to be able to penetrate the deer with the spear or arrow. However, the gun, which is the weaponry that is most commonly used today, has been advanced to the point where nearly anyone can use one to kill a deer. A hunter with a modern gun can shoot a deer from ridiculous distances. The following chart demonstrates the typical hunting rifle trajectory path of a bullet. As you can see from the chart, a typical rifle bullet can travel well over 100 to 200 yards. This means that a hunter can easily kill a deer at those distances with a modern rifle.
The fact that the modern gun has made hunting so much easier, to me also means that it is taking away from the sporting aspect of it. The fact that a person can sit in a shooting house and shoot a deer that is 200 yards away makes it far too easy to be considered a sport in my opinion. There is hardly any physical activity involved when this technology is used.
Another technology that has been developed is the hunting motion sensor camera. In more primitive times, hunters had to track deer, which required special skills and knowledge of the land, and the deer that they were hunting. They would have to adapt to their surroundings and learn how to find where the deer were on their own. Today, hunters can go out and buy a motion censor camera to put in areas of the woods where deer might be found. These cameras can not only take pictures of deer in that area, but can also record the date, time, and even temperature it was in which that photograph was taken. This gives an unfair advantage to the hunter because they can determine when the deer are most likely to come out in that area and can go hunting during that time. This technology clearly takes away from the sport in that it makes it too easy for the hunter to know when he or she can find the deer.
According to the article “Mouse Click Brings Home Thrill of the Hunt”, there has now been a technology developed in which a person can literally hunt from his or her home computer. They can log onto a web site, pay a certain amount of money, and kill deer or other types of animals in Texas from wherever they are by just the click of a mouse. The inventor of the website, John Lockwood, says that the main audience is people who are disabled or overseas. This seems like an acceptable idea to those who are disabled and would like to hunt. However, this creation is a slap in the face to those who do consider hunting a sport. The fact that a person can sit miles away in their computer chair and shoot a deer by clicking a mouse is incomprehensible to me. There is absolutely no physical activity involved when doing this other than clicking a button, and you don’t even have to be outdoors.
This technological invention, however amazing it may seem, is the last step in converting the sport of hunting into just another video game that anyone can play. In my opinion when anyone can do it, it should no longer be considered a sport. After all a sport is defined by dictionary.com as an athletic activity that requires skill or physical prowess. The fact that this type of technology requires neither skill nor physical prowess causes it to take hunting out of the sports category altogether.
The fact that all of these advances in hunting technologies has led to making the sport too easy has caused many hunters to try and somewhat evolve backwards. Many dedicated hunters use compound bows to hunt, and some use even more primitive bows called recurve bows, which are very similar to bows used by Native Americans. An image of a recurve bow and all of its parts can be seen below. Both of these bows are much more complicated to use than guns. The following video is a video demonstrating how to shoot a compound bow. As you can see from the video, there is much more to shooting a bow than there is to shooting a gun, which can easily be done by aiming and pulling the trigger.
Along with using more primitive weapons, the hard-core hunters prefer to pick out random areas to hunt in as opposed to hunting in secluded areas where they are assured deer. This also makes the hunt more difficult which in-turn adds to the sport. Also, many states in America are making bans on certain things such as using decoys. This also makes the hunt more challenging and even more enjoyable for some. Many dedicated hunters who hunt for sport alone do all of the previously mentioned actions to make the sport more difficult. They add to the physical and mental aspect of the sport by making it harder to find and kill the deer.
“Since the beginning of mankind, it was man vs. beast, up close and personal. Today, it seems to be technology vs. nature. We are distancing ourselves from our prey, literally.” The previous quote from the article “Mule Deer Watch: Bowhunting Big Mulies”, pretty much sums up my entire argument. The fact that technology has led to so much ease in hunting has gotten way out of hand. In today’s society, hunters can kill a deer with just the movement of one finger, and to me that is not what hunting is all about. I believe that we should do like some of the more dedicated hunters, and try and evolve backwards to bring back the sport that has somewhat slipped away due to our advanced technology. We should make hunting an actual sport again by making it more physical and primitive.
Works Cited
Burrell, Michael. “Mule Deer Watch: Bowhunting Big Mullies.”
Christensen’s Hunting Illustrated 05 Jul 2007: n. pag. Web. 9 May 2010. http://www.huntingillustrated.com/2007/07/05/mule-deer-watch-bowhunting-big-mulies/
Moreno, Sylvia. “Mouse Click Brings Home Thrill of the Hunt.”
Washington Post 08 May 2005, Web.
“How to Shoot a Compound Bow.” YouTube. Web. 9 May 2010.
