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Let the Blind Hunt!
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We don't post very often about hunting here at Gadling, but since, like fishing, it is an outdoor activity which involves travel, we thought we'd bring you up to date on what's going on down in Texas.
Out of concern that blind people are unable to enjoy the thrill of killing woodland creatures, Republican Rep. Edmund Kuempel has sponsored a state bill which would allow visually challenged, wannabe hunters the opportunity to dispatch Bambi, Thumper, and similarly heinous ilk from the face of Texas.
The bill calls for the legal use of laser sights so that "legally blind" hunters can draw a better bead on their prey and subsequently blow out their furry little brains.
Such a practice is currently illegal because of the deer-in-headlights syndrome that laser sights can cause. If the law is passed, hunters have to prove they are legally blind in order to use the devices. Once they have done so, they will be free to fire at will.
Don't you just love Texas?
Filed under: Activism, United States
Reader Comments (Page 8 of 8)
John Dec 21st 2006 5:59AM
I love this quote " Humans are quickly destroying the earth we call home and all memory of a natural environment. So, let's see, we already are doing a fine job of destroying our land, water, and air resources, why don't we just kill the animals too while we are at it! There is no food for them anyway right?" Unbelievable. Unless you live in a tree, you have misplaced an animal. Even then, by living in said tree, you would have misplaced an animal that could have been living in it. Guess what was happening long before industrial smoke stacks and real-estate firms where buying upland for putting up condos? People were hunting for there food. Hunters are actually some of the biggest supporters for conserving lands. I know it probably makes some liberal knees weak, buts its a fact. There are just as many hunters out there supporting the preservation of this nations great forests and wilderness as there are you vegan, hybrid driving hypocrites. And I am only assuming vegan, because if you are not a vegan it only further proves the "hypocrite" hypothesis I mentioned earlier. Most apex predators seek out the weakest and most feeble members of a pack for their meal. When hunting you are actually forbidden from shooting the younger animals. Suprising that hunting guidelines are a bit more moral than the ones mother nature has set out for other predators. "well, using a gun is unfair and cruel" OK, be that as it may, which would you prefer? A clean shot through the vitals bringing near instant death? Or would you rather have your jugular ripped out by a timberwolf? Maybe, for the liberals out there, the next time i go hunting to put food on MY TABLE I will play by mother natures' rules. I will find the most feeble baby dear in all the wilderness and rip it apart with my barehands. Im sure it would appreciate the more "natural" death that it would succumb in nature. IF YOU LIVE IN A HOUSE YOU HAVE MISPLACED AN ANIMAL! Deal with it, it's fact. So you can go drive your Yaris out to the tree you must be living in and enjoy mother nature. Just make sure that while you are hugging that tree and weeping for mother earth that you are wearing hunter's orange.
bill Dec 21st 2006 6:17AM
just hope nobody gets hurt
Becky Dec 21st 2006 10:35AM
Somebody tell me what the words "legally blind" means in the state of Texas. Someone may be "legally blind" without total blindness. Liberals go for this open mindedness stuff and yet supposedly the conservatives go for the more stick to one train of thought. Yet, here is where the balance comes in. Thanks for trying to keep it there. I can see the point of NOT hunting for the completely blind. Yet, if they have some sight left, enough to not impose a threat to anyone else but the animals they are shooting at...preferably not domesticated, I see no harm done. They can have their fun, while they can see. Lets think, not blinding ourselves to some facts that are in existence by making fun of the idea before we realize all of the facts in an impartial manner.
Steph Dec 21st 2006 1:50PM
I agree. I believe in equality but there are SOME things out there that certain people are just not able to do. What if the laser sight locks onto another hunter?!
Bill Dec 21st 2006 4:50PM
Texas must be over-populated. Brilliant actually, manufacturing a mechanism to power the engine for natural selection (population control). This is almost as bad as invading a country to start a civil war. Wait... isn't Bush from Texas? hmmm...
Bill Piebenga Dec 21st 2006 9:16PM
Do all you negative people understand,there is another person with the
blind person who is shooting.Red,yellow,black or white(or blind)let
them persue there dreams! If harvesting an animal that they will eat
and have that memory of hearing,smelling,touching and tasting!By God,
give it to them!(can I help!)And for you people who think that people
who hunt, just kill animals. Wake-up!!! Myself and all other hunters
I'm associated with put in hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars
every year back into our enviorment! We are state funded for the Cure
Project (Restoration of Upland Game).We practice Quality Deer
management,we have a hand in Preditor Control.(without, could cost
you your pet.) I'll turn in a poacher in a heartbeat! And if you hunt
with me you will obay every law!I hunt with my family! We dont depend
on on a slaughter house to put food on our table. What do you do!??
Let a good man follow his heart (or woman)! And that good heart may
one day bless You!!! W.C.P.
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Becky Jan 3rd 2007 2:53PM
I know that even the blind/ legally blind alike must eat to live. I seriously doubt that the specially guided laser will "lock on" to another hunter. It is not a video game. To further note, I before mentioned and used the word "animals", when I said "animals" that was NOT in reference to human beings! So, another hunter...I think not. In addition, there is the recommendation to have another person there with the individual who is "legally blind" and hunting. Which further would help the sparing of other hunter's lives, of course that is assuming their intentions were and are hunting animals and not people.
George Jan 23rd 2007 7:21PM
The solution to dear population control is not "sport" hunting but the introduction of natural predators, like wolves. I would fund the wolf program by charging a $500 license to hunt wolves using a bowie knife. A real challenge for tough guys.
Barbara Metzler Jan 28th 2007 6:00PM
It seems so ironic that a disabled person would enjoy disabling wildlife!
There are anti-cruelty laws that attempt to prevent people from harming or starving domestic animals. Please remember that "cruelty" includes every act, omission, or neglect, whereby unjustifiable physical pain, suffering or death is caused or permitted.
Why, then, is it OK to hunt and kill wildlife? It seems that the anti-cruelty laws should apply to all animals! Animal cruelty is rampant across America and is a valuable predictor of current and future violent individuals.
Hunting merely treats people who find a truly odd and distorted form of "recreation" in killing defenseless animals. It is actually frightening to think of the mentality of a hunter who can hardly wait to shoot an animal that is minding its own business.
The disabled people that I know are compassionate individuals who would never consider killing or wounding another living being.
b shaw Jan 29th 2007 6:59AM
i think hunting by the blind is obscene. one would think a disabled person would have compassion against making an animal disabled, injured, wounded, which is what happens in 50% of all shootings of wildlife. the wildlife is left to suffer with the wound.
one has to wonder about people who need to go out for the day in the woods to kill something. there is perversion and sadism in such people. l860 was one thing when america seemed to have unlimited open space. now when wildlife are fighting to stay alive in the little we have left them, hunting with its night scopes, its powerful rifles, the perverted propensity of its adherents, is absolutely obscene.
if you truly have respect for the wildlife, you dont kill it. you can watch it, you can photograph it, but you are perverted if you need to go out and KILL IT!
Travis Feb 6th 2007 11:31AM
Actually this type of hunting is very rewarding for both the blind hunter and the sighted assistant.
I’ve been on several blind hunts in Michigan with both seasoned hunters and blind young people.
It’s about letting those people with disabilities enjoy the same activities that sighted people enjoy.
As far as safety goes, the folks I hunted with were probably more aware of the trigger, muzzle and hammer of the firearm as they use their sense of feel more than sighted people.
Also, there are veterans coming back from the war that simply want to enjoy the sport of shooting. Who are we to lock them out of the woods?
Just my .02.
Travis
Alice Tripp Mar 3rd 2007 6:28PM
First of all it's legal for a blind person to hunt in every state. Imagine for a moment that you've spent your life in the field, you've had hunter education and you regularly get a hunting license and because of an accident you are blinded. Does this mean that you stop living? It does for a while. Jeremy Feldbusch was blinded by a motar attack in 2003 in Baghdad. He was instantly blind.
He has been instrumental in giving this message to other Vets. He hunts with a spotter, a sighted person who helps him line up the shot with rifle or cross-bow but it's Jeremy who pulls the trigger. A laser sight makes it easier on the spotter, a better and therefore more ethical kill. In Texas we can use laser sights for varmits (hogs and coyotes) but not for game animals. This is what this is about, not making it "legal" for the blind to hunt. By the way, this has been going on forever...that is blind people and hunting and there is no record of a hunting accident. You see they practice.