WV may teach hunting in school, thanks to video games

by Justin McElroy { Mar 11th 2008 at 10:30AM }

The way Frank Jezioro, director of West Virginia's Department of Natural Resources, sees it, there are just too many distractions from hunting for kids today. "When I grew up, you didn't have video games," he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "We have an obligation to see that these kids have exposure to the outdoor world and if they like it."

To that end (and also to help reverse the $2 million decline in hunting license fees) the state is considering offering hunting training in schools. The author of this post lives in West Virginia, and while he hates the deer menace as much as the next guy, he's not particularly jazzed about swapping dead-eyed, callous-thumbed gaming youth for an army of pint-sized killing machines. In fact, one could argue that sounds like a terrible, terrible idea.

[Via GamePolitics]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

a ham sandwich @ Mar 11th 2008 10:37AM

lol @ the rednecks

Korova @ Mar 11th 2008 3:23PM

Thank you for your striving to elevate our debate by studying thoughtful sources of information and embracing civility in our discourse.

a ham sandwich @ Mar 11th 2008 5:30PM

@korova

ur right. i was a little hasty. i sawee.

Poisoned Al @ Mar 11th 2008 10:48AM

You know I've never got my head around this.

Running over make believe people in a virtual world (who are usually shooting at you) in a video game turns kids into psychotic killers who renounce Jesus.

Blowing the brains out of real, live wood critters that have done you no harm for just shits and giggles; is a perfectly wholesome way to spend you time and doesn't desensitize you to killing at ALL.

Rednecks make me squeal like a piggy.

rv @ Mar 11th 2008 1:14PM

Not only that it actually teaches you how to use a gun.

LameDuck @ Mar 11th 2008 9:37PM

Because, you know, we don't actually eat what we kill. Nooooo... We just go into the woods and shoot Bambi to make you city-folk cry. Pussy.

ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ Mar 11th 2008 10:48AM

"Kids, now take your guns and point at at the helpless animal: don't worry, it's not as violent as your videogames!"

JonFitt @ Mar 11th 2008 10:50AM

Jack Thompson unavailable for comment?

wickedpheonix @ Mar 11th 2008 10:56AM

I'm sure that they would do it without video games if they could, you know, get (hunting) guns in (WV) schools *rolleyes*

tjlenz @ Mar 11th 2008 10:58AM

Nothing like using the public school systems to train our youth to be killers.

west @ Mar 11th 2008 11:01AM

I grew up in WV and there was hunter education available through the school every so often so using video games to aid in that is no big surprise.

The irony dripping from the the video game violence controversy/teaching kids to use REAL guns non-controversy that is created here is excellent.

Avarice @ Mar 11th 2008 11:05AM

It's either us or the squirrels, so it's best that we strike first.

breachless @ Mar 11th 2008 11:22AM

OK, I have to chime in at the risk of sounding like a "redneck".

While I don't think videogames should be teaching kids how to hunt and to learn about the outdoors (that is supposed to be the job of the parent), there IS an alarming decline in people that know anything about the outdoors, and the importance of hunting. There is also an alarming amount of people that are terrified of guns...

Anyone that knows a thing or two about the ecology of North America knows about the effects of overpopulation. It's a very real problem, and the only way to keep things in check is for hunters to get out there and do their part. If hunters don't take enough deer out of the woods in a given season, the DNR has to go out and start killing them because sickness runs rampant, and thousands of animals start to starve to death.

Think of the importance of hunters as something equivalent to why we need to stop the assholes from trapping and finning sharks in the ocean: sharks (the hunters of the sea), play a very significant role in keeping the populations of those species below them in the food chain in check. Without sharks, the very delicate balance of life in the sea begins to crumble, having catastrophic effects on everything we know.

People that think of all hunters as people who are "Blowing the brains out of real, live wood critters that have done you no harm for just shits and giggles" proves just how ignorant some can be on the subject. Sure, there are assholes out there that do this, and it probably pisses me off as an avid outdoorsman more than anyone else here, but it is NOT representative of all outdoorsman. I was taught at a very early age that you NEVER kill something you aren't going to eat. EVER.

Anyway, videogames as hunting tools are bullshit. I want to destroy that god-awful buck hunter arcade game every time I go to the bar, but people should take the time to understand the importance of hunting, and the positive (and crucial) impact it has on preserving nature and its habitat.

Mr. Picklesworth @ Mar 11th 2008 12:12PM

>It's a very real problem, and the only way to keep things in check is for hunters to get out there and do their part. If hunters don't take enough deer out of the woods in a given season, the DNR has to go out and start killing them because sickness runs rampant, and thousands of animals start to starve to death.

Interesting theory there. When do we start applying this to developing countries and disaster recovery?

Mr. Picklesworth @ Mar 11th 2008 12:16PM

Having said that, nice post. Really quite enlightening!

predatorian234 @ Mar 11th 2008 12:28PM

Breachless is right.

Most of you don't know anything about this subject, so you make brash assumptions about whats really going on.

Did you know that there is a Tax called the Robertson-Henderson tax (I think, can't remember) that requires 5% of ALL sales done on hunting permits, fishing permits, tackle, guns, and ammunition to be donated to wild-life organizations? Who do you think saved the Bald Eagle Population in TN? Oh right, money from hunters.

Hunters are the BIGGEST environmentalists out there. Unlike others who sit in their homes watching youtube videos of animals dieing and going "omg! so cruel!" these guys are actually out in the woods, being with nature.

Besides, hunter safety courses has very little to do with actual hunting, and more to do with gun safety. They don't take you out and teach you how to shoot and hunt. They don't have you old a gun and tell you how to kill an animal. They teach you about firearms and how to respect them.

1 more thing about overpopulation. Joe Davies County (where I hunt) had a record harvest of deer in 2005. Some 10,000 deer killed in one season or something. And the population INCREASED by 15%!

What happened soon after? Oh yeah, the chronic waste disease that started in WI spread down to the IL population causing mass sickness.

Its a real problem.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Mar 11th 2008 2:18PM

If it were possible to vote breachless up any farther, I would.

Now that we've gotten rid of all the bears and mountain lions out in the wild, someone has to step into the role of alpha predator.

deABREU @ Mar 11th 2008 2:18PM

that overpopulation you talk about only happens because the same hunters you think are ok killed all their natural predators, asshole.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Mar 11th 2008 3:53PM

Um, no, it wasn't "teh hunterz". It was civilized society. Do you honestly think we'd be able to survive without all the food farmers grow, or do you think you'd be able to live in the suburbs if your backyard had not just deer and squirrels, but bears and mountain lions too?

Wait, why am I bothering trying to reply to a hippy?

LameDuck @ Mar 11th 2008 9:47PM

Agreed.

It's sad that we hunters get bashed these days. I also find it ironic that the ones accusing us of killing innocent animals probly just came from McDonald's where they had a nice "big" mac. If you call three bites of week old meat big...

Say what you want about West Virginia, but we own. You won't find a nicer, more beautiful place to live. When all else fails, we can live off the land and be happy.

Tracy @ Mar 11th 2008 11:29AM

Silly as it sounds, it's not unheard of. When I was going to Jr. High in Wisconsin I went through a gun safety course. It was held after school hours at the school. We even brought our own rifles to class.

John Z @ Mar 11th 2008 11:39AM

I don't have a problem with teaching kids to hunt. I actually wish more gun safety was taught (because let's face it, guns are not going away anytime soon). But I think this is going about it the wrong way and doesn't work terribly well as a teaching aid. Even the most sophisticated simulated gun is no substitute for experience with the real thing. If you want to teach kids gun/hunting safety, take them to a shooting range, not an arcade.

Completely disregarding the whole "it's OK to kill real animals but thinking about violence towards pictures of fictional people will send you straight to Hell", of course, because I think we all can agree that there's just one guy who honestly truly believes that.

John Z @ Mar 11th 2008 11:41AM

As an aside, also, arguing that using Deer Hunter games will get kids to spend more time is both brilliant and stupid. Stupid because it really will only get them to play more Deer Hunter games, and brilliant because after they play Deer Hunter, they're probably going to swear off video games forever. Jesus Christ, who keeps buying those wastes of plastic?

John Z @ Mar 11th 2008 11:41AM

GAH. "more time" = "more time outside".

John Z @ Mar 11th 2008 11:54AM

Disregard this entire chunk of comments. I did not read the article properly.

vidGuy @ Mar 11th 2008 11:43AM

This doesn't sound that out there if you ask me. I lived in Alaska for seven years and part of our science course involved plotting ocean courses for a boat, whale spotting, and fly fishing. We spent about a quarter of the school year learning about our local rainforest and trenching through the woods of Southeast Alaska.

Hunting is a big part of midwestern life. Since we don't want kids actually holding the guns, why not give them some experience through video games? The majority of them are already killing people in video games, why not let them shoot some animals?

Worst Review Ever @ Mar 11th 2008 11:49AM

I would be okay with teaching kids how to hunt provided that every once in a while, instead of a deer, they hunt a guy with a John Deere hat. Overpopulation amongst rednecks is a serious problem. I really wouldn't mind culling those genes out of our population entirely.

jojo biscuits @ Mar 11th 2008 1:37PM

You want to shoot the guy in the John Deere hat because he has produced too much food? This anti-redneck stuff is nonsense. Who's going to do the real work if the rural community is culled? Will we sit in our restaurants and pretend we don't know where food comes from? Put the Bambi movies away and consider that we are a real and valid part of the food chain. Hunting is a valid form of food collection. If anything the huting community should be commended for adherence to the applied rules and restrictions associated with the practice.

I'm baffled why there is so much anger focused on rural America... I'm sure no one here is so addleminded and closed that they mindlessly repeat what other people say just so they look smart and build themselves up. Must be something else driving it...

But we're all clever geniuses here because we can type and have broaband connections. Unlike the rednecks. LOLZ!

Worst Review Ever @ Mar 11th 2008 3:29PM

Yeah jojo, I was so serious.

Punk1984 @ Mar 11th 2008 12:20PM

So it looks like Ludwig isn't the only one with wildlife problems.

Sick of the Idiots @ Mar 11th 2008 12:28PM

For the love of God people, can you at least take 10 seconds to actually read the summary? Or, another two minutes to read the linked article? That seems so much better than showing your ignorance with your rapid "LOL REDNECK" comments.

The only reference to video games is an off-hand comment by the state's DNR director about kids not getting outside these days. There is no plan to use video games to train students. Students do not get to shoot guns at school. It is a hunter safety course that results in a hunter safety card, which is required to buy a hunting license in WV. Similar programs have existed across the state for decades.

Justin McElroy @ Mar 11th 2008 12:34PM

The day belongs to Sick of the Idiots.

James @ Mar 11th 2008 1:30PM

DOUBLE BUCK BONUS!

Kendall B @ Mar 11th 2008 1:48PM

I got my hunter safety card with an in-school program. Course I'm a Tennessee boy. I'm actually a little surprised WV didn't have a program like this in schools to begin with.

I went hunting like twice, then I picked the NES controller back up and resumed playing Captain Skyhawk.

LameDuck @ Mar 12th 2008 9:52AM

Anyone else think this sounds like a Faux News report?

"Today, the President of West Virginia said they would be using the evils of video games to create a cult of savage, animal mutilating children. Who knows what other horrors are brewing within the school system." *cut to O'Reilly* "Tell me where I'm wrong."

To Justin McElroy: I would like to say good luck to you sir if you ever find yourself in a survival situation or in a posistion where you have to kill you're own food. Hugging Bambi won't make your hunger go away. Then again, killing animals is such a terrible, terrible thing. ;_;