WV may teach hunting in school, thanks to video games

lol @ the rednecks

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.

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

Jack Thompson unavailable for comment?

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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

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.

DOUBLE BUCK BONUS!

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.

Am I the only one bothered with:

"EXTREME HUNTING"

"TAKING IT TO THE EXTREME"

I dont know about you guys but i think thats a bit too extreme.

wtf? America has already got like monthly school shootings, and now this guy wants to teach even more kids how to wield a firearm?

Intelligence - 10

you got a pretty little mouth boy.

you got a pretty little mouth boy.

damn you crazy movies for installing these stereotypes in my head!

The deer population and the coyotes are getting ridiculously high here in Ohio. More licensed hunters please.