Bloodsports are a problem to people for many reasons, and I don't attempt here to address all of them. My main problem with many of the sorts of bloodsport that go on (at least here in Britain) is that they are so damnned unfair. I would be a lot happier for hunting to take place if the hunters were in as much danger as the huntee. Of course this would immediatly prevent foxhunting as its difficult to see what kind of threat a fox could pose to a chap unless rabid.

So...something along these lines. You may go hunting, but the animal in question must be able to kill you using force, I envisage this criterion precluding animals that might kill you accidentally in panic such as the noble Bison.

You could hunt maybe a mountain lion, gorrillas, sharks, polarbears, crocs and gators, that type of thing. But for the hunter in my world no projectile weapons of anykind, Oh no. The animal has not the capacity to kill at a distance so why should you. You could have a knife maybe, to account for the fact that the enemy has sharp claws and teeth, and maybe a proportional amount of body armour but not enough to make you impregnable.

This would be far more entertaining for the rest of us, sort the men from the boys (and upper class twits), turn it into more of a game with two players, and make heros out of hunters and hunted alike. Great!
-- Zircon, Feb 08 2002

Baked: war.
-- miles, Feb 08 2002


I'm reminded of a B. Kliban cartoon. Game warden talking to a hunter, between them on the ground, a dead rabbit. Beside the rabbit, a big pistol. Hunter: "It was either him or me."

Which reminds me of an even more obscure cartoon... Mr. and Mrs. Snowman, being threatened by a rabbit pointing a hair dryer at them. Mrs. Snowman, panicking: "Honey, just give him your nose and he'll go away."

Sorry for the digression.
-- waugsqueke, Feb 08 2002


I appreciate the idea behind the use of only 'fierce' animals, but I bet most folks would have a tough enough time tracking, cornering and killing-by-hand even a fox. Same for rabbits, pheasant and other unintimidating animals.
-- phoenix, Feb 08 2002


half-baked in the bloom county comic strip, where the animals were shooting back at the hunters with their own rifles. i can't seem to find a link to that particular strip, but if you search long enough, i'm sure you'll find it.
-- mihali, Feb 08 2002


Baked by the roman gladiators. First class entertainment.
-- cuba, Feb 08 2002


The most important skill of hunting is to make the kill, or nutralize the prey without coming in contact with it. Other wise it becomes a form of combat or rodeo not hunting
-- wood2coal, Feb 08 2002


thought this would be a great chance to ressurect the animal olympics of death and it seems to have gone, although I think I have a copy lying around somewhere....
-- notripe, Feb 08 2002


I think you should extend this idea to meat eating people... have them occasionally be fed to hungry farm animals, just to keep things fair. And car drivers should be required to cross freeways at night, while blindfolded, to even up the odds for roadkill. And electricity users should have to commute to work through the turbines of a dam, just to make it fair for fish. The world is just so unfair, boo hoo. Go fish.
-- Krate, Feb 08 2002


Again I appear to have come up with an idea that already been half baked.....

This is either a sign of my lack of originality, or of the power of the half bakery.

[Krate] I'm not particularly worried about the world being unfair (meat eater and mostly proud of it) I just think hunting would be so much more entertaining this way, and tree huggin hippie types would have so much less to whine about.

[wood2coal] Killing prey is no longer a major point of hunting - in britain at least (when was the last time you had a nice bit of roast fox?). I was thinking of brining in the concept of honour (in a kind a skewed way I know) a la 'Predator'
-- Zircon, Feb 11 2002


Not all the attraction of hunting comes from the thrill of evading personal danger, but often just comes from the challenge.

There are different levels of challenge with each type of prey.

If it's not for you, don't do it.
-- seal, Feb 11 2002


Is the croissant moldy?
-- thumbwax, Mar 15 2003


Real hunting: stalking Rob Glaser?
-- bristolz, Mar 15 2003


[m-f-d] Rant. Re deer on Long Island, probably big cats, which are now virtually extinct in this region.
-- snarfyguy, Mar 16 2003


Treat animals as equals? bah! Lets all stop living in houses, wearing clothes etc all in the name of equality. I think that we need to concentrate on treating the rest of humanity as equals rather than wrestling sharks. However, it would make a good docusoap or even an olympic event.
-- stoat, Mar 16 2003


I am a hunter. If you don't get it, I can't explain it to you in text. Non-hunters (much respect) almost always enter a debate with very wrong ideas about hunting. The best thing for me to say is that hunting is killing animals. Not a sport. Calling it a sport is just not right.

If you don't want to hunt I don't want you to. A vegan can logically and non hypocritically criticize me I and I totally accept it. The thing that bothers me is when carnivores look down on me for hunting. It shows a lot about the person's intellegence, if I may say that, also, with some respect.
-- zahc, Apr 09 2003


Robotic suits to simulate the powers and abilities of the prey being sought.

Eyesight and reflexes of a rabbit.

or Eyesight and nose of a wolf.

or flight and swimming ability of a duck.

OR give the robotic suits to the animals allowing them human eyesight, noses, weapons and so on.
-- popbottle, Feb 21 2016


I like [popbottle]'s idea a lot more. It's more halfbaked.
-- notexactly, Feb 21 2016


[popbottle]'s mod is reminiscent of Larry Niven's Jinxian Bandersnatchi - a sentient race which allows themselves to be hunted as a form of trade. Having no natural predators, they use this as both a means of population control and obtaining advanced technology. The hunting covenants restrict the hunters' equipment sufficiently that the bandersnatchi win about 40% of encounters.
-- lurch, Feb 22 2016


I wonder if Nivens critters were the idea behind the Predator in the movie series. The conceit was that the predator used technology comparable to that used by its prey - so if a dude was waving a knife the Predator would try to kill him with a knife.

I personally always battle these Predator types dressed only in a Speedo and armed with a rubber duck. It has a loud quack, though.
-- bungston, Feb 22 2016



random, halfbakery