The Hog Blog

No, this is not about Live-Shot, the misguided operation in which Internet users could log on, pay a fee, and shoot live animals from the comfort of their desk chair.  I was right there in the vanguard when the hunting community rose up to put a quick stop to that foolishness before it ever even got started, and to this day I still think we were right to do so.  I have a pretty laissez faire attitude when it comes to hunting methods, as long as it’s legal, but Internet hunting was too much to countenance.

But that’s not what this about.

Nope, what this is about is another kind of Internet hunting… where nothing really gets hurt except a little bandwidth.  OK, so a lot of you out there are gonna say it’s not hunting if you don’t actually kill anything, and that’s true enough.  This is more of a game than a hunt, of course, which is exactly what belongs on the Internet… games.   

So the site is called Cyber Ranch Adventures, and here’s what they do, according to the home page on the website.

Virtual Deer Hunting Live provides unlimited hours of entertainment to hunters from anywhere in the world. The only thing needed is access to the internet. Subscribers actually take control of our cameras on site. You can pan left/right, zoom in and out, up and down, anything you can do with a rifle and scope. Even pull the trigger to take a snapshot of a winning buck. Hunters can experience the joy and excitement associated with hunting right from their home or office. You will have opportunities through our monthly contests to win hunting equipment or even free hunts.

Our cameras are placed strategically at prime hunting locations inside ranches across the USA and eventually the world. The cameras are unobtrusive to the environment and completely silent. We in no way harm or disturb natural surrounding wildlife. As we continue to grow, our subscribers will have access to more and more ranches and different types of game.

I actually saw these guys’ ad on one of the hunting channels, and had to log on and check it out.  While it looks like the plan is to make this a pay-to-play site, right now you can register for free.  Free fits my budget right now, so I registered and skipped right over all the other stuff to see the hunting. 

To start, you pick a ranch from their menu of ranches.  Since I’ve fallen in love with the Texas Hill Country, I clicked away on the Frio River Ranch.  My first impression was that things loaded pretty slowly, but as the page resolved I realized why… these really are LIVE cameras!  You’re looking around at a real ranch, generally a feeder or a waterhole, and real wildlife. 

From here, you can select the camera/area you want to hunt from the menu of live images from the area.  This takes you to your “stand”, where you can use the controller to pan the camera around a total, 360-degree view of the area.  And here’s where I ran into my first snag. 

First of all, if anyone else is using that area, you’re queued up to wait until they get done.  A “hunt session” is about three minutes, at which point if the current hunter hasn’t made a “shot”, he is kicked to the back of the line and the next hunter gets a turn.  If you don’t want to wait in line, you can go back out and select an area that no one else is using.   Here’s a game tip for ya… if the preview menu shows animals on the camera, you can count on other hunters picking that area.  The menu shows you how many other people are already in the area, so you can pick someplace else if you don’t want to wait.

But that aside, when I entered the hunt area, I found the controls a bit clunky.  Most of this was due to the slow refresh rate of the live camera over the Internet, but part of it was that it was difficult to manage fine adjustments to the camera… especially when it came time to aim.  The more I played, the better I got at it… although I still think it leaves a bit to be desired.  I found that by adjusting the speed control, I had a little more control over the camera.  Slow it down to make fine adjustments, and speed it up to pan more quickly.  Remember, you’ve only got three minutes to find an animal and make your shot. 

Something I liked was that, because these are live cameras on real game ranches, the animals come and go.  There’s no computerized algorithm that determines the appearance of game… the critters are gonna do what they want.  Some folks may not have the patience for this, but really, if there’s nothing in the area where you are, you can always go to another area, or even to another ranch. 

When you find your animal and make your “shot”, the system snaps a digital photo with your crosshairs (or crossbow pins… depending on the weapon you chose) on the kill zone.  The site runs a monthly contest for the best picture (not completely sure on the judging criteria), with prizes advertised to be hunting gear and/or free hunts.  I whacked an ibex and submitted my photo (why not, it’s free?). 

I only messed around on the site for an hour or two, and I’m sure there’s a lot more to be found there.  They do have a forum where members can post up about their virtual hunts, as well as chat about real hunting experiences.  I popped in briefly, but I didn’t have a lot to add right now. 

While I think the game could benefit from some tweaking (especially the aiming mechanism), I still think it’s a pretty good idea.  As they add more ranches, it could provide a pretty unique opportunity to take a break from the daily drag and hop into a “stand” on your favorite ranch, see some real critters instead of computer generated animations, and make a “shot” or two.  And who knows, but you might win some cool prizes as well! 

Anyway, I put these guys with The Hunter.Com and Camospace as a couple of sites to keep an eye on.  More good stuff for hunters on the Internet.

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