Hunting in 2025

I often wonder what it will be like in the future. Will it be high-tech or low-tech? Green everywhere or polluted? Animals past the brink of extinction or a plentiful bounty to feast upon?

These questions sometimes wander through my mind. Sitting in a blind for days on end can have that effect on some people. As strange as it may seem, others are thinking about the same things and I breath a sigh of relief knowing that I am not alone with my musings. In fact, I got a call about this very topic from a very excited hunter.

“Did you see the invisible coat on the internet?” he asks me, immediately after the usual hello and ’sup greetings.

“Yeah, very Harry Potterish. I wonder if they’d work out hunting?” I query.

I recalled some Japanese dude who looked see-through and translucent on one of my many web forays. Can you imagine that – the ultimate camouflage hunting jacket where only your eyes show. Spooky in a way, but I can see that coming soon to a blind near you. A lively discussion ensued on how it could affect hunting practices and a whole slew of possible futures presented themselves. In a nutshell, we surmised that the future of hunting will look like this:

All geese will be raised from egg to full grown, as the environment is not cold enough year-round to warrant a migration. Geese will live year-round in the wild and in the north. This will give way to strong environmental outrage from southerners about our annual and year-round hunting practices, so we will farm our own geese, using corn from the south to feed them. All geese will be bred for the annual hunt.

The shells will not all be loaded with live ammunition and each pellet will contain the identification of the person who fired the gun, making a quick examination of the dead goose using a scanner simple to name the lucky hunter. This is necessary, due to the fact that the number of hunters has increased tenfold. However, strict conservation measures limit the number of shot shells produced with actual killing power, but still make a loud satisfying bang when fired. Given this, the number of hunters versus the limited number of farmed geese and the possibility that one of your shells might have the killer shot in it, make it fair and game for all hunters.

As far as the actual hunt, the geese are freed from their farms and left to fly anywhere they like, and when shot at, only the shells with the power to kill will knock down the unlucky fowl. Once downed, hundreds of eager invisibly cloaked hunters rise from the grounds to scan the dead goose to see if it was their dead-eye shot that knocked down their supper from the heavens. Once the kill is confirmed and the lucky shot identified, the entire hunting group is removed from the shooting grounds and a new lot settles in to wait for the next release of geese.

The precious and legally killed goose is then passed around to everyone in the family to pluck and clean, and then the decision is made as to how it will be micro-waved for the feast. Aaah, the future of hunting.