The Military Zombie Hunt is at the Washington County Fairgrounds, where participants get the chance to shoot paintballs at oncoming zombies via army trucks. “We use the trucks for people to ride on and shoot at live zombie actors,” owner Nick Jackson said. (Dylan Cook)
The Military Zombie Hunt is at the Washington County Fairgrounds, where participants get the chance to shoot paintballs at oncoming zombies via army trucks. “We use the trucks for people to ride on and shoot at live zombie actors,” owner Nick Jackson said.

Dylan Cook

Fairgrounds transform into zombie playground

October 20, 2015

Military Zombie Hunt is a paintball game that occurs at the Washington County Fairgrounds. Customers get to ride in the back of military grade trucks while firing paintballs at oncoming “zombies.”

Military Zombie Hunt owner Nick Jackson said, “I am the owner, well, supervisor, of Military Zombie hunt. I make sure that my zombies are prepared and that people are having fun and being safe.”

The Zombie Hunt uses military trucks to transport customers in their zombie apocalyptic journey. These trucks were used during the 1950’s through the 1980’s.

“They are M35A2 Army trucks. They are mounted with eight stationary paintball guns equipped with glow in the dark paintballs. We use the trucks for people to ride on and shoot at live zombie actors,” Jackson said.

The hunt is an action packed adventure, bringing the thrill of a zombie apocalypse to life. No real brains are consumed during Military Zombie Hunt.

Jackson said, “On any given night we have about 30 to 35 zombies. Their role is to just act like zombies really.” Unlike “real” zombies, “They are all paid employees.”

Some students participated in last year’s Military Zombie Hunt. They recalled their most memorable moments from the night.

Sophomore Madison Bergmann went to Military Zombie Hunt last year, and explained, “We went there and got on a truck with a group. They drive you around on a hayride kind of route, and you get to shoot people. They don’t look like zombies very much, but they walk like zombies. When you shoot them, or they feel like they got hit, they fall down really slowly. It’s kinda funny.”

The virus has finally struck! The world as you know it is coming to an end. A military truck , you, and the only left survivors might be the only hope for the future of the humane race. Are you hero enough?

— Military Zombie Hunt

Junior Mitch Bailey said, “It was pretty cool. We just drove around. They had some different maps that we went to. It could have been more realistic, but it was pretty fun just shooting people with paintballs. They just came running after you and they didn’t really react when you shot them. It was kind of exhilarating, at the same time you only had so many balls so you had to conserve how many you shot. It was pretty expensive so I don’t know if I would do it again, but for the experience it was pretty fun.”

The paintball guns are of high quality and durability. They sport a lighter weight frame, over three hundred capacity paintball hoppers, and lower impact speed. This combination gives Military Zombie Hunt exactly what they are looking for.

“We run the Tippmann FT-12 50 Caliber guns with specially formulated glow in the dark paintballs from GI Sports,” added Jackson. Customers will be able to see when they hit their target because of the glow from the paint splatter as the event takes place at night. And the slower speed ensures that employees are not hurt when they are being shot at.

The event creates a scenario of action, adventure and zombies.

Bergmann added, “You got your money’s worth out of it because you got to shoot at people for a long time. It was pretty awesome because you don’t get to paintball and not get shot at very often. So, it’s just fun to shoot at creepy zombies.”

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  • M

    Matt JohnsonNov 25, 2015 at 6:47 pm

    Article was very well written and was enjoyable to read, as for the podcast it was entertaining in how Nick acted as if it was a real life scenario. Great interviews and action packed!

    Reply
  • C

    Charlie SkaretNov 24, 2015 at 11:44 pm

    The article was very good. The topic was extremely interesting, and the headline drew me in. Your language kept me interested throughout, and the pacing was excellent.

    Reply
  • J

    Jared TaylorNov 23, 2015 at 8:11 am

    The whole article is very well writen, and has great links. The quotes where great because they varied about what it was about which is great. And the article as a whole was just laid out well.

    Reply
  • A

    Andrew WeigelNov 22, 2015 at 2:34 pm

    This was a very interesting article. I really like the large variety of quotes, though as Noah said, a couple of the quotes said the same thing. I think that it does a really good job of informing the readers, and is well-structured.

    Reply
  • J

    Jonathan RustadNov 19, 2015 at 4:54 pm

    I really enjoyed this article. The headline really brought me in, I just wanted to read it to find out more. The writing flowed smoothly, without confusion. One thing I noticed is in the large, boxed quote it says “of the humane race,” I’m guessing it means human, but that’s just something to change.

    Reply
  • N

    Noah LinderNov 3, 2015 at 7:51 pm

    Overall, amazing article. The structure was neat and there were no leaps in topic. The topics changed smoothly(summary, what they did, types of equipment).One thing to watch would be that the quotes by Madison Bergmann and Mitch Bailey gave us roughly the same information.

    Reply
  • M

    Megan BrandtNov 1, 2015 at 1:52 pm

    Excellent links. One thing that confused me was the paragraph: Jackson said, “On any given night we have about 30 to 35 zombies. Their role is to just act like zombies really.” Unlike “real” zombies, “They are all paid employees.” I was confused about if Jackson said “Unlike “real” zombies,” or it it was inserted into the quote.

    Reply
    • J

      JamesNov 4, 2015 at 1:28 pm

      I see your confusion. In fact, when I was writing that part of the article I was unsure of how to present the differentiation between the zombie employees and the fictional zombies. Now that I think about it I could have said “unlike fictional zombies” which may have levitated the confusion.

      Reply
      • J

        JamesNov 4, 2015 at 1:31 pm

        Whoops, grammar mistake. “Levitated” should be “Alleviated.”

        Reply
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