facebook 11 yo Boy (Legally) Hunts and Kills Rare Deer, His Prize? A Facebook Flame War.

[theyarecomingforyou]

Is anybody honestly surprised that killing wild animals for sport is controversial? It should be controversial. I find it extremely hard to relate to American culture when I see things like this.

[trag3dy]

 

Is anybody honestly surprised that killing wild animals for sport is controversial? It should be controversial. I find it extremely hard to relate to American culture when I see things like this.

 

Why should it be controversial?  Because you don't like it? Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it's bad.

 

As people have said in this thread there are reasons why hunting is needed besides just for sport. But lets just conveniently overlook those reasons because killing animals is bad mmkay.

 

I don't care for hunting myself but that doesn't mean people shouldn't be allowed to do it if they want to.

[+Red King Subscriber²]

Deer should be cultivated like chickens - small cramped cages then killed for food,

without the mental heaviness of killing a living thing aspect for the customer.

Hunting is rather last century...

[trag3dy]

I feel like the people in this thread who are against hunting don't even know how it works. It's not like you can just go kill as many deer as you please and in any way you please.

[Nogib]

Stupid kid.  Maybe someone should hunt him to see how he likes it.

[majortom1981]

wouldn't killing the albino deer be a good thing? Wouldn't it do worse in the wild being all white?

[trag3dy]

Stupid kid.  Maybe someone should hunt him to see how he likes it.

 

Right...quoting to preserve the amazing logic on display.

[DocM]

wouldn't killing the albino deer be a good thing? Wouldn't it do worse in the wild being all white?

No, it's not a good thing. Check my long post a couple pages back.

It's a recessive gene that harms the overall survivability of the herd. Culling them, and stupid or weak deer, strengthens the herd. Wildlife Management 101.

Fact is, there are more deer in the US now, with 3x as many people, than at the turn of the 20th century. It's to the point that in many areas they're consoldered a pest. Some airports have to send in bowhunters to cull their herd because they run out on the runways, and they cause ~60,000 auto accidents a year just in Michigan.

[DarkyDan]

I understand peoples concerns.. and being an Australia there aren't many guns, and there isn't much hunting..

 

...but no law was broken.  Ignore the kid, ignore hunters.. lobby law makers rather than just whinging on the internet that your sensibilities have been sullied.

[DocM]

I understand peoples concerns.. and being an Australia there aren't many guns, and there isn't much hunting..

...but no law was broken. Ignore the kid, ignore hunters.. lobby law makers rather than just whinging on the internet that your sensibilities have been sullied.

Thing is, most of our lawmakers own guns and hunt, even many of the liberals. It crosses party lines like no other issue.

There was a news story last year about Justice Elena Kagen of the US Supreme Court, an Obama appointee and big-time liberal. She's friends with big-time conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, but had never fired a gun. He offered to take her hunting, and she decided to try it. They went on a hunt and she bagged a deer. Now she's a hunter. Next up was to be ducks.

[Shiranui]

What's wrong with just letting the deer have it with a paintball gun?

[DocM]

What's wrong with just letting the deer have it with a paintball gun?

They're overpopulating the habitat, and a paintball gun does nothing for that. There are also too few large predators to control them, especially in the far suburbs. Hunters make up for the lack of large deer predators.

Hiring professional hunters to cull the herds would cost billions in a country this large. Not to mention how many need to be culled - about 1 million deer a year just in Michigan. That takes an army. Yeah, they reproduce that fast.

Instead, we let millions of civilian hunters pay for the privilege to hunt and keep the meat.

[Shiranui]

They're overpopulating the habitat, and a paintball gun does nothing for that. There are also too few large predators to control them, especially in the far suburbs. Hunters make up for the lack of large deer predators.

Hiring professional hunters to cull the herds would cost billions in a country this large. Not to mention how many need to be culled - about 1 million deer a year just in Michigan. That takes an army. Yeah, they reproduce that fast.

Instead, we let millions of civilian hunters pay for the privilege to hunt and keep the meat.

Fair enough. They can make some nice venison burgers.

[DocM]

They do indeed - along with roasts, tenderloins, chops etc. etc. and a very nice chunk of liver which rarely makes it out of camp! Venison liver is freaking delicious.

[Bamsebjørn]

Do you eat meat?

 

Rarely.

Mostly fish... if any.

 

Which makes me a hypocrite, I know.

[DocM]

The two things we Michiganians have in abundance are fresh water and wildlife so abundant it needs fishing/hunting to control.

Wild pigs are so plentiful they've been declared an invasive species - shoot on sight - and they're very edible. Deer up the wazoo, bear, rabbits, squirrels, woodchucks (marmots, a huge ground squirrel), waterfowl, upland birds, a dizzying variety of fish, other small game, etc. The list goes on and on.

If you're ambitious enough to get off the damned couch and have a freezer there's little need for hunters to buy meats much of the year.

[FloatingFatMan]

As long as the meat from the deer was used, I see no problem with this.  I'd only be against it if the animal was left to rot.

[HawkMan]

Well... apparently some hobbies include killing rare animals.

This can only be forgiven if he did something useful with the corpse. Did he eat it?

 

Its an albino, it's not rare, its a regular deer with a genetic fault. There is zero reason not to hunt it.

[seta-san]

this is a bigger achievement than most modern people have in their lives.

[spaceelf]

Besides stripping farmer fields and gardens like 4 legged harvesting machines, deer also cause about 60,000 auto accidents a year in Michigan - including accidents with human fatalities - in both the cities and country. They'll march right into heavily populated areas an in front of vehicles. Everywhere from rural roads to city freeways, and our deer can easily exceed 200 lbs - some going well over 300 lbs. Imagine hitting that at 60 mph.

No no no, you're going about this all wrong.  You don't have to explain it.

 

Just kill the bastards.

 

I don't like hunting that much in general, but the deer just need to go away.

[Gerowen]

In this age, he should be playing "Deer Hunter" online.

 

You've obviously never eaten deer meat...

 

There's value in hunting, both for personal growth, and for wildlife management.  That, and venison is delicious.

 

Albino deer are just the genetic mutation that makes them inferior.  The reason it's so rare is because a solid white deer doesn't blend into its environment particularly well, so predators usually kill them before they have a chance to reproduce.  There's nothing "wrong" with killing one.

[game_over]

I don't agree with it at all and i don't care how you gun wielding Americans want to spin it.

 

The guy a few pages back saying people hunt for a reason not for fun, what an absolute load of rubbish.. people hunt for sport, it IS a sport.. yes there are culls and other valid reasons for killing animals, but this case is no such thing, an 11 year old should not be involved in a cull, taking a photo of a dead animal you killed for sport is disgusting, this is a trophy killing plain and simple. Hopefully one day this family will get a taste of their own medicine.

 

Only in America is it acceptable for an 11 year old to own a crossbow and legally kill animals with it << read it, sounds wrong, it is wrong.

[DocM]

I was presented with my first hunting bow at age 8, how's that grab you? 20 gauge shotgun by age 10. By 11-12 I had been presented with a 30-30 lever action rifle. My son first fired his compound bow when he was ~9, and my grandson picked up a bow at a similar age. He has a much larger one now.

Not at all uncommon in these parts, and most large department and sports stores here carry youth archery and hunting gear. Wal-Mart, Meijer, Sears, Cabelas, Gander Mountain, Dick's, Sports Authority....

And let's not forget that Canada has a strong hunting tradition as well.

[Studio384]

With between 2 and 3 million deer in the state every year (does have twins and reproduce like rabbits with 6-7 does for every buck), population control for all of them is essential because such a large herd is beyond the ability of predators to control, especially in urban, suburban and near-rural areas that predators usually avoid.

Besides stripping farmer fields and gardens like 4 legged harvesting machines, deer also cause about 60,000 auto accidents a year in Michigan - including accidents with human fatalities - in both the cities and country. They'll march right into heavily populated areas an in front of vehicles. Everywhere from rural roads to city freeways, and our deer can easily exceed 200 lbs - some going well over 300 lbs. Imagine hitting that at 60 mph.

As to albino deer, they make up a small population because as youngsters they're easier for predators to target and rarely survive to adulthood. Most all of out wildlife biologists advise against protecting them as it weakens the herd by spreading recessive genes (albinism isn't the only one.)

Another problem with deer is our harsh winters. Many deer die from starvation during a harsh winter, and too many survive during mild winters causing big die-offs the next harsh winter. I've been in the field during these die-offs and it isn't pretty.

Because of the die-offs, predators avoiding populated areas and deer being quite willing to come into them, the best way to control their population is hunting to cull the herd. Hunters further into rural areas use firearms, but a large number use bows, or crossbones as this youngster did. Handicappers frequently use crossbones to hunt.

And for the record; Michigan has no minimum hunting age, but those under 12 must have a "mentor hunter" with them to supervise.

Hunters pay for their licenses, thus providing funds for other wildlife management projects, eat the meat (venison is very tasty) and provide winter incomes to rural areas that otherwise have little.

 That's a little bit selfish, don't you think? As if humans didn't take those animals their ground. And 60.000 auto accidents a year? Why is that the deers fault? 60.000 times every year, humans are involved in those accidents too. And they are the ones crashing their car in a deer, not the other way around (and how many of those ar fatal for the deer). They don't march right into heavily populated areas and in front of cars, we are the ones building our roads and cities on their natural habitat. Beside, how many people live there? Would they be happy if those deers shot them, just for having a hobby?

[spaceelf]

 That's a little bit selfish, don't you think? As if humans didn't take those animals their ground. And 60.000 auto accidents a year? Why is that the deers fault? 60.000 times every year, humans are involved in those accidents too. And they are the ones crashing their car in a deer, not the other way around (and how many of those ar fatal for the deer). They don't march right into heavily populated areas and in front of cars, we are the ones building our roads and cities on their natural habitat. Beside, how many people live there? Would they be happy if those deers shot them, just for having a hobby?

We should totally apologize to the deer for everything we've done to them.

 

After we shoot them.