Rare albino deer bagged by 11-year-old [W:245]

[Gina]

According to the article that started this thread:



Given the rarity of the animal, I think that is a laudable thing to do.

Given the rarity of the animal, it would have been more laudable to let it live so that others might have enjoyed coming across it in the wild. Especially a 12 point buck.

 

[ric27]

That's just good execution. Good sportsmanship is...."an aspiration or ethos that a sport or activity will be enjoyed for its own sake, with proper consideration for fairness, ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one's competitors."

It couldn't have been much of a hunting challenge considering an albino deer has poor eyesight and isn't camouflaged and this deer had been spotted hanging around town all year. It's almost akin to shooting someone's pet.

Time to bag the quarters.

* Cut the throat, drain the blood
* Open the abdominal cavity (carefully) and start pulling out the guts
* Start skinning

 

[Mycroft]

Given the rarity of the animal, it would have been more laudable to let it live so that others might have enjoyed coming across it in the wild. Especially a 12 point buck.

Oh...I wouldn't be surprised if, someday, that kid donates the trophy to a museum. Then y'all can see it any time you want.

Until then, too bad. It belongs to the kid.

 

[TurtleDude]

Given the rarity of the animal, it would have been more laudable to let it live so that others might have enjoyed coming across it in the wild. Especially a 12 point buck.

you can say that about any big buck. I disagree, the kid did the proper thing. He was hunting, saw a good trophy and took it. the only people who tend to come across animals like that are those looking for them.

one of the guys my wife used to teach archery to got a huge buck. For three years he hunted it and no luck. but one day, when he was getting off his stand at dark (sundown is normally the ending time for bowhunting) he saw this buck and he watched its path. the next morning he watched the buck go the opposite way as it returned to where it was bedding and figured where it would be when it was legal (30 minutes to sunrise) to shoot it

So the next day he gets up at 1AM in the morning (really big bucks are almost 100% nocturnal save during the rut) and set a stand where he had seen the buck come the day before. He set the stand based on where he thought it would be at the earliest legal time to take it

and he shot one of the biggest bucks ever seen. over the years he has taken other big bucks because he works really hard to see bucks that most other hunters never see because these big bucks are very wary

 

[Gina]

Oh...I wouldn't be surprised if, someday, that kid donates the trophy to a museum. Then y'all can see it any time you want.

Until then, too bad. It belongs to the kid.

This comment applies to his father, it was a selfish act to take something beautiful and rare from the wild so that it could be "his".

 

[Moot]

I think the bottom line is that you are IN NO POSITION to lecture anyone on what is "good sport" and you are clueless about hunting. The kid made a good shot on legal game.

I know I shouldn't be...but you continue to amaze me with just how little you really know.

so instead of pretending you are in any position to judge what this hunter (or his parents did) why not just admit that hunting, like gun ownership, is something you attack in an attempt to bash conservative males. Your silly speculation is just that. If you actually knew anything about deer you'd know that the rack on that buck means it had survived at least a couple years.

"shooting someone's pet"

what a stupid lie. its shameful that you aren't even willing to tell us what really motivates this rant of yours

Rant much?

 

[X Factor]

This comment applies to his father, it was a selfish act to take something beautiful and rare from the wild so that it could be "his".

I don't think the kid did anything wrong but dang, I sure can't help but feel how much I'd prefer that deer be alive rather than a disembodied head hanging on someone's wall to collect dust.

 

[TurtleDude]

This comment applies to his father, it was a selfish act to take something beautiful and rare from the wild so that it could be "his".

I think that the kid and his father followed the law and that is that. If it was so rare that it needs to be off limits, then the government would have made hunting albino deer illegal. Since they did not, you could apply your argument to any big buck that is "rare"

 

[TurtleDude]

I don't think the kid did anything wrong but dang, I sure can't help but feel how much I'd prefer that deer be alive rather than a disembodied head hanging on someone's wall to collect dust.

so you want to ban hunting if you could? that sure sounds like what you are saying?

maybe he will have the entire deer stuffed. expensive but maybe so with that sort of coloration

 

[Serenity]

that's an excellent question

if someone is an accomplished hunter who spends lots of time on it, they may only keep a "record" buck-one that scores highly (its a complicated issue based on the size and length of the antlers-a 200 point score for example is considered massive good by bowhunters) some hunters will have a whole head mount (expensive) of really good trophies while just saving the antlers on smaller bucks

for a new hunter, their first deer they may well have preserved

I never did for two reasons

1) when I was 17, my father took me and my brothers to Africa. I took a beautiful KUDU that my dad had head mounted and hangs in my living room. the other trophy I had mounted-a wart hog that made the record books, disappeared from my parents' house after my father died-my mother was a bit loopy at the end of life and sold extremely valuable elephant tusks my father took legally 40 years ago for one hundredth of what they were worth-she could not remember what she did with the hog head. But I have a bunch of heads Dad took-in fact I have two sitting upstairs outside my office in a chair because we cannot figure where to hang them

so to answer your question-it really depends on how many deer someone has taken and how much room they have and money they are willing to spend because its not cheap to have a good full head mount of a deer.

2) BTW I used to bow hunt for meat so I shot mainly does because their meat is better. The one buck with a good rack I shot tumbled down a ravine and the public safety officers in the area told me not to go down the ravine due to it being too dangerous (it was on public land). the rack blew up as the buck went down 150 yards of shale rock

Cheers, thanks TD.

Africa's on my to do list but i don't think i'll be doing any of that, i'll leave that for the experts! :lol:

I've never tasted deer. Then again, i've never eaten kangaroo either but i've heard many say that they are both nice.

 

[Gina]

you can say that about any big buck. I disagree, the kid did the proper thing. He was hunting, saw a good trophy and took it. the only people who tend to come across animals like that are those looking for them.

one of the guys my wife used to teach archery to got a huge buck. For three years he hunted it and no luck. but one day, when he was getting off his stand at dark (sundown is normally the ending time for bowhunting) he saw this buck and he watched its path. the next morning he watched the buck go the opposite way as it returned to where it was bedding and figured where it would be when it was legal (30 minutes to sunrise) to shoot it

So the next day he gets up at 1AM in the morning (really big bucks are almost 100% nocturnal save during the rut) and set a stand where he had seen the buck come the day before. He set the stand based on where he thought it would be at the earliest legal time to take it

and he shot one of the biggest bucks ever seen. over the years he has taken other big bucks because he works really hard to see bucks that most other hunters never see because these big bucks are very wary

White deer or albino deer, because they are white and therefore without the camouflage brown deer are afforded to naturally protect them from predators, are even more rare.

While I personally would get no enjoyment from hunting, even from offing the deer which have demolished my garden, I don't begrudge ethical hunters. There are some in my extended family who are very conscientious. Deer, elk and other wild animals need to have their numbers controlled here and it's good practice in managing wildlife. I acknowledge that. And maybe I'm wrong, but such a rare find seemed to me to demand a little more respect.

I practice what I preach to the extent that I have been fishing and pulled in some interesting specimens, but threw them back since it served no purpose to mount them on a wall. I have my pictures of them and that's all that mattered to me. Proof I caught 'em.

 

[Gina]

I don't think the kid did anything wrong but dang, I sure can't help but feel how much I'd prefer that deer be alive rather than a disembodied head hanging on someone's wall to collect dust.

We can agree to disagree on the right or wrong, Xy.

I think they are going to have the full body taxidermied. Or how ever it's said. More of it to collect dust and will it have anyone's respect after a few years? Who has room for an animal of that size in their home?

 

[X Factor]

so you want to ban hunting if you could? that sure sounds like what you are saying?

maybe he will have the entire deer stuffed. expensive but maybe so with that sort of coloration

Not at all, Turtle. I'm just afflicted with this unfortunate condition where I have an affinity for pretty much all animals. I get that it's not entirely rational. My life would be a lot easier were I not so afflicted. There are a number of deer that roam (mainly it's one family) around where I live. Just ordinary mule deer, nothing special or rare and sightings of them are not even that uncommon, but I get kick out it every time I see them. We have quail here too and those guys totally make me laugh. They look so serious running with that crest on their head. I just prefer my wildlife alive. Just me. I know not everyone views animals like it do.

 

[Gina]

I think that the kid and his father followed the law and that is that. If it was so rare that it needs to be off limits, then the government would have made hunting albino deer illegal. Since they did not, you could apply your argument to any big buck that is "rare"

Whether it's legal or not is not the point. It's rare to get chance to see one of these deer. All of the reporting states that. There is legal right and there is in your bones right. My bones tell me take a picture and let it go for others to enjoy that opportunity.

We can just agree to disagree TD.

 

[TurtleDude]

Whether it's legal or not is not the point. It's rare to get chance to see one of these deer. All of the reporting states that. There is legal right and there is in your bones right. My bones tell me take a picture and let it go for others to enjoy that opportunity.

We can just agree to disagree TD.

right but where do YOU draw the line

all big deer

or just ones that are more rare than others?

 

[TurtleDude]

Cheers, thanks TD.

Africa's on my to do list but i don't think i'll be doing any of that, i'll leave that for the experts! :lol:

I've never tasted deer. Then again, i've never eaten kangaroo either but i've heard many say that they are both nice.

I stopped deer hunting because despite my wife's best efforts (and she was a professional chef) I never really liked venison all that much-i much prefer pheasant and trout which i still take for eating purposes

 

[Gina]

Not at all, Turtle. I'm just afflicted with this unfortunate condition where I have an affinity for pretty much all animals. I get that it's not entirely rational. My life would be a lot easier were I not so afflicted. There are a number of deer that roam (mainly it's one family) around where I live. Just ordinary mule deer, nothing special or rare and sightings of them are not even that uncommon, but I get kick out it every time I see them. We have quail here too and those guys totally make me laugh. They look so serious running with that crest on their head. I just prefer my wildlife alive. Just me. I know not everyone views animals like it do.

Like x10. I like my wildlife living too and it's not an affliction. It's point of view and valid one a that.

 

[X Factor]

We can agree to disagree on the right or wrong, Xy.

I think they are going to have the full body taxidermied. Or how ever it's said. More of it to collect dust and will it have anyone's respect after a few years? Who has room for an animal of that size in their home?

I used to look after the hunting dogs of a guy I used to go to church with when he went out of town. Not only was he an avid hunter, he was a taxidermist himself. His whole house was filled with animal carcasses in various degrees of dismemberment and poses. He had a full sized bear stuffed and displayed in his dining room. I just didn't get the same sense of awe out of viewing those animals as I do when they're alive but I guess that guy did.

 

[TurtleDude]

I should note my son scored a 100% on the hunter's safety class exam (he's 16 and actually helped on the course since he is a certified archery instructor and a former national champion) and now has his license. we put a couple old 3d (Full body foam targets) Deer up on the archery range and he has spent 20 or so hours practicing with his new hunting bow (its a compound-much easier to shoot than the Olympic recurve he trains and competes with) from standing, and sitting shots. The main reason for this is not that he needs to work on his accuracy (he can hit a playing card 10/10 times at 30 yards with his hunting bow) but so he knows exactly where to shoot a deer to kill it quickly

so he sets those foam targets at all sorts of angles and knows at some angles its not ethical to shoot at a deer.

so I suppose my wife might be cooking venison again-I don't recall what he thought of it when I was taking 3-5 deer a year 15 or so years ago

 

[Gina]

right but where do YOU draw the line

all big deer

or just ones that are more rare than others?

As I said above, I don't begrudge ethical hunting as there is an entire branch in my extended family who hunt. They consume what they kill, follow all the rules and have great respect wildlife. It's part of who they are and I don't have a negative word to say about them.

 

[Gina]

I used to look after the hunting dogs of a guy I used to go to church with when he went out of town. Not only was he an avid hunter, he was a taxidermist himself. His whole house was filled with animal carcasses in various degrees of dismemberment and poses. He had a full sized bear stuffed and displayed in his dining room. I just didn't get the same sense of awe out of viewing those animals as I do when they're alive but I guess that guy did.

Neither would I, X. Living, breathing, moving animals are a thrill for me. I'm conflicted about zoos because of the conditions and treatment the animals receive.

When I was 9, my mom took me to the zoo and museums at Balboa Park. When we got to the Museum of Natural History, to me, it was a dead zoo and I couldn't wait to get out of there.

 

[Serenity]

Like x10. I like my wildlife living too and it's not an affliction. It's point of view and valid one a that.

Me too. I'm the kid who used to pull the snails out of the bin and put them back in the garden after my Dad put them in there when i was a youngster.

 

[TurtleDude]

Me too. I'm the kid who used to pull the snails out of the bin and put them back in the garden after my Dad put them in there when i was a youngster.

the bin-like a garbage can? he didn't put them in beer did he?

 

[Gathomas88]

Rare albino deer bagged by 11-year-old - GrindTV.com

"“He should have let it live. There are plenty of others out there,” reads one of hundreds of comments.
“If it’s rare, why the hell would he kill it?” reads another.
“I’m fine with hunting, just hate the ‘Hey look, it’s different, let’s shoot it’ ideas. Shoot it with a camera and let the unique one live,” reads yet another.Deer-hunting in Michigan is an extremely popular pastime, so it’s not surprising that so many wrote in defense of Gavin Dingman.“Get over it. The law says it’s legal. Back off the kid!!! Way to go kiddo!!” reads one comment.
“He paid good money for his license. He can use it for anything HE chooses, ” reads another. “Whether it be a brown deer or an albino buck, the state of Michigan gave him permission to kill it. Leave the kid alone. He did nothing wrong. He harvested a great trophy.”
Some of the commenters criticized WZZM 13 for posting the story on Facebook, opening Gavin to criticism.
“WZZM should stick with reporting news, not trying to make an 11-year-old boy feel guilty for shooting a deer, during deer season,” reads one comment."


"Some native cultures revere the white animals, and believe that they possess the spirits of ancestors."
Do you think this is in bad taste? Blame the kid? Blame the dad? No problem whatsoever?

No problem whatsoever. I'd mount the thing on my wall in a heartbeat.

It'd make for an excellent conversation piece.

 

[Serenity]

the bin-like a garbage can? he didn't put them in beer did he?

:lol: no, just a normal bin (like a garbage can).