6-year-old hunter called the 'deerslayer'

Crossbow! What a horrible way to die.
I'm in TN, many hunters here. I detest hunting, always have. I can't fathom what is going on in someone's mind when they kill an animal that is not trying to harm them.
I will teach my girls to shoot the two hand guns I own when they are old enough. I'll even buy them their own if they are interested. Guns, in my opinion, are to be used as protection, not to cause harm to an animal.

Reply

I will never understand people that give their children guns/weapons. They have no use for it and we all know how it can end in tragedy.
Instead of killing animals this boy should be playing with his friends.

Reply

Ame, hunting is a necessary evil. We've broken the natural chain of predators and deprived many animals large parts of their natural habitat. Without natural predators, you run into overpopulation problems.

Deer aren't so harmless when they run out of suitable habitat and more of them wind up as roadkill. I know more people who have been seriously injured or died as the result of hitting deer than have died from gun accidents. From what I understand, being roadkill can often be a more painful death for deer. It can be slow, painful, and messy.

Most hunters I know would not let an animal suffer if their first shot was not clean. But that deer on the side of the road with serious but not quite fatal injuries? In the nearly five years I've lived in the DC metro area, I've had to call animal control at least once a year because a deer had been hit, moved off the road, and left for dead.

Going hunting when you're in elementary school is pretty normal when you grow up in a hunting family and it puts food on the table. Most hunting families I know don't let their children "play" with their guns. Guns are to be used for target practice and hunting. I had friends who were grounded from hunting season for so much as even joking about shooting a domestic animal or person. I worry more about the kids of parents who pretend guns don't exist.

Reply

I agree with Caitlin. Overpopulation of animals, esp large animals can be harmful to not only them, but the rest of the population. My aunt just hit another deer (this makes two) when she came up on a hill and topped the hill and bam she hit it before she even knew what it was. It put her in the hospital.

Children (esp. in the south) that are part of a hunting family learn things early about animal population and such. and there are limits set by the state about how many a person can kill each year and it varies according to gender of the animal. And for every deer this child has killed I can safely say that there are at least 10 guys that went all year without killing anything (or seeing anything, b/c just b/c they see something doesn't mean it gets shot).

and ninainindia,
these boys friends are most likely hunting with their families...

Reply

I don't hunt just b/c it's not my thing. I don't, and won't ever, own a gun b/c I detest them.

However, I agree wholeheartedly with Caitlin regarding hunting.

Do people forget that this is how man survived before processed food????? Why is it suddenly so bad to kill for food?

Reply

Maybe someday the animals will have hunting season on us; goodness knows the overpopulation of humans is having a devastating effect on the planet.

Or maybe it's not our place to take lives for the sake of "balancing" the population. Everyone knows that's a half-hearted justification for hunting, anyway. Hunters hunt because they enjoy shooting animals. It's a sport to them.

Reply

It's not something I'd want to do, but hunting in our area is necessary. The deer are not only hazardous on the roads, they come into the subdivisions and do lots of damage to the homeowner's landscaping. It's impossible to have flowers or certain kinds of shrubbery because they are tasty to the animals. Our county agent usually posts a list of plants to avoid in the paper every spring unless you want to provide deer with salad fixings.

As far as little kids killing deer, I hear hunters complaining about overzealous dads taking young children hunting and I can see their point. If they are not supervised properly it can obviously be very dangerous to the other hunters.

Jan from http://www.unique-baby-gear-ideas.com/

Reply

Yes, the only relatively humane alternative to humans killing deer is to bring back the wolf population. Relatively humane because at least being ripped apart by a wolf is quicker than starving to death. Or, we could completely wipe out the deer population by sterilizing them.

Did you know the entire deer population in one of our large national parks was once wiped out by a hunting ban? They reproduced, ate all the available food, and then starved to death. Regulated hunting is a great deal more humane than that.

If you don't like guns or hunting, don't do it, but you should actually be glad someone else does.

Reply

I am shocked at the favorable treatment by the media in reporting the slaughter of 5-6 deer and an unspecified number of turkeys by a six year-old. Particularly obnoxious is the beamng father, proud of his offspring's killing. Just goes to show that the feeble-minded and inbred are at the *wrong* end of the rifle!

Reply

This kid's father is sick. This is inappropriate parenting for a child of that age. Maybe dad should introduce to him to some kid's games instead of stroking his bizarre ego. I bet he goes around bragging that his kid has killed more animals than any other 6 year old. What kind of parent also lets their little kid rip around on an ATV with no helmet?

Reply

As a mental health professional I can conclusively tell you that this child's father is a very sick individual. This has nothing to do with hunting for food or the eradication of wild animals. It has to do with teaching children too young to even comprehend death and dying to kill with an obvious lethal weapon. This father's behavior warrants a full investigation by child protective services as I suspect there are other more serious issues lurking in that household.

Reply

all you hunting haters out there need stop worrying bout what other people do that has no effect on you. I to started hunting at a young age and does that make my dad have some mental problems no i dont think so. Its good that kids at a young age get taught how to use guns in a proper way by their parents instead of learning how to use them on the streets. i applaud this man and his son for doing what has been done since the civilation of man hunting for food. I personally think that all the hunting haters need to be erradicated not the animals!

Reply

Good heavens, mental illness? Those folks seem as level-headed as anyone I've ever seen on TV. They live in a culture where people hunt and kids hunt with their parents. Most of the world does not consider this wrong, and never has. Some of the posters above appear thoroughly intolerant of other cultures.

Reply

My family does alot of hunting, and we are neither feeble-minded nor inbred. I'm impressed by the kid. I'm just glad they gave him a crossbow. When your kid shoots his deer too early into the weekend, you either have to go home or deal with a kid who can't hunt for the rest of the trip. The crossbow should make it more challenging and more of an actual "hunt".
Animals are going to die, and we are going to eat them. It's part of God's plan.

Reply

My first question is why did you pick this story to post, for people that don't have anything better to do other than bash people?

My second question is why people take something good and turn it into something bad. Next I want to thank some of you for defending Hunter in a very innocent story twisted into some cazy blog session.

It surprises me that someone like Jeff that claims to be a "Mental Health Professional" making very unprofessional comments without actually getting the whole story before making his "opinion" in a blog.

I wonder if the same people that don't believe in hunting feel the same way about fishing? Because he loves to fish also. And some of you just about got it right. It all stems from a father spending lots of quality time with his son.

Which I find ironic some of you jump to conclusions like he's going to be the next serial killer when I doubt many serial killers had their a dad to take them fishing and hunting three or for times a week.

But then we have the many other things that the story didn't say; like he plays Basketball, loves animals like no other kid you have ever met. He has had more pets than any child I know. And I bet he knows more about animals, bugs, wildlife, and outdoors in general, than anyone that has posted on this story. "Inculding me" LOL The kid is just pretty smart for his age. It seems as though since he is not the norm "cartoon glued to the tube 24/7 kid" he may be a up and coming serial killer. By the way he has plenty of toys too.

But instead his mother and father have spent time with him to make sure he had a different raising. He would much rather watch MythBusters, Dirtyjobs, Discovery, or National Geographic Channel. I think some of this is jealousness that you didn't have time with their parents so lets bash someone who is trying to do the right thing. Sorry I am ranting now. As if you cant tell by now I know Hunter and can assure you he's no demented little kid like some make it sound. Oh I got an idea lets change the direction of this and say we are training him to be a snipper for the marines to fight for our country. Or to use this knowledge to protect a president someday, dangit I'm ranting again. I'm done.

OK so now I can't wait to hear what kind of stuff gets said now. LOL I never even heard of this site till I googled Hunters name because friends and family were excited he was on the news. Now his mom isn't so happy we googled. For the most part I think people understood the story for what it was.

And to clairify one last thing that was not in there. It was was all legal, he is supervised. You don't have to get a hunters ED card till you are fourteen years old. Also I wanted to point out that his family has a privately owned farm where the game and fish commission give them extra doe tags to keep control of the population.

Reply