Boy, 5, Kills 800-Pound Alligator
Categories: Fun & Activities, In The News, Weird But True, Extreme Childhood, Amazing Kids
Simon Hughes, 5, with the 800-pound alligator he killed. Credit: Michael Paulsen, Houston Chronicle / AP
Did you hear about the Hughes boy? He just killed himself a 'gator.
How embarrassing -- for the alligator.
Think about it. You're an 800-pound, 12-foot long killer who strikes terror in the hearts of your fellow marshland creatures (possibly, given your average life span, since the Eisenhower administration). And you're killed by a kindergartner who still has to ride in a child-safety seat.
On the other hand, that's one kindergartner who doesn't have to worry about bullies this year. The Houston Chronicle reports that Simon Hughes, 5, killed the second largest alligator in Texas history Sept. 24.
And he didn't even have leave home to do it.
The incident occurred in a marshy section of his family's ranch near Goodrich, Texas, about an hour north of Houston. "Everything out on our ranch will either bite you or stick you," Simon's father, Scott Hughes, told Fox 26 News in Houston.
At first glance, it wasn't a fair fight. Simon weighs 40 pounds, The alligator weighed as much as a Harley Davidson motorcycle. However, the boy's single-barrel .410-gauge shotgun leveled the playing field. Simon told Fox News he planted a load of buckshot right behind the critter's eyes.
Even if you're an 800-pound alligator, that's bound to ruin your day.
See the video after the jump.
Simon has been handling firearms since he was 4. "I think it's in my blood," he told Fox News.
"That's the way it is in rural areas," his father told the Houston Chronicle. "We don't think of guns as playthings or something used in video games."
Simon's grandparents have run a catfish restaurant in Goodrich for the past 27 years. June Hughes is glad she didn't know what her son and grandson were up to that Saturday.
"If had known they was in a rowboat out there with that 'gator, I couldn't function, I don't imagine," she told Fox News.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
LS 10-02-2009 @ 5:53PM
Way to go, GatorBait! You handle that gun better than a lot of adults I've shot with.
Reply
into228 10-03-2009 @ 9:10AM
way to go another guntoting red neck.
Wadulisi 10-03-2009 @ 11:12AM
We have become a nation of urban/surburban dwellers and it shows in the responses to people feeling bad about that gator, that was a female gator BTW. I have many liberal views one of which is everyone should own and know how to use a gun -properly-! I was not raised in a city but in a remote forested area in N. Calif.
1. it is perfectly legal to hunt on YOUR OWN PROPERTY!
2. alligators have recovered from the horrible attrition of the early half of the last century.
3. the boy was not hunting alone! No child that age would be out with a gun and without their parents permission.
4. we have changed the balance of nature by farming and development and the slaughter of large predators which is why in the East so many deer have become pests and a threat to suburban plantings.
The owners of the farm had the right to kill a nuisance gator on their property and that one would pose a formidable threat to an adult!
You can be upset for the gator but it isn't the wisest thing you could do. I would suggest you spend more time being outraged by the practices of modern factory farms and the chemicals dumped on the land, running off and fouling our waterways poisoning animals both wild and domestic with massive toxic algae blooms. But go ahead and be p***ed of at the death of one large gator. The chemicals used on farms are killing far more than a little boy with a shot gun.
Wadulisi
bill 10-02-2009 @ 9:05PM
what a fine young man.properly raised for his enviroment.its refreshing to see hunting and fishing still exist in some areas of our country without restriction.
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Abe 10-03-2009 @ 7:21PM
This thing should be done aaway with. What a despicable child. This boy is more vermin than any gator or even a fly. We all hope it is taken out soon.
Kev 10-03-2009 @ 6:59AM
Killing is always good. Especially when the critter is in it's own environment, just doing what it does. Think he should be allowed to drive, vote and consume beer, too. Those can't be any worse than senseless killing at that age.
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penzchamps 10-03-2009 @ 7:09AM
it was not senseless, could you imagine if that boy would have went down to play by that pond when the gator was hungry. besides, everybody loves gatorskin boots,hats,purses etc. and the meat is good, i see nothing sneseless about this killing
Paul 10-03-2009 @ 8:35AM
You tree huggin dog kissers make me sick. You don't have any idea what's going on past the concrete, but are the first to p--- and moan over things you know nothing about. I bet if it was in your backyard, and was ready to eat your child of little fluffy, you would want it dead and gone. If you do get off the concrete and see that since the 60's protection of gators, their numbers have sky rocketed and they are in almost every ditch or wet spot. Save a boy, eat a gator!
YBEAT13 10-03-2009 @ 9:33AM
Oh, ok, "Kev"... So you'd rather have this little boy get attacked one day when he's outside playing?? Freakin' liberal.
Lisa 10-03-2009 @ 10:00AM
Totally agree. Lets go out and be p-ssies and bait an alligator and when it can't get away, lets shoot it in the back of the head. If you're gonna hunt that kind of game don't be a sissy and have the d-mn thing baited. That's like tying one of you crazy rednecks up and holding you there while someone shoots you in the back of the head. Fair game, huh?
How about instead of teaching our kids to take on things that could kill them, teach them to stay the f-ck away from the d-mn things. Someday that kid is gonna take on something too big for him and die because mommy and daddy told him guns will save you.
If I had an alligator in my backyard, I wouldn't hand my child a gun and say OKAY GO GET IT! I'd teach my son the dangers of what lies beneath that water. If it ever ate my child- so be it. I wouldn't allow my child to get close enough to that water though. And as for Fluffy? If it eats my dog or cat, oh well. People are stupid leaving their kids and pets out around animals like that.
Point is that alligator had been in it's environment living for 50+ years. That's probably older than half of you morons posting about how cool that little kid is. 'Gator bait' is exactly what that little kid is. Now that he's shot one with daddy he thinks he can do it on his own. Can't wait to hear the sob story when he gets devoured by a 1,000lb alligator.
don71454 10-03-2009 @ 1:28PM
Kev, stay home and watch "Rosie" or "the View" you pansy S.O.B. At least the kid will grow up knowing how to properly handle a firearm, might even save your sorry ass from being killed by a piece of trash theif someday!
xnphnx 10-03-2009 @ 1:57PM
Perhaps you would have been happier to have read that it was a baby who was aborted by its mother, who had tried to have it burned to death with a saline solution injected into her uterus. But the poor burned baby survived the murder attempt and was born alive. But thanks to our intrepid and treacherous leader, the baby was left out on a metal counter in the trash room of the clinic, without any food, water, clothing, or comfort and died several hours later of exposure. I suppose that would have warmed your cold and callous liberal heart better than to have thought a cold-blooded reptile was shot by a kid. You liberals are so stupid and are such a waste of space. Go drink you latte, you pussy, and leave the defense of our country to people with guns and people who know right from wrong. Stupid lib - take your damn president and go live in Russia - citizens can't own guns there, and we know how safe the streets of Moscow are.
kel 10-03-2009 @ 2:30PM
uh xnphn....I have read your other posts and you are so full of rage and hatred...seriously dude, did your parents not pay enough attention to you, did you not get enough hugs...i am sure we could give you the number of a good therapist........or a good prescription.
Royboy 10-03-2009 @ 7:06AM
The genius announcer in the video said the kid used birdshot????
The article says buckshot,a little more believable.
Reply
Louie A. Sims 10-03-2009 @ 7:15AM
Congratulations to this young man for having Parents that knew how to raise him in the true Southern way.
Nice shot, behind the eyes is "the" place to shoot a 'gator...one shot deal. this proves one doesn't have to call animal control "officer".
Reply
lam12sacred 10-03-2009 @ 8:01AM
ew ... it always saddens me when we kill creatures that are sharing this space with us ... my sister-in-law said the other night that my brother was going back to the camp this weekend ... he is hunting for bear ... and she said ...' come on already I want a bear rug ' ...
later on that night I said to my son ...' can you imagine killing such a beautiful animal just so you can walk on it ?'
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J Grizzle 10-03-2009 @ 12:28PM
Calm down. You and your nancy boy son can be sure that a bear won't be killed just to walk on it. The meat is good too. :)
Kadi 10-03-2009 @ 8:38AM
I'm sure if this article was talking about a huge gator that killed a kindergärtner on his family's farm, all of you that opposed to this would be singing a different tune. Good for those parents that they taught him to defend himself. You are the tree hugging hippie PETA activists that make this world so freaking hard to live in. There is nothing wrong with hunting animals. If the first humans hadn't hunted, we wouldn't be here. Put that in your holier than thou pipe and smoke it.
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Mel 10-03-2009 @ 11:09AM
Hurting animals and killing them for meat is two different things, genius. Any little child who finds killing creatures as a past-time at this age is bound to enjoy shooting other things later in life. He didn't shoot the alligator to feed the family, he shot it for the h-ll of it. I wouldn't want a gun toting brat in my kids school.
David 10-08-2009 @ 5:31PM
Firstly I do believe in hunting, but how was he protecting anything, they trapped it, then shot it