Boy shoots albino deer, gets deaththreats

[shaunyboy]

Originally Posted by eminart

The fact is, albino deer tend to be genetically inferior. You never see a truly big one, they often have poor eyesight, and they have smaller antlers. Humans have replaced the deers' natural predators in most places, so WE are the ones that weed out the weak. If we let the albinos live because we think they're somehow special, we're just allowing inferior genes an unfair advantage over more robust genes.

So, it's not only a silly human sentiment to let the white ones walk, but it's also detrimental to the herd.

yes it's human sentiment.but imo it's not silly...


so we should kill albino lions.tigers.etc because they are detrimental to the pride

i'm sorry but that whole statement just makes me feel sorry for all those folk who cannot see it as a thing of beauty and just see it as another slab of inferior designed meat


cheers shaun

[Jim Smith]

I think that this thread has drifted a bit from killing a rare albino deer (which happens to be legal to do in the state this young man live in) to hunting/killing in general. I personally do not hunt. That said, I have zero problem with people hunting deer as they have become so over populated that they would soon have to be culled just to maintain a healthy herd. There are so many deer here in Georgia that the annual limit is 12 does and 2 bucks per hunter and we're still over populated. There are 5 or 6 deer in my front yard every evening, eating my landscape plants. It is not unusual to see 3 or 4 deer in the middle of my neighbors lawn at noon; they don't even run from us. When I drove from Atlanta to Savannah last week and route 16, (the highway between Macon and Savannah about 150 miles long), the dead deer along that road were like mile markers and still you have to keep one eye open for deer at all times of the day. Hunters, hunt to you hearts content, just hunt legally, make clean kills, and use what you kill.

[MDT]

long time hunter...compound bow, black powder (with a scope and open sights), rifle (open sights and scope) and shotgun...i have zero issues with the method of harvesting the animal..and zero issues with harvesting it period. i would agree w shaun that the animal survived to adulthood and thereby was really lucky. personally, i prob would've passed on it as well. another hunter taking it by ethical means?...no problem.



edit...shaun...one day, i WILL come to your side of the pond, i WILL look you up dude..and you have got to take me hunting with ferrets!

[Joshchimera]

Hunting with ferrets is pretty epic! Beast master movie.

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by Akuma223

Boy Who Shot Albino Deer With Crossbow Receives Death Threats, Family Says so whats everyones opinion on this? I think its preposterous that this kid is getting threatened because he shot this buck. Its just a deer like any other and people putting it on a pedestal because its "different" and "prettier" is aggravating. This creature is no better than any other deer. Funny thing is a guarantee most of these people buy their meat from a supermarket which is far far worse. So whats everyones thoughts on this?

We don't consider the animals we keep "the same" when we ask for different prices on morphs.
So yes to me this animal is different than any other deer. It's got a really cool paint job.

No, the boy should have been left alone. Death threats are a pretty horrible thing over this. Yes, fine to share an opinion, maybe write a letter or what have you but death threats? That's really low.

[toddnbecka]

Death threats are extreme and unjustifiable regardless of the color of the animal.
As for it surviving to adulthood despite being an albino, the environment it lived in is a long way from "natural" with regards to what it would be like w/out the effects of humans over the past couple hundred years.
Hunting is often necessary to control the population of animals since their natural predators like wolves or mountain lions have been taken out of the ecosystem.

[David VB]

I can understand CosmicOwl. While i'm no vegetarian at all and so i do know that animals have to be liked in order for me to have food on the table, i don't think hunting for fun should be allowed. Not on any animal, they deserve life as much as humans. But a friend of mine is a hunter too and he only shoots those animals that are too high in numbers to have a balanced nature. That is acceptable i think, but a 1' year old killing animals wit a crossbow is far from acceptable for me. But i would never send him or his family death threats of course, that's just stupid.

[Zoo Nanny]

People are idiots and will say anything from the shadows of social media. While I have no problem with hunting I think the father missed a chance to teach his son respect and acceptance of what others hold sacred. There were so many values that he missed in teaching his son, very sad.

[Mikoh4792]

Isn't killing deer a part of keeping this planet healthy? I thought the reason for killing deer was because their numbers are so high in a given area that they are causing problems. I always hear about how in some places you have to drive very slowly because you never know when a deer will come shooting out of the woods and crash into your car or motorbike.

[54bogger]

I alway's killed deer for the taste! Once the skin is off they all taste the same, albino or normal.

[Zoo Nanny]

Originally Posted by Mikoh4792

Isn't killing deer a part of keeping this planet healthy? I thought the reason for killing deer was because their numbers are so high in a given area that they are causing problems. I always hear about how in some places you have to drive very slowly because you never know when a deer will come shooting out of the woods and crash into your car or motorbike.

Not always. If you drive through the Keys in Florida you will see signs for deer crossing. Key deer are critically endangered. You see moose crossing signs in the Northeast where the moose are just coming back. It just means that you happen to be driving through an area where animals travel. There are some areas where certain types of deer are over populated. Hunting seasons are regulated to avoid over hunting species which has happened in the past.

[Mikoh4792]

Originally Posted by Zoo Nanny

Not always. If you drive through the Keys in Florida you will see signs for deer crossing. Key deer are critically endangered. You see moose crossing signs in the Northeast where the moose are just coming back. It just means that you happen to be driving through an area where animals travel. There are some areas where certain types of deer are over populated. Hunting seasons are regulated to avoid over hunting species which has happened in the past.

Overpopulation is what I am talking about. I wouldn't agree with the killing of an animal if it's endangered.

[CosmicOwl]

It is indeed. Humans aren't exactly equipped to kill deer with our teeth. We've always used our brains and ingenuity to come up with easier ways to kill prey. But, if you think killing a deer with a crossbow is just killing and not hunting, I invite you to try it. I don't use a crossbow, but I've been bowhunting since I was 10, and it's a lot more difficult than you might think. A lot of non-hunters get their impression of deer from those that live in parks and neighborhoods and are fed by people all the time. It's a different animal that lives out in real nature.

I've pointed this out already, but humans are capable of bringing down large animals without ranged weapons and with little more than a sharp stick or rock.

You try to say that humans have always used our ingenuity to come up with easier ways to kill prey, but then try to romanticize hunting by saying it's different to hunt the animals out in "real nature." If I hunt the docile, human fed deer in my backyard, that's just another way of "using my ingenuity" to more easily kill prey. There is no practical difference between that sort of hunting, and traipsing around the woods with a crossbow. They're just different strategies.

Originally Posted by Zoo Nanny

I agree with you on that one. There are a couple of local towns near me that do not allow hunting and the deer are getting out of control. The same people who ban hunting are the first to complain about the deer eating their flowers and the coyotes that are going to eat their children! And more than likely it's their children that make the threats on social media sites.

The problem is that we eradicated all of the predators. In many areas, we wiped out the wolves, panthers and jaguars that would have naturally preyed on those deer.

[IW17]

Originally Posted by CosmicOwl

I've pointed this out already, but humans are capable of bringing down large animals without ranged weapons and with little more than a sharp stick or rock.

You try to say that humans have always used our ingenuity to come up with easier ways to kill prey, but then try to romanticize hunting by saying it's different to hunt the animals out in "real nature." If I hunt the docile, human fed deer in my backyard, that's just another way of "using my ingenuity" to more easily kill prey. There is no practical difference between that sort of hunting, and traipsing around the woods with a crossbow. They're just different strategies.



The problem is that we eradicated all of the predators. In many areas, we wiped out the wolves, panthers and jaguars that would have naturally preyed on those deer.

I don't know how to explain what I'm saying an better. Whether a hunter uses a gun, crossbow, bow, rock or a pointy stick, it's still just a tool to get the job done. It's a method used by a predator to catch prey.

As for overpopulation, there are more deer in the US now than hundreds of years ago. Between predator populations declining, or being wiped out for that matter, and the agricultural, we've given herbivores the necessary tools to flourish. Which is why every state has a dept of wildlife, who employees people to study animal populations and determine the number of animals to be culled each year to maintain a healthy population.

And to davidvb, saying that allowing a ten year old boy to kill a deer using a crossbow is wrong, could you please explain why?

[Cmwells90]

Originally Posted by CosmicOwl

You try to say that humans have always used our ingenuity to come up with easier ways to kill prey, but then try to romanticize hunting by saying it's different to hunt the animals out in "real nature." If I hunt the docile, human fed deer in my backyard, that's just another way of "using my ingenuity" to more easily kill prey. There is no practical difference between that sort of hunting, and traipsing around the woods with a crossbow. They're just different strategies..

Cosmic, the type of hunting you're referring to "persistance hunting" is only used by ONE culture today, and they're in Africa where it's easier for them to chase down their food for 8-10 hours while it dies of exhaustion than it is to risk losing a valuable weapon by throwing it. This doesn't make it a "better" way to hunt, in fact the animal suffers quite a bit during this process but the people of that culture respect their sacrafice so their families can eat! However this is not by definition "Natural hunting" in fact, all hunting is natural, hunting is hunting. You seem to humanize and very inhuman thing. Apes use tools to get their termites, is this not natural? How is this any different than us using a tool to hunt something? The edge humans have over other animals is our intellegence, our ability to look at something and figure out a way to solve the problem with a little effort as possible. and to answer this post, yes killing a Deer in your backyard and in the forest are the same to me, as long as the law see it the same way then it shouldn't matter.