Where did the 11 year old boy that killed the wild boar in Alabama get the gun from?

Question

I went to visit the web page and there was this section of positive and negative comments. The positive comments said "Congratulations for killing the boar! You are such a hero!" while the negative comments pointed out what was wrong in it.

One I particularly agreed with was one that said: "I am writing to voice my concern over the killing of this unusual animal. I am most concerned that an 11 year old believes that killing something so unique is ‘an accomplishment’. I wonder what sort of people raise their children to be proud of killing defenseless animals. Regardless of its size, animals are no competition for a human using gun and shooting from a safe distance away. This behaviour is cowardly- like hitting someone from behind. Instead of feeling proud, this boy should feel ashamed for putting an animal through three hours of suffering for no reason at all. I expect parents to teach children about compassion and appreciation for life. If he had been encouraged to shoot with a camera instead of a gun, people around the world could have benefited from this encounter.

Please post my email in your negative response section. I see that you are strategically posting only the most radical and offensive emails, no doubt to try and demonstrate that anyone against this killing is an extremist.” –Congrats to whoever wrote that!
I think that the so-called “negative comments” are actually the positive ones that say how to be responsible and what should not be done.
Anyways... where did that young (not even teenager) get a gun from?

Answer 1

Here is my thoughts on the email you included in your comments... Your question seemed to be well thought out and respectful, so I will try and keep my answer the same.

There is one truth I have found sickening in my life. As I moved away from the woods and back country to the city and into yuppie society, the misinformation about hunting and guns seems to grow and grow. It seems to be at the point now where the people who have no clue about guns and what hunting is about are becoming the majority.

While you are asking a very legitimate question, the fact you are asking it bothers me. What is wrong with an 11 year old boy having a gun and hunting? The young man was obviously supervised as someone had to have taken the picture. Even if the lad wasn't supervised, the boy must have known enough about gun safety to hit what he was aiming at and managaged not to kill himself or another human being.

Like it or not, guns are a part of US society. Do you know that even the government encourages an armed population? Once upon a time, Congress created the Civilian Marksmanship Program, a program whose purpose is to distribute unused military weapons to the public so that people would learn to shoot and could be called upon in the time of war. The purpose of the CMP has changed slightly, but it still distributes military weapons to the public for a very reasonable price.

I am sure many people who are on this board learned to shoot at ages younger than 11. Personally, I was shooting guns longer than I can remember. By the time I was 7 years old, I was shooting a 25-06. Many people on here spent thier childhood shooting guns (not paintball, air soft, cap guns, but real guns with real bullets) and are still around to talk about it.

The final part of my rant is about hunting. Whomever wrote that email saying that an animal has no chance against a human with a gun has never been hunting in their life. Like it or not, there is a food chain on earth. Each member of the food chain has its own strengths and weaknesses. A bunny has no friends, yet because if its small size, its speed, and its ability to reproduce like...well like bunnies keeps them alive and keeps it from becoming extinct. Humans are no different. Humans are capable of using tools and manipulating their environment. Other animals can see humans, smell them, avoid them (it is every impressive to see what a whitetail deer is capable of when it is avoiding a hunter), go on the offensive and attack, or a number of other things. No other animal in the food chain is defenseless...their strengths are just different than a humans.

Also, killing is a very anti-climatic part of hunting. Many people who have never been hunting do not understand what hunting is about. Hunting for most people is a state of mind, not about killing. Hunting is about the memories and seeing what most people never see. Hunting provides a clean, untained food supply to the hunter (you ever read about the sh*t that makes it into the domestic food supply?). However, when you kill something, that is when the work starts. The chase may be fun, but I (and I think many other people) find the killing part very anti-climatic.

So, where did the 11 year old get the gun? Probably from whomever he was hunting with (a parent I presume). However, if he handled the firearm in a safe, respectable manner, who cares?

Answer 2

Its a Smith and Wesson, Model 500. Nothing particularly special about it, just that it is really big. It was probably from one of his parents.

I do collect firearms and take them out to the range every once in a while. I do not hunt, but I do support anyone who wishes to. Environmentalists complain about hunting, when in fact it is a very humane way of controlling overpopulation. For example, say an area is studied and determined to be able to only support 1000 deer. The problem is there is an estimated 1200 deer in the area. Those 200 are going to die of starvation, so 200 hunting licenses are issued. A bullet is much less cruel than starvation. However, this is often ignored in some states, and as a result they are having severe overpopulation. In Washington, the government is having to hire sharpshooters to thin out the population! Government money to solve a problem that citizens will PAY to do.

Another moral reason would be in Genesis, when God gave mankind domain over "those creatures that populated the lands over which he reigned"

Besides, the meat from the hunt is not going to be wasted either. They plan on making several hundred pounds of sausage from the beast!

Answer 3

First of all, in the state of Alabama, there are no laws against the possession of firearms by minors of any age. There is a law against selling firearms to anyone under 18, but they are still allowed to possess them. This is fairly common in most states. While some, such as Montana, allow for the sale or transfer of firearms to anyone with no restrictions based on age, and also has no laws against the possession of firearms by minors, most states have minimum age requirements for purchase, with possession only being permitted as temporary loans under the guidance of an adult. As you can guess, this is mostly aimed towards hunting, so that a kid can go hunting with his old man and not get arrested for it. Laws vary state to state, but the standard age limits for purchase are 18 for rifles and shotguns, 21 for handguns. So in Alabama, who could possess it but not own it (and in Montana he could have bought and owned it as well).

The only comment I'll make towards the rest of your post is that any animal that requires 8 shots from the particular firearm in use by the boy is not a defenseless animal that stands no chance against a human with a gun. I'm sure you are probably one of those people, so concerned with respecting life, that had the animal turned and charged and trampled the boy, you would secretly (or even publicly) say that he got what he deserved for being out there in the first place. Any wild animal that size is dangerous, period.

Answer 4

My guess a Christmas gift maybe a birthday gift. That is when I got my first guns.
From what I heard about this monster pig was that it was sure a very large pig but it was also causing a lot of damage to fences and killing other farm animals too. That takes the pig name and throws it out and it's new name is nuisances
A real pig is nothing like Charlotte. They are more like "Ole Yeller" pig. They are very aggressive animals that are a danger to anything. I lived next to a farm most of my life and I have seen them eat a live chicken if the chicken happen to wonder in their pen looking for food. Feathers and all.
You have a good day in what ever world you thought you were in. It's sounds like a nightmare to me.

Answer 5

The Smith & Wesson 500 caliber revolver was purchased legally by the boy's father.Sad part is it turns out the "Wild Feral Pig" wasn't wild at all but was in fact a very overfed domestically raised farm pig.It was sold to the farmer so it could live a normal pigs life and grow old in relative safety.Beware of "Little Boys" who carry Daddy's "oversized" handguns.Hardly an accomplishment or something to be proud of........

Answer 6

Ok, do you know what a 300 pound wild boar can do? It will gut you clean if it catches you near it. Now imagine a 1050 LB hog, it could swallow you whole. Now tell me are hogs defenseless? NO! Thet have tusks. Actually i cant think or an animal that couldnt really hurt you if it wanted to. Even a squirrel can bite you and it does hurt. Obviously it was his fathers gun you waterhead, an 11 year old would have to get one from a parent, he cant lagally own one.

Answer 7

I think you're being a bit hard on the boy. There's no reason to think he wasn't hog hunting with his father and his uncle, probably with his dad's revolver, as many of us did at that age, or that it was unreasonable for him to think his first shot wouldn't work. We all try for a clean kill, but that doesn't mean it always works. And I promise you it isn't unusual for people in Alabama to eat pork. Rather than get on a soapbox, I think it's best to give the kid the benefit of the doubt. And in terms of the hog's unique stature, that also means it was uniquely a large and damaging pest. My understanding is that he was on a hunting reserve, but in that part of the country, that may also mean it's timber land, and the timber people will tell you their timber can't take too many hogs. There's a balance in nature, and hunters are part of that balance in the modern world. Let's save the judgments for when we know more about the particulars.

Answer 8

Try Lost Creek Plantation. It is a game reserve in Delta Al. I looked it up and it is on the Internet. They have a Price list and all the animals that you can hunt on their reserve. There is a picture of the boy and the big hog. The price for hog hunting is $2.00 a pound. So that 1000 pound er cost that kids dad some bucks.

Answer 9

I would guess from his Father.
I have hunted my whole life and have a code of ethecs that most sportsmen and women go by when hunting any animal.
#1 Harvesting game is done in a humane manner. Killing cleanly and without causing undo suffering. This is accomplished by practicing with your weapon. Knowing the animal that your hunting anatomy. Shot placement to cleanly dispatch the animal. This young man did not have the proper weapon or training with it, for this 1000+lb animal . A pistol is for the most experenced of us and only an expert shot with his pistol should hunt big game with it.
Sadly It took 3hours and 8 shots. It should have taken one well placed shot. Maybe a second finishing shot. Over. done
I think the non-hunting public after hearing this will be even more anti hunting and give real hunters a hard time about there sport.
I feel sorry for this young man because he has no one to teach or guide him correctly in this sport. If he had ,they would have gone about this hunt entirely different.

Answer 10

He got it out of the gumball machine, idiot! BTW, to all of you that say it should have been a 1 shot kill: Where do you get your data on the ballistic performance of a .500 smith and wesson on a 1,050 lb. hog? You don't have it? I'm SHOCKED! For that matter, how many 500 lb. hogs have you seen? Or shot? See? This is why your "enter" button should have a safety and a 2 stage trigger on it.