Boy, 11, Bags Hog Bigger Than 'Hogzilla'

I agree with you, Brian, but I don't know if "beautiful" is quite the word I'd use.

Yea, another thing that bothered me was this:

Jamison, who just finished the sixth grade on the honor roll at Christian Heritage Academy, a small, private school.

Christians, while professing, love and admiration for God's creation, sure do love killing his creation every chance they get, don't they?

But yea, I'm gonna cry bull@!$%# on this story as well. I mean, I don't think anything that big would even be able to walk and move around, much less cause an 11 year old boy to have to give chase to it through the woods.

@ Brian Ford--that line bugged me as well...that such a young kid is delighting in having killed something.

I have a grudging admiration for hunters who eat their kill--as a friend said to me, "at least I know how the animal I am eating died." I *know* I wouldn't ever be able to kill an animal for food myself.

I guess the part that bugged me about it is that he was proud of the "killed" aspect -- too proud.

And, as someone mentions below -- 8 @!$%#ing times with a pistol?!

Jesus.

I missed the 8 times part...I have FridayBrain today :p

That's almost on par with the shooting animals via the internet "hunts" for pure cruelty.

just because you were able to hunt and shoot well enough.

What part of this story gave you the impression that this kid was a good hunter?

I *know* I wouldn't ever be able to kill an animal for food myself.

That's why God invented the wrap. Just for folks like you.

;-}

For me it just is easy to understand the satisfaction of hunting and I know that the animal has to be killed. I know that some people think that buying food from shop is normal behaviour and I understand them also. Aside hunting and buying you can fish, farm and collect.

Well, I grew up in small city in Indiana. My dad hunted for small game and quit hunting after bagging a deer. He didn't feel the need anymore. I spent summers fishing at the lake.

I'm not "anti-hunting" -- nor am I unaware of what it means to hunt for your own food and why some might enjoy doing so.

I'm opposed to the way this creature was hunted -- and the way that sentence is worded coming from an 11-year-old boy. The "joy of hunting" isn't about the love of killing things, it's about respect for what you've killed. Joseph Campbell talked about this a lot when he discussed Native Americans and their respect for the animals which they hunted.

This boy seems to respect his pistol -- and what it can do -- after an 8th try.

And, I also have a small regret that something so "unique" was seen as a trophy kill -- even though I'm not sure what else could have been done with it.

Brian, very well said.

Dude, get me some eggs.

@Phaedrus72

We totally agree with you.

Sincerely,
Rhinoceroses and Elephants

Rhinoceros and elephants are that big by nature, wild hogs do not normally get that big and just as when humans get that big, they find it hard to move all that weight around, I find it hard to believe that it wouldn't be the same for this wild boar.

(If it is real), it appears to have grown bigger proportionally and, most likely, would be something other than the common species. So, I see no reason why it would have any difficulty in moving around if its muscle and skeletal structure are in proportion to the body. I could be wrong.

Oh also, I just would like to express how grateful I am that this was the article featured on the home page. Crap or not this is way better than any political articles.

I'm actually a bit skeptical myself, but who knows.

Beating up on Rosie and letting Washington glide, fairly balanced for ignorance.

fairly balanced for ignorance.

Rosie has had her share of ignorant remarks and seemed to be fine beating up on whoever disagreed with her (if she let them get a word in edge wise).

My point was to the media who air idiotic nonsense from any source before delving into real news.

Pamela, please don't tell me your defending Rosie!!?? Ignorant comments are only the beginning of what you could call the garbage coming out of that womans blow hole. If your one of those nut jobs that thinks 9/11 was a government conspiracy or that the government is holding little green aliens prisoner in underground facilities then I got to tell you, you should seek psychiatric help. Well maybe not for the alien stuff because that is totally real!

::rolls eyes::

Collin how about you watch your language a little for starters.. calling any woman's mouth a 'blow hole' is beyond disgusting, but in your case I guess it simply shows the below average IQ we're dealing with in your comments, since Rosie's sexual orientation simply doesn't allow for 'blowing' a whole lot, Einstein.

Go buy a bag of manners and brains.

Ok I just learned another use of the term 'blow hole' after discussing it with my husband. LOL Nevermind then. I guess this is a perfect situation in which to pull the 'I'm not a native speaker' card, right?

lol.. Always to the dirty thoughts. I like that attribute in a woman. Err.. single women at least.

Just a clean reference to a whale. As for my low IQ, I am smart enough to not bother discussing it most of the time but actually I am purrty shmart. Leeest that's what my mum says. Actually it would be 145 to 160 depending on which test it is. But I do try to dumb myself down with drugs and alchohol so that I can understand normal people.

I used to try that - didn't work.
Yea.. the whale thing.. gotta remember that one. Pretty embarrassing. *smirk

Anyways.. what were we fighting about?

That's what she said.

I figured people would get the reference.

Well, I thought maybe that's what you had in mind -- but it seemed like a great use of the "that's what she said" line and I couldn't resist.

I'm never one to quash the use of the "that's what she said line" but I couldn't think of a more appropriate response.

Oh nevermind, I just saw he 'killed his first deer when he was 5'. I think I'm gonna pass out.

Now we wonder why there are school shootings.

Totally unrelated to school shootings.

I agree completely. I still find it disturbing though and frankly, inappropriate.

I understand that many kids will be responsible with firearms. In lieu of the recent school shootings I question the parent's and child's judgement.

Violent video games, violent television, and very little discussion of their meaning with their parents are the root of this.

I don't believe that violent video games and violent television are at the root of it at all.

I think those are factors -- but factors which can only act as one piece of a gigantic puzzle. That puzzle is very specific to a few kids who have so many various factors of being "messed up" that you can't really lay "violent video games and television" at the root.

I'm far more likely to blame parents, then bullies, then warning signs which are missed.

Video games and television are simply a scapegoat which allows people to pretend they didn't take part in the above issues.

I agree. Here's a list of school shootings since 1996; 48 incidents, 36 of which happened on US soil. As far as I know video games etc are a worldwide phenomenon, and so is violence on television. Families keeping fire arms in the home (whether for hunting purposes or not) is much more a US phenomenon, though.

Thirty-four percent of children in the United States (representing more than 22 million children in 11 million homes) live in homes with at least one firearm.

Coinidence?

@Brian Ford,

I'm in agreement with most of what you said, but (if I read what Viki had to say properly), I don't think you are in complete disagreement here.

Violent video games, violent television, and very little discussion of their meaning with their parents are the root of this.

The biggest factor in any of these situations is the environment in which these children are raised. If they don't have parents or other authority figures guiding them and teaching them right from wrong, it is (almost) inevitable that these kids are going to be a mess.

@angie*,

If only 48 incidents have happened when there are 11 million homes with firearms, that doesn't seem to be statistically significant. This isn't meant to underplay the tragedy at all, but it is clear that the factor of having a firearm in the home, by itself, does not lead to these incidents.

What must be looked at are the various other factors involved in the homes of the people who have perpetrated the crimes. I'm certain there are other variables that will come up as significant to this problem and common to these homes. From your statistics, nearly 11 million homes have firearms and do not have their children taking them in to school to execute these heinous crimes.

Of course you're right, I never tried to make the point that firearms = more violence. I was trying to nullify the claim that TV and video games lead to school shootings, which is nonsense, IMHO.

Still... to claim the findings are insignificant is somewhat inappropriate, don't you think? What would be a significant number of school shootings in your opinion? 100 a year? One per every other gun owner? The only significance I was trying to point out was how much more common those shootings are around here. Whether that's a significant number of shootings or not is irrelevant.

If I thought it inappropriate, I wouldn't have said it.

Any number of school shootings is not acceptable, but the number of households with firearms is insignificant in relation.

You can say that 36 events of this kind is too many in the 11 year snapshot you have given. I would agree. However, correlation does not equal causation. The U.S. also has more obese people than other countries. We probably also have more televisions per household as well. Are these numbers significant in the number of school shootings? Perhaps, perhaps not. The guns are just a means to an end. That said, even if you outlawed ownership of guns, the willing and determined would find some other way to go about their killing because there are bigger problems in these households and in schools that lead to the shootings than mere ownership of firearms.

U.S. also has more obese people than other countries. We probably also have more televisions per household as well. Are these numbers significant in the number of school shootings?

Well, if kids would actually be killed by TVs or big butts then yea, I would see a correlation. We're talking about shootings and you say guns have nothing to do with it? Okaaay.

Actually it strikes me that he is saying that the violent outbursts probably would have taken place with or without a gun in the home. The violence may have resolved itself in another format if a gun wasn't in the home but it still would have happened because there is some other far more serious problem in the home beyond the simple possession of a gun.

Do you know, from your statistics, if all of these shootings in the past 11 years were done by kids who had guns in their homes? Do you know if the guns that were used were guns from within their own home or did they acquire them elsewhere?

The presence of a gun certainly exacerbated the problem of these kids acting out violently. However, the saying the gun being present is a prominent cause may be premature and overreaching based on the minimal statistic you provided.

@finalcut, that is a large part of what I was trying to convey.

@angie*,

I did not say that guns have nothing to do with shootings, did I? If I wasn't clear, in regards to your statistics, I'm saying that 36 incidents over the course of 11 years when 22 million children in 11 million households had access to firearms is not a significant enough correlation to attribute having a firearm in the household as the primary cause of these school shootings. That is not the same as saying that guns have nothing to do with shootings.

Note: My belief, which I have no information or data to back up, is that there is a higher degree than average of dysfunction in the households of the shooters in these various incidents.

In any case, having firearms available does not make one go and shoot someone. It makes it possible, but possible is not the same thing as likely.

Ok it seems like we're approaching some common ground now. Thank goodness, I was beginning to doubt myself. I agree with most of what you say, yet, I can't help but fall back onto this (of course way too simplified) theory of

easy-access-to-guns = school shootings

I did some reading over the last couple of days and found something to actively undermine my own theory. LOL Talk about open-mindedness, huh? :)

The answer: Finland.

50% of Finnish housholds own at least one Gun; yet their gun homicide rate lies at 0.4 per 100.000

(In comparison, 34% of US householdsown guns with a gun homicide rate of 4.4 per 100.000).

Source

So yes.. cultural and sociological factors sure do play a large role. And my source is a pretty general one, too. It's not specifically school shootings, but hey.. I've tried. :)

Do you know, from your statistics, if all of these shootings in the past 11 years were done by kids who had guns in their homes?

If I remember correctly, in the cases of the Columbine shootings and the more recent Virginia Tech shootings, the guns used were not brought from the shooters homes, but were purchased illegally.

Here's the issue I have: Guns are involved in EVERY school shooting. We KNOW they play a major role. Yet, Gun activists will never admit that "guns" might be a large part of the problem.

On the other hand -- there's NO conclusive evidence that Video Games or Violent Movies are the "cause" of these aggressive and violent rampages -- yet they are all too often seen as easy scapegoats. My bet is that if you took away these "influences" -- the kids will still lash out.

But -- if they don't have access to guns, they certainly aren't going to kill dozens of people before someone manages to subdue them. If I have to choose "which" factor is the bigger problem -- I think I know which one I'd not have in my home under any circumstance.

Still, I believe very strongly that these kids cannot be summed up by the games they play, the movies they watch or even bad parenting: They're a very particular "type" of @!$%#ed up, and their issues are bound to come to a head in one way or another.

And, ultimately -- a few kids are going to slip through the system and the result will be a rampage. That's just the way it goes. It sucks, but unless we want to force our kids to grow up in a repressive environment, there's not much we can do about it.

Egads, please no giant spiders!

Thanks Johnny Y

There's quite a bit of foreshortening in all these photos but everyone needs their 15 minutes...

I've gotta say -- the Pig looks smaller in the photo you've linked.

And -- the shadows are a bit funky, as well.

I'm not willing to call it a fake, just yet -- but it definitely seems fishy.

Alabama is not a mid-western state.

Damn...

Kindofmid southern then? Lol. It's a big kid damn it, that's all I know.

Deep South.