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1

"He said he shot the huge animal eight times with a .50- caliber revolver and chased it for three hours through hilly woods before finishing it off with a point-blank shot."

It's nice to see 11 year old boys running around shooting the shit out of large animals.

Posted by Mr. Poe | May 29, 2007 1:48 PM
2

how did they position 1000 lbs of pig into that pose? w/ a crane? second-of-ly i seriously doubt that a father would just sit there with a rifle when his child is running through the woods shooting king hog w/ a pistol, though .50 is a huge gun.

Posted by lap | May 29, 2007 1:51 PM
3

"...he and the guides..."??? Was this a store-bought Dick Cheney-like "hunting trip" that the pint-sized mighty hunter was on?

Posted by Acolyte | May 29, 2007 1:54 PM
4

Dear GAWD that's a lot of bacon. mmmmmm, bacon.

Posted by longball | May 29, 2007 1:55 PM
5

20 yrs from now when that kid sees a ham sandwich hes going to say "if i see 1 more fucking ham sandwich!..."

Posted by yukkers | May 29, 2007 1:55 PM
6

Has anyone told Bjork yet?

Posted by Jude Fawley | May 29, 2007 2:01 PM
7

Yee-haw! I jes kilt me somethin'. 'Scuse me while I go celebrate by fucking my wife/first cousin.

Posted by Bauhaus | May 29, 2007 2:04 PM
8

Banjoes, please.

Posted by Bauhaus | May 29, 2007 2:05 PM
9

This is precisely the kind of animal we'll be hunting, Kiley.

Be ready.

Posted by Jonah | May 29, 2007 2:06 PM
10

pray the hunters dont turn on whiners

Posted by Bellevue Ave | May 29, 2007 2:07 PM
11

Someone from SAM, please commission me. A paper-mache rendering of the boy and boar for the sculpture park!

Posted by darius | May 29, 2007 2:10 PM
12

Good for him! I personally don't like shooting living things, but to each their own. And I love how #7 thinks that the kid must be a dipshit redneck because he went hunting with his father. Way to be self righteous, man.

Posted by Rotten666 | May 29, 2007 2:15 PM
13

surely the news is that there are still (or might still be) beasts this size roaming the planet, right? who cares who kills them? somebody please kill them all immediately.

Posted by SEAN NELSON, EMERITUS | May 29, 2007 2:22 PM
14

the boy is not that big.

Posted by infrequent | May 29, 2007 2:28 PM
15

"I was a little bit scared, a little bit excited," said Jamison, who just finished the sixth grade on the honor roll at Christian Heritage Academy, a small, private school.

Hey, isn't one of the Ten Commandments 'Thou Shalt not Kill.'?

Posted by Gomez | May 29, 2007 2:33 PM
16

@13: Amen.

I'm a vegetarian, but if I saw a pig that big, I would desire its immediate dispatch to the great mud pit in the sky.

It also reminds me of Princess Mononoke, which in turn makes me want to vomit. Worms!

Posted by Aislinn | May 29, 2007 2:33 PM
17

Be careful Sean Nelson, you might get caught in the crosshairs too after ordering the death of large beasts roaming the earth.

Posted by oink oink | May 29, 2007 2:38 PM
18

That's a whole lot of "The Chef Special" at Volterra.

Posted by elswinger | May 29, 2007 2:38 PM
19

Neal Stephenson included a graphic depiction of the Indian animal clinic, including the protagonist's participation as blood dispenser for the mosquitos and leeches in the 3rd Baroque Cycle novel, "The System of the World".

Posted by skweetis | May 29, 2007 2:39 PM
20

OK...so why didn't the kid have a hunting rifle? Is it common practice to go hunting with a pistol?

Posted by Kate | May 29, 2007 2:43 PM
21

An unloaded .50 caliber rifle ways about 30 pounds and is about five feet long. One .50 caliber shell is about 5.5 inches long. I doubt an 11 year old could aim such a big gun.

Posted by elswinger | May 29, 2007 2:57 PM
22

Jebus, that must be some mutant 11 year old. Have any of you ever actually fired a .50-caliber pistol? It kicks like a mule. I can't imagine any 11 year old kid firing 8 rounds with one of those without breaking a wrist or dislocating a shoulder. Holy fuck! When I was that age, nobody sane would let me near anything more powerful than a .22 (thankfully).

Posted by SDA in SEA | May 29, 2007 2:57 PM
23

The .50 cal pistol bullet is slightly smaller than a AA battery. Jesus. Hurrah, another animal defeated!

Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale | May 29, 2007 3:11 PM
24

I'll say. Hunting, last I checked, is legal. He had adult supervision. I'm guessing he was properly licensed. The only story here is, sweet Jesus, that is one gigantic pig.

Posted by Jason Josephes | May 29, 2007 3:47 PM
25

i would love to see that boar as a paper mache bust outside of the globe. mmmmmm....MEAT!

Posted by mimi | May 29, 2007 4:34 PM
26

@22: I'm about the same weight as an 11 year old boy, and I've fired a .50 caliber. It's not that implausible.

Posted by Holly | May 29, 2007 5:15 PM
27

The eight rounds were fired over a period of time.
In fact, he must have at least partially reloaded at some point in the chase.
This makes firing the hand-canon a lot more do-able.
The heft of the gun itself, especially with the added weight of the scope, will absorb some of the recoil, making it further do-able ;)

Nonetheless, even firing a .44 (much less a .50) hurts my wrists, even if I fire as few as six rounds in a row. & I'm a big dude.

The cartridge is bigger than a AA battery, the bullet is smaller:
http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/tb_gun-lg-1.jpg

Posted by K X One | May 29, 2007 6:22 PM
28

That picture is definitely framed in a way that exaggerates the size of the animal - check out these images for a more accurate take on the (still massive) size.

Posted by oscar | May 29, 2007 7:18 PM
29

I'm with #13. Jesus christ, if I saw a PIG that size walking through the woods I would totally shit my pants, scream like a little girl, and probably pass out.

Posted by JessB | May 29, 2007 9:37 PM
30

Yeah, I would be scared shitless if I saw that thing in the woods. It looks like a hippo. Boars aren't especially known for their friendly disposition either.

Posted by bjork chops for life | May 29, 2007 10:16 PM
31

If you take a closer look at the images you'll notice that the pistol the kid used has a custom grip, a 6" barrel and a big honking muzzle brake. That doesn't make it an easy gun to shoot, but the experience of firing the weapon would be much different than the stock .44s most of us (those of us who have done some shooting) have probably fired.

And no, neither the cartridge nor the bullet of a .50 caliber pistol round are remotely the same size as an anti-aircraft round. The smallest dedicated AA cannons are 20mm, which is about .75 caliber-- and the cartridges of those cannons are about the size and shape of a smallish beer bottle. The next size down of common AA guns is the "quad fifty", which is four .50 caliber machineguns on one carriage. Those fire .50 BMG ammo, which is about the size and shape of a cigar with a #2 pencil sticking out of one end of it. The .50 pistol round, on the other hand, is about the size and shape of a AA battery (a little longer).

So yes, big pistol. But really nothing on the scale of the military hardware you're comparing it to.

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32

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33

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34

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35

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