Albino Buck Slain by 11 yr old

Regenerative Subsistence Fauna Food
#1

[font=georgia]I am sure that many of you may have seen this headline. [An 11 year old boy in Michigan shot a 12 point albino buck. It has been living in that area for a few years. He was out with his father and the opportunity arose, so he took the shot and was successful. They will be getting it mounted for posterity.] I am curious as to what your thoughts are on this matter.

Do you feel there is a spiritual/cultural significance surrounding this deer [albino animals in general]?

Should he have not taken the shot?

Would you have taken the shot?[/font]

#2

I feel some connection to this. About 20 years ago I encountered a completely white deer, a large male, after eating mushrooms with a friend at Doe Bay on Orcas Island (Washington State). A population of piebald deer (usually splotched with white, I think) live on Orcas Island, but this deer is the only one I ever saw on the island, and he was completely all-over paper white. It’s hard to articulate exactly what the encounter means to me at this point, present day, but it does feel significant in some way and not random. (I resisted this feeling of “not random” for years before letting myself reflect on the encounter more.) A few years ago I came across some white deer stories that take place in the San Juans, where I met the deer: http://www.oly-wa.us/HealingHeart/Stories.php. I know white deer are considered sacred or symbolic in some way in various mythologies, but I’m not sure why. I would have left the deer alone.

#3

Every time I hear about some child shooting a giant, rare, majestic animal, my heart sinks.

There was the kid who shot a giant, wild Boar:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2007/05/26/alabama-boy-kills-1051-pound-monster-pig-bigger-than-hogzilla/

And the insane family of sociopaths that murders/poaches all kinds of wildlife (“11 Year Old Girl Shoots Cougar To Save Her Brother”)
http://32predators.com/convicted-poacher-thomas-white-has-daughter-shoot-couger/

And this one about the white deer.

I believe that any time an animal is killed for fun, prosperity, or to show off, is sad an unnecessary and is the mentality that says those things are okay are simply microcosms of the mentality that it is okay to destroy the planet to the extent that we have. Take food to eat, or to make room for more life. That’s my philosophy anyhow.

#4

[font=georgia]I agree there is a definite spiritual significance behind the presence of the albino deer. One does not destroy these messengers. I definitely would not have taken the shot and feel he should not have either. Even though he is 11 years old and the fact that his father was sitting right beside him, shows how detached folks have become from the Earth. Instead of looking at the natural beauty and rarity of this albino deer - their first instinct is to end its life. I know that my children would have not have committed such an act - and if they did I certainly would not be promoting it for their five minutes of fame. They would instead be learning from their grievous error.

Seeing those other examples [the White family increases their disregard each generation - pitiful], just further shows how we are indoctrinating our youth into the rampant disregard for the sacredness of life on all levels. [/font]

#5

I could not have shot that deer… but if I was 11 years old might not have had the wisdom to not shoot. When we were in high school we were very involved with falconry , we once spotted a black hawk and it intrigued us to no end. We caught it with a bow net and took it to a bird vet he said it was melonistic red tail or a black phase, more rare than an albino. It died of a rare cancer in birds a short time later. The vet said it went for our bait because it was weak from hunger. How cruel that it had a cancer , such a rare hawk.

I have done a lot of hunting but do not like trophy hunting… leave that best of the DNA in the wild. As I have grown older I do not hunt like I once did , my viewpoint has changed to a place that if I dont need to eat I dont have to kill the critter. I’d rather just watch it.

Dude

#6

Hunting is a useful skill, but I would only kill an animal with the intent to use as much of it as possible, never for a trophy. Killing is not a sport. It is a fundamental mechanism of nature that is justified only when it is necessary.

If bears had the same attitude towards killing as recreational hunters, nobody would be able to sleep in rural areas without a bear blasting through their window at night.
If snakes had the same attitude towards killing as recreational hunters, you couldn’t hike in Arizona without a horde of rattlers chasing you down.

Hunting is a trade with Earth, of one life for another. It is completely justified in that way. However, hunting for sport is not a trade, it is theft. We call theft of life murder, and someone who steals life can not expect that their own life will not be stolen.

That is my view on it.

#7

Even though I am a deer therian, I do not hold any mutated animal (or any animal in general) above the rest. The fact that this deer was white does not make it better than the “boring normal ones.” I know some leucistic or albino animals are sacred in some traditional spiritualities, but they are not my tradition. Albino, piebald, and leucistic animals also often have some health problems associated with albinism or leucism, with the added fact that their different coloration makes them stand out and thus more vurnerable to predators.

However, these deer are often hunted for the sake of trophies, which is something I disagree with whether the deer is white, black, brown, piebald, or blonde morph. If it was hunted for food, then I see no reason why it is any more wrong morally just because the deer is white. Hell, it might’ve even been better for the herd and surrounding deer populations.