Albino Buck Killed by 11-Year-Old Hunter Gavin Dingman
An albino buck was killed by an 11-year-old in Howell, Michigan recently, giving him bragging rights and earning him status as a celebrated hunter for a lifetime. Gavin Dingman was hunting with his father when he saw the extremely rare deer and managed to kill it from 30 yards away with his 12-point crossbow.
The albino buck that died by the 11-year-old's hand is a rare color normally only seen in one out of every 20,000 deer births. That made it well-known in the area, and "quite a few of the guys in the neighborhood were trying to get it," Gavin's father Mick told USA Today.
By the time Gavin and his father were hunting the albino buck, he was already experienced — he previously shot a deer "straight through the heart" last year, he said — but that didn't mean he wasn't "very nervous."
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"My dad was just like, 'Take a deep breath. Are you sure you can take the shot? If you're not 100 percent, we don't want to injure it,'" the boy recalled.
He did hit it, though.
"I double-lunged it," Gavin told USA Today.
The 11-year-old hunter has become somewhat of a celebrity due to his extremely rare kill. He will receive a large trophy to commemorate the moment and the family is having a full-body mount of the deer made.
"He kind of feels like a rock star right now," Mick Dingman said. "Everyone is calling, all of the hunting shows and hunting magazines."
Some have been critical of the father's choice to have his son take down such a rare specimen.
"I've had people tell me, 'You should have taken the shot. You don't let an 11-year-old take a shot at a deer like that,'" he said. "To me, in my opinion, it doesn't matter if it's a spike or a doe or a trophy deer. If you have confidence in them, it shouldn't matter what they are shooting at."
Albino deer were previously protected in Michigan due to hunting laws, but that prohibition was lifted in 2009.
