Davey Crockett's got nothing on this kid

[Smith]

Dewitt - An Arkansas County boy killed a black bear Sunday weighing more than 400 pounds.

(Tre Merritt, Five-year-old Hunter) "I was up in the stand and I seen the bear. It came from the thicket and it was beside the road and I shot it."

Tre Merritt's grandfather was in the stand with him at the time. He says Tre did it all by himself.

(Mike Merritt, Tre’s Grandfather) "He came in about 40 to 50 yards, and when he got in the open. I whistled at him and he stopped and I said, ‘Shoot Tre.’"

And that’s just what Tre did--he fired his youth rifle.

(Mike Merritt) "I said, ‘Tre, you missed the bear.’ He said, ‘Paw-paw I squeezed the trigger and I didn’t close my eyes. I killed him."’

The bear turned out to be 445 pounds--twelve-times the size of Tre. Mike Merritt said tears rolled down his cheeks when he found out his grandson killed the enormous bear.

(Mike Merritt) "His 10th great-grandfather was Davie Crockett. And Davie supposedly killed him a bear when he was three. And Tre is five and really killed a bear. I really doubt if Davie killed one when he was three."

Tre’s dad says he started teaching his son to shoot when he was just 2 ½ years old. Last year, Tre killed three deer.

The family plans to get a life-sized mount of the bear, but they’re not sure right now where they’ll put it.

http://www.katv.com/news/stories/1207/479365.html

[Guest bkelm18]

Interesting comments below the article:

Mike,

Is this any way to raise a kid? Doesn't sound like that bear was causing you any harm or threatening in any way. Is that how you live? Go out to the woods - see animal - blow it's brains out.

"Well done son!" Do you have a zoo in your town? Take Tre with a bazooka and plenty of ammo - lots of good pickings there - might hit a few folks though - but that hardly don't matter much does it @#^&*!

I'm sending the article to 60 Minutes - maybe they can talk some sense into you folks.

This is how parents and grandparents proudly create serial killers and then people are shocked when the targets become humans instead of animals. .. !! Shocking..!!

These people need to be sterilized.

[strickj]

These people need to be sterilized.

got my vote:up:

[Guest c.a.s.]

got my vote:up:

It should involve a sturdy table, some leather straps, and a rusty spoon.

[Guest C-ya]

That's how you keep a kid from becoming a serial-killer. Teach him what a gun is, what it does, and that what it does is permanent. Those commenters must be citified liberals or some such.

[towerclimber37]

I don't think it would matter if they were clear on what they do. These are people that don't BELIEVE there's a reason for it. then they blame the system because their child took a rifle into a mall and killed folks...

and you always hear "he was always such a good boy"

[Guest pws_smokeyjones]

I was a serial killer by the time I was about 10 yrs old. I bet I killed thousands of snakes with a .22 rifle between my 8th and 11th birthday. I can't tell you where the bodies are buried though.

[creeky]

yeah... it's a lot better to just set them in front of a TV hooked up

to Cable, and an xbox... then walk off and let them raise themselves.

+1 for sterilization

+2 for "Rusty Spoon"

[Magiccarpetrides]

So what in the world kind of Rifle does/can a 5yr old shoot that will kill a 400+ pound bear? Im no hunter so forgive my ignorance but that story sounds a little far fetched if Grandpa really didnt help him with the aim and the shot.

[Guest bkelm18]

So what in the world kind of Rifle does/can a 5yr old shoot that will kill a 400+ pound bear? Im no hunter so forgive my ignorance but that story sounds a little far fetched if Grandpa really didnt help him with the aim and the shot.

Does it really matter?

[Guest jackdog]

Story might be far fetched, but the comments of these folks was incredible.

Have to admit the rusty spoon idea is very appealing.

[BigPoppa]

That's how you keep a kid from becoming a serial-killer. Teach him what a gun is, what it does, and that what it does is permanent. Those commenters must be citified liberals or some such.

+ 1. well said.

[Guest db99wj]

A.

Kid on a video game, shooting, killing, wounding, blood and guts, blowing stuff and people up with no consequence or idea what the reality is, desensitized 100%.

vs.

B.

Kid that hunts animals (which is legal), has a complete understanding of the power of a firearm, understands the result when you aim down on something and pull the trigger, the finality that it causes when you hit what you are aiming at. A very real sense of what reality is.

I'll take B.

[Magiccarpetrides]

B has my vote also!

[SkWaShDeM]

So what in the world kind of Rifle does/can a 5yr old shoot that will kill a 400+ pound bear? Im no hunter so forgive my ignorance but that story sounds a little far fetched if Grandpa really didnt help him with the aim and the shot.

Depends on how big the five year old is... A good .270 load should be able to take a black bear... Granted, I'd personally prefer a magnum cartridge for bear hunting.

[Marswolf]

I was a cereal killer too. I liked killing Cheerios. I don't think I ever missed, but I often just went through the hole in the middle.

[Guest GUTTERbOY]

I like this one:

This is the most responsible thing I have ever seen. Teaching a boy to kill for sport at this age is criminal.

...

This guy's point was injured badly with his failure to understand the difference between "responsible" and irresponsible".