You guys see the size of this hog ? (1 Viewer)

[Mike Frezon]

HERE IS the original story I read from the New York Post.

It has more info about the kid's gun and the hunt (on a preserve) itself.

Chris & Kevin: It looks to me like the kid is leaning right on the damn thing. What is it that makes you think he's a few feet back? To me it looks like his left elbow is casting a shadow on the thing's fur. I can see it looks like his left foot is elevated the way his left shoulder is up high...but it still looks like he's resting both arms on the beast. I still think the darn thing looks doctored from a perspective perspective (?!).

 

[Ennsio]

Several things:
1) You can see the top of his left knee, which is what his left elbow seems to be resting on

2) His right elbow is too low- if it was resting on the hog's back, it would be sunk further into the fur than you would naturally expect

3) He appears to be sitting beside the tree. Now if you look to the left and right of the pig, there seems to be some depth between the pig's position lying on the log and where the tree is. If he is really beside the tree, then he could easily be 4-5 feet back from the hog.

Of course, I could be wrong and it could be a doctored picture in other ways. Looking at it in the way that I described is one explanation that only requires clever positioning from the cameraman and posing kid. I leave it open to all guesses as I know only as much as everybody else.

 

[MarkHastings]

A: I agree that he's not leaning on the pig because it appears that he is resting his arm on his left knee.

B: I would be willing to bet that he is not beside the tree. He is definitely in front of it.

Most likely he is right behind the pig, leaning up on a rock or something.

 

[Kevin M]

I don't think the first picture has been doctored in any way, I just think it is an optical illusion, the kid IMO is between the tree and the hog but not right up on the animal....sort of a forced perspective shot like FX people use in films.
I don't think it was intentional, otherwise why release the second pic showing the animal in it's true perspective next to the kid?

 

[Linda Thompson]

Just for the sake of comparison and perspective, check out the photos, stories and supposed relative stats of these two:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/bighog.asp

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/hogzilla.asp -- the original "Hogzilla"...includes an update and info about this "Monster Pig" which also has its own website now (with a couple more photos which, to me, also appear to be rather suspicious, not for doctoring, but at least for "forced perspective"):

http://www.monsterpig.com/

 

[Mike Frezon]

Quite a group! And I guess Dad didn't major in English composition in school.

========================

Another picture on monsterpig.com shows that there seems to be quite a distance between the tree and the pig (the one which shows a head-on shot of the boar with the kid and three adults behind it).

 

[bobbyg2]

I don't think it looks doctored at all... It doesn't look like he's leaning on the thing though, and he looks even with the tree behind him... Still, that thing is HUGE!

 

[Chris Lockwood]

Not doctored, but not honest, either.

It reminds me of the photos of someone holding out his hand pretending to hold up the Tower of Pisa.

 

[Johnny Angell]

We are closer together in our positions on hunting than you think. I do not hunt, wouldn't enjoy it. I would not support laws to outlaw hunting. I agree that starvation is a worse way to die than being shot by a hunter. I live in house on a lot where I'm sure there were trees bulldozed down where the deer and the antelope (to be poetic) used to play. In fact, we have deer coming to our back yard to eat the corn I put out for them.

It's my understanding there are more deer in the USA now than one hundred years ago, and that without hunting there would be mass starvation. So I do not oppose hunting.

However this animal was tortured to death. Look at the size of it, they used a pistol. Yeah, they wanted to see if they could do it with a pistol. They had more firepower available, just in case, but they used the pistol and they new it would take longer. It's a damn ugly pig, but it doesn't mean they had to torture it to death. They weren't practicing population control, they were trophy hunting.

I think that's what offends me about some hunting, the main end-goal is a trophy (which might be a stuffed specimen or just a photo). Sure, the human species has hunted since before modern man appeared, but they hunted to live and usually understood how important the prey was to them. I wonder how much respect that kid had for his prey, respect, not fear.

And why is it so necessary to be so obsessed about killing the biggest of the prey? Once again, it's for a trophy, not for the food. Like you said, when it gets that big, let it die of old age.

I almost forgot, when you say animals do the same thing when they hunt, I disagree. The lion catches its prey in the quickest way possible and kills it as quickly as it can. Unfortunately, that may not be as quickly as a bullet. Still, the lion is hunting to eat. I don't think it has any empathy for its prey but does not torture, though it is inflicting pain. The human hunter is aware it's inflicting pain, when it takes 3 hours, that's torture in my mind.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Absolutely. I hadn't read the article clearly when I posted my initial comments. I edited my post shortly afterward to address my changed position in light of the facts. I agree with you 100%. There's hunting, and then there's torture. This was definitely a case of the latter.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Most people who eat meat never see the animal being killed. They prefer to think that meat comes in a plastic tray, shrink wrapped, from Costco. They tend to be very squeamish about the concept of what they are eating.

I'm a carnivore, but believe it would be instructive to all to have to kill and butcher their own meat at least once or twice. I'll bet the pistol kid sends his hog over to a game butcher and has it delivered wrapped in butcher paper.

I'm getting organized to start hunting here in retirement in Boise. Growing up my family didn't hunt, so I'm starting from scratch. I plan to start with upland game birds (pheasant, grouse, wild turkey) and have the right firearm for it: a semi-auto 12 gauge. One carefull blast should be enough. Then I get to learn where poultry comes from by having to clean and defeather the bird. :yuchsmiley:

To me hunting means slinging the rifle or shotgun over your shoulder and going for a 5-10 mile hike in the wilderness. If you bag something tastey, so much the better. But even if you come up short you got to spend the day walking in the wilderness.

It's still not clear what handgun the kid used. IIUC it's a S&W model 500 chambered in .50 S&W, which is a 5 shot revolver. So in order to hit the pig with 8 rounds he had to re-load at least once.

 

[bobbyg2]

I'm too hungry to torture the animal. It'll die fast! Kill it, skin it, chop it up, cook it, eat it!

 

[Jason Merrick]

No kidding... that's like a target shooter bragging about hitting the broad side of a barn! If you want to impress me, show me the field mouse you shot at a 100 yards with that .50 cal!!!!

 

[Radioman970]

 

[BrianB]

Not that it matters much, but it turns out the pig was farm raised & had been sold to the owner of the plantation.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> And why is it so necessary to be so obsessed about killing the biggest of the prey?

You obviously don't get the concept. Haven't you ever heard of fishermen bragging about catching the big fish? This is the same thing, but on land.

 

[Johnny Angell]

You're right, I don't. Ever hear of catch and release?

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Yes but fish - like game - may be tasty. Why catch and release more than you can eat? Why don't you take what you can use and then just stop?

 

[Edwin-S]

What a farce.

 

[MarkHastings]

But that's the same thing. Why does it always have to be "cool" to kill something really big? or the biggest of it's kind?

Did you see that thing???? It's HUGE!!!!.......let's kill it!

People want the "press" when they kill something big. I think a lot of people (including myself) feel that hunters are more about the fame of the kill rather than the kill itself.

I don't like that "Look at what I just killed" mentality that a lot of hunters seem to have. People say I'm hypocritical for eating meat while hating hunting, but I don't take pride and joy in the death of an animal and that's why I don't think I'm hypocritical.