Death Threats, Vitriol Aimed at Howell Boy Who Bagged Rare Deer

Jordan Browne, one of the hosts of Michigan Out-of-Doors Television, knew the story of 11-year-old Gavin Dingman’s feat in the woods – he bagged a rare 12-point albino buck with a crossbow – would blow up the moment he posted it.

A seasoned outdoorsman and journalist who is acting at the Dingman family’s spokesman, Browne also knew comments would turn more vicious the farther outside of Michigan readers lived. But in an age of social media, the post reached more people than even he imagined, circulating around the globe.

“I was surprised mainly by the personal attacks on an 11-year-old kid they have no association with. When you look at his picture, he looks like the sweetest kid,” Browne told Patch.

Mick Dingman, whose son bagged the rare deer on a father-and-son hunting trip earlier this week, told Outdoor Hub the family’s celebration has turned into an unimaginable nightmare, punctuated by “death threats and everything else that you can imagine.”

Those threats and the ferocity of the debate about the actions of the boy and his family underscore the power of social and digital media to expose discrete cultural practices to a wider world with a potentially very different set of norms. What had been a semi-private, joyous event — a coming-of-age moment in many parts of the country — has devolved in some corners of the web to unsettling invective in some cases, pure abuse in others. The child in question, after all, is only 11.

The comments ran the gamut from “people with polite opinions all the way to death threats and everything in between,” Browne said. “There was one comment that someone should shoot that kid with an arrow, and others along those lines. There were a lot of ignorant people blaming and scolding the parents for letting their child hunt, or as they put it, ‘murder’ things.”

Related:

• Youth Bags Rare Albino Deer
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Browne said the family has been overwhelmed by media requests and feedback on both ends of the spectrum: from companies like Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shopsthat want to use an image of Gavin and his quarry in promotions, to the personal, vile and vitriolic comments on hundreds of online stories.

“There was one comment that someone should shoot that kid with an arrow, and others along those lines. – Jordan Browne, Michigan Out-of-Doors Television

“I know they’re just overwhelmed,” Browne said. “Mick’s taken the brunt of it so Gavin doesn’t have to deal with it. When I talked to them the morning after the hunt to get our interview – we routinely do that when there’s a big hunt – Mick asked, ‘How bad is this going to get?’

“I told them it was going to get pretty busy, and then it would die down. I could never have predicted it would get this busy.”

Albino Deer Not ‘God’s Gift to Humanity’

It has been legal in Michigan since 2008 legal to hunt albino and piebald, or spotted, deer, whose unusual coloring and markings are a result of a genetic mutation. Such deer are rare, with estimates ranging from an occurrence once in every 20,000 deer births to once in every 100,000 deer births.

DNR officials turned back a 1980s ban in 2008, arguing there was no scientific reason to protect albinos and piebalds because albinism stems from an undesirable genetic mutation.

Some people commenting on the story have called albino deer “spirit animals” that have been revered in Native American culture.

“Anti-hunters seem to think they just walked out of the sky and are God’s gift to mankind, but it’s just a genetic defect,” Browne said.

Hunting is a pastime for many families in Michigan, where the number of deer hunting licenses issued is one of the highest in the country, Browne said. It’s also an important tool to manage the state’s population of 2 million deer, he said.

“Without hunting the population would explode, and eventually implode because of inbreeding,” Browne said. “The local ecosystem can only support so many deer, and farmers would throw a fit if nothing was done to manage the population.”

‘Congratulations to the Hunter on His Legal Kill’

The Dingman family did not return phone calls from Patch. But for a glimpse of what the Howell, MI, family’s life has been like since the story broke, just click on the hundreds of comments on the Patch story or any of the ubiquitous stories on the young hunter’s feat.

The animal-welfare site The Dodo, for example, takes aim at Gavin’s father, Mick, for encouraging the boy to fell the deer with his crossbow in its headline, “Hunter Encourages 11-Year-Old Son to Kill Rare Albino Deer (GRAPHIC).”

For the record, what Mick Dingman said, according to WZZM-TV’s interview with Gavin, was this:

“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,’ “ he said.

Many readers rushed to the Dingman family’s defense, among them John Ingersoll of Alanson, who championed the 2008 law that made it legal to hunt albino and piebald deer.

“Congratulations to the hunter on his legal kill,” Ingersoll wrote. “It’s a deer, people. Albino deer have been legal game in Michigan since 2008. I personally helped get this stupid law changed.

“More people need to be educated on the mutation of these deer and the effects on the herd. Kill every one you see and help keep Michigan’s deer herd healthy.”

Melody Wilkins pointed out that albinism is a rare recessive genetic trait and nothing to celebrate. “Genetically speaking,” she wrote, “they should not be allowed to reproduce. …”

Targeting 11-Year-Old ‘Will Not Be Tolerated’

A reader called Gavin a “serial killer” in training on WZZM-TV’s Facebook page. “He will be a serial killer, I guarantee it,” commented Mirella Dory. “Hopefully he will go after all you idiots who applaud this disturbing and twisted behavior.”

“Anyone else notice the non-hunters are the ones advocating violence?” Joel Bosseau wondered. “Those of us who understand the circle of life are polite and congratulatory. All over this debate, the majority of anti-hunters are spouting insults and even death threats, while hunters or even those on the fence are happy to conduct a discussion in a polite and mature manner. Makes you wonder who the real civilized people are.”

And so it goes, in thousands of online comments on hundreds of stories from Michigan to around the world and back. Despite the criticism aimed at the family, the Dingmans did everything right on their recent hunt, Browne said.

“I can’t say it’s true for every hunter, but if they’re doing it right, like Mick was doing for his kid, they’re instilling that, yes, it’s a big opportunity, but it’s still a big deal when you kill an animal, regardless of the size and the color,” Browne said. “I’m very comfortable with how they’re doing things in their household.”

Browne said he deleted at least 400 users from the Michigan Out-of-Doors Television Facebook page because of negative or threatening comments. He’ll delete more.

“It’s one thing to disagree with the decision to shoot this buck,” he said, “but to target an 11-year-old will not be tolerated.”

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Photo: Out-of-Doors Television Facebook page