11-Year-Old Bags 1,051-Pound Wild Boar: Hogzilla or Hogwash?
Some skeptics are questioning this picture of Jamison Stone and a giant pig.
May 29, 2007 — -- Jamison Stone, 11, says he spotted the wild hog cooling off in a swamp. He says it was as big as a cow.
"He was snarling, you know popping his jaws as a threat, and that's when I took my shot," Jamison said.
Jamison, hunting with his father, stalked the boar for three hours, he said. He finally brought the beast down with a .50-caliber revolver.
And how big was this beast? His father says the wild hog was more than nine feet long and tipped the scales at 1,051 pounds.
But after The Associated Press printed a story and Jamison posted a picture of him and his "monster pig" on his Web site, the blogosphere started buzzing: Was it a hog or a hoax?
One blogger suggested the photo was doctored, writing: "I'm thinking there's someone sitting behind a computer out there having a bit of a giggle at everyone's expense."
"A bunch of people could not believe it. Lots of my friends said, 'You didn't kill something like this,' until they saw the Web site," Jamison said.
Kirk Deeter, a contributor to Field & Stream magazine, says that for now he is siding with Jamison.
"There's always gonna be naysayers in situations like this," Deeter said. "My gut reaction is it's an enormous hog. An 11-year-old kid shot a 1,051-pound pig."
If true, Jamison's trophy kill would be bigger than even "Hogzilla," an almost mythical 800-pound wild boar killed in Georgia in 2004. It was eventually unearthed by a National Geographic forensics team.
"We knew ours was bigger so it was a big deal. It was a bigger pig," Mike Stone, Jamison's father, said.
So another legend gathers steam, and this wild boar may end up in the record books.
For now, it's on the dinner table and there are plenty of leftovers.
"We've got sausage, a lot of sausage," Jamison said.