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Wednesday, May 30, 2007
By Sara Bonisteel
Fox News
An 11-year-old Alabama boy caught in the center of a humongous hog controversy denied his monster kill was staged Wednesday in an interview with FOXNews.com.
"I just want to say it’s not fake," said Jamison Stone of Pickensville, Ala.
Stone made news last week when the world learned of his massive kill, a 1,051-pound feral hog, which he shot eight times with a pistol on a hunting preserve in eastern Alabama. But the young man soon found himself in a media maelstrom when some Web sites questioned the veracity of the photographs.
"He did kill that pig," the boy's father, Mike Stone, told FOXNews.com. "Those pictures are not doctored."
Jamison, who recently completed the sixth grade at Christian Heritage Academy in Carrollton, Ala., shot the pig on a hunt May 3 at the Lost Creek Plantation in Delta, Ala., with a .50-caliber revolver. His story made national news and the family traveled to New York to talk about their adventure, but blogs soon claimed to be able to prove the photos were faked.
"No pictures have been touched," the 11-year-old said. "They first were saying I couldn’t shoot the gun, but I could and I did."
What should have been a moment of fun in the spotlight for a middle schooler became a nightmare, with some bloggers asking Mike Stone to take measurements of his son's skull to prove his claims, he said.
"Before we got to New York this was a feel good story, everybody was excited about it," Mike Stone said. "And now all of a sudden my family is suffering because people are making fun of it and thinking that it's not real."
After Jamison bagged his pig May 3, the Stones took their prize to the Clay County Farmers Exchange in Lineville, Ala., where it weighed in at 1,051 and measured approximately 9 feet 4 inches.
In the heat of the moment, Mike Stone said, they snapped a few photographs for family and friends to share Jamison's moment of pride.
"We would have took pictures of the scales, we would have took pictures of us measuring it, we would have took pictures of all the stuff if we would have thought this was going to be some big deal," Mike Stone said.
Jerry Cunningham, owner of Jerry's Taxidermy in Oxford, Ala., said the feral hog was one of the largest he'd seen.
"They’re about as twice as big as the normal pig," Cunningham told FOXNews.com. "Five-hundred pounds is big, giant. Most of them that come in to be mounted are between 150 and 250."
On Tuesday night, Cunningham showed Jamison the hog's mounted skull. Mike Stone, who stresses to his family the importance of hunting for food, had the rest of the humongous hog made into breakfast sausage.
“We gave a lot of it away ... some of them are going to use it at church fundraising breakfasts, some of them are going to use it for school fundraising breakfasts," Mike Stone said. "We actually do have two big freezers completely full."
The boy's pig adventure is documented on http://www.monsterpig.com, where the response from the public has been about 85 percent positive, Mike Stone said.
"Regardless of what the negative e-mails say, we're not ashamed of the fact that we actually hunt," Mike Stone said.
By Sara Bonisteel
Fox News
An 11-year-old Alabama boy caught in the center of a humongous hog controversy denied his monster kill was staged Wednesday in an interview with FOXNews.com.
"I just want to say it’s not fake," said Jamison Stone of Pickensville, Ala.
Stone made news last week when the world learned of his massive kill, a 1,051-pound feral hog, which he shot eight times with a pistol on a hunting preserve in eastern Alabama. But the young man soon found himself in a media maelstrom when some Web sites questioned the veracity of the photographs.
"He did kill that pig," the boy's father, Mike Stone, told FOXNews.com. "Those pictures are not doctored."
Jamison, who recently completed the sixth grade at Christian Heritage Academy in Carrollton, Ala., shot the pig on a hunt May 3 at the Lost Creek Plantation in Delta, Ala., with a .50-caliber revolver. His story made national news and the family traveled to New York to talk about their adventure, but blogs soon claimed to be able to prove the photos were faked.
"No pictures have been touched," the 11-year-old said. "They first were saying I couldn’t shoot the gun, but I could and I did."
What should have been a moment of fun in the spotlight for a middle schooler became a nightmare, with some bloggers asking Mike Stone to take measurements of his son's skull to prove his claims, he said.
"Before we got to New York this was a feel good story, everybody was excited about it," Mike Stone said. "And now all of a sudden my family is suffering because people are making fun of it and thinking that it's not real."
After Jamison bagged his pig May 3, the Stones took their prize to the Clay County Farmers Exchange in Lineville, Ala., where it weighed in at 1,051 and measured approximately 9 feet 4 inches.
In the heat of the moment, Mike Stone said, they snapped a few photographs for family and friends to share Jamison's moment of pride.
"We would have took pictures of the scales, we would have took pictures of us measuring it, we would have took pictures of all the stuff if we would have thought this was going to be some big deal," Mike Stone said.
Jerry Cunningham, owner of Jerry's Taxidermy in Oxford, Ala., said the feral hog was one of the largest he'd seen.
"They’re about as twice as big as the normal pig," Cunningham told FOXNews.com. "Five-hundred pounds is big, giant. Most of them that come in to be mounted are between 150 and 250."
On Tuesday night, Cunningham showed Jamison the hog's mounted skull. Mike Stone, who stresses to his family the importance of hunting for food, had the rest of the humongous hog made into breakfast sausage.
“We gave a lot of it away ... some of them are going to use it at church fundraising breakfasts, some of them are going to use it for school fundraising breakfasts," Mike Stone said. "We actually do have two big freezers completely full."
The boy's pig adventure is documented on http://www.monsterpig.com, where the response from the public has been about 85 percent positive, Mike Stone said.
"Regardless of what the negative e-mails say, we're not ashamed of the fact that we actually hunt," Mike Stone said.
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