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Boy hunter, 11, shoots rare albino deer with crossbow

An 11-year-old hunter named Gavin Dingman bagged an albino deer while hunting in Michigan with his father.

By Kate Stanton
(Michigan Out-of-Doors TV/Facebook)

OSCEOLA TOWNSHIP, Mich., Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Gavin Dingman, an 11-year-old boy from Osceola Township, Mich., was hunting with his father, Mick, when the pair spotted the rare albino deer they had seen on previous trips.

"The whole neighborhood is familiar with it. Quite a few of the guys in the neighborhood were trying to get it," Mick told The Livingston Daily Press & Argus.

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But it was Gavin who bagged the all-white animal with his crossbow.

"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,'" Gavin said.

About one in every 20,000 deer is albino.

Gavin's prize catch didn't please everyone. A photo of the boy with the dead deer received hundreds of negative comments when it was posted to the Facebook page of Michigan Out-of-Doors TV last week.

"We're doing our best to keep the negative comments off the page and will continue to do so as they pour in," the station wrote. "Thank you to all of you supporting Gavin, it's a great accomplishment and something to be proud of!"

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