Advanced Archive Search >>

Buzzer Beater

Spawn of Crockett Shoots Giant Bear

Posted Dec. 11, 2007 at 1:58 pm by Mike Seely

Non-Onion sports headline of the year on espn.com: "5-Year-Old Descendant of Davy Crockett Kills Bear." Some choice excerpts from the story, which could only happen in Arkansas:

Tre Merritt, a descendant of Davy Crockett, was hunting with his grandfather Mike Merritt when a black bear happened upon their stand. "His 10th great-grandfather was Davy Crockett," Mike Merritt said. "And Davy supposedly killed him a bear when he was three. And Tre is five and really killed a bear. I really doubt if Davy killed one when he was three."

"I was up in the stand and I seen the bear," Tre Merritt said. "It came from the thicket and it was beside the road and I shot it."

At first, Mike Merritt didn't think Tre had hit the bear with his youth rifle. "I said, 'Tre, you missed the bear,' " Mike Merritt said. "He said, 'Paw-paw I squeezed the trigger and I didn't close my eyes. I killed him."'

The bear turned out to be 445 pounds — 12 times the weight of Tre. Mike Merritt said tears rolled down his cheeks when he found out his grandson killed the enormous bear. Tre Merritt's father said he began teaching his son to shoot when he was just 2 � years old, and said Tre killed three deer last year.

Topics: Hunting

Permalink | Comments (2)

Monthly View >>
Three best things to do in Seattle on
Saturday, August 30