This is just too cool...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0...html?test=latestnews

Texas Boy, 5, Shoots Down 800-Pound Alligator
Friday, October 02, 2009

Texas-born Simon Hughes, 5, doesn’t look intimidating. But put a gun in his hands and pit him against an 800-pound alligator and it’s a different story.

Simon's been training to handle a gun since he was just 4, his dad told MyFOXHouston — and it's a good thing, too, or else he could've gotten hurt by the mega-gator that wound up on the Hughes family ranch.

The huge alligator bit into a baited hook in a marsh on the property, coming face-to-face with Simon. The boy reacted with lightning speed, grabbing his gun and shooting the reptile in the head.

"It come out, the biggest alligator I've ever seen," Simon told MyFOXHouston. "He did his death roll."

The reptile was nearly 20 times the 3-foot, 44-pound boy’s size. It didn't survive the shooting.

Click here for video.

His dad Scott Hughes said there's a reason he started training his son, who is in kindergarten, to shoot guns at such an early age.

"Everything on the ranch will either bite you or stick you," he told MyFOXHouston.

The little boy has now earned the nickname "Gator Bait."

"Simon was a champ, couldn't ask for any better. He was just fearless," said Chuck Cotton, a family friend who witnessed the shooting.

The family plans to cook up the meat to celebrate.

Wow, what a brute!

Matt

In a couple of yesars he'll be ready to take on a T-Rex !!

just watched the clip.....cool story

I know I am like the skunk at a lawn party with this post - but (and it's a big but in my mind)no mention is made of what the caliber was of the firearm used. He looks like a rather average sized 5 year old who would have enormous difficulties with any center fire rifle - and he made a head shot? How? In the eye with a 22 pistol? (The gator apparently was hooked and may have been completely immobile) Maybe, I'm totally offbase but somehow I feel this story is a setup.

May be a set up.
May not.

I was shooting a Winchester Pump 06 .22, a Mossberg Bolt 20ga and a Win. lever 25-35 at age five and 1/2-- kills with all three that fall.


(From the clip it appeared to be an H&R 410 he was using)

I do not know anything about the anatomy of a gator. The story said the varmint in question was shot behind the eye with "bird shot".
There may be a soft spot like an ear cannal that would allow the shot to get to the brain. I am of the assumption the gator was worn out from fighting on that hook.
Makes a good story! The guides in Africa are not going to let you take a shot at a 800 lb crock using a 410 with bird shot!