Relative of Davy Crockett, 5, kills bear

Legend has it Davy Crockett killed a bear when he was three. A distant relative of the 19th-century frontiersman has done the same thing at five.

Tre Merritt, a 5-year-old boy from Arkansas, killed a black bear Sunday, according to his grandfather.
“(The bear) came in about 40 to 50 yards,” Mike Merritt, Tre’s grandfather, told KATV of Little Rock, Ark, “and when he got in the open, I whistled at him and he stopped and I said, ‘Shoot Tre.’ “

And that’s what his grandson did, killing the 400-pound animal.

“I was up in the stand and I seen the bear,” Tre Merritt told KATV. “It came from the thicket and it was beside the road and I shot it.”

According to the report, Tre’s father said his son began shooting when he was 2 1/2 and killed three deer last year. What else would you expect from a decendant of the “King of the Wild Frontier?”

“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.”

For those of younot familiar with him: Davy Crockett

There was also a Disney three-episode television series back in the ‘50s.  And the lyrics to the theme song (and general song The Ballad of Davy Crockett):

Born on a mountain top in Tennessee
The greenest state in the land of the free
Raised in the woods so’s he knew ev’ry tree
Kilt him a b’ar when he was only three
Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier

When he came home his politic’ing was done
And the western march had just begun
So he packed his gear and his trusty gun
And lit out a-grinnin’ to follow the sun
Davy, Davy Crockett, leading the pioneer

Sitting & waiting in a stand…isn’t really fair…the kid didn’t have to do anything but pull the trigger.

I also like how the grandfather dismisses the fact that Davy Crockett probably didn’t really kill a bear when he was three.  Yet this kid was shooting a gun at 2 1/2 and killed three deer the previous year (at age 4).  Yet Davy Crockett, living in an era when being an outdoorsman and hunting and killing was a way of life probably didn’t really kill a bear at three.

I always get him and Daniel Boone confused.

Maegan - 11 December 2007 07:31 PM

Sitting & waiting in a stand…isn’t really fair…the kid didn’t have to do anything but pull the trigger.

Yes, what a ‘canned hunt’! (Hmm, 6 too many letters, methinks).

In other news, a 1 year-old descendant of Noah takes to the water in his own boat…

(Image: One Step Ahead)

I think it is irresponsible to allow a 5-year-old (and even younger, as he did earlier apparently) to handle firearms.

My 2 cents…

Ahhh, it’s injun war, not many a war.  Till the Creeks was whipped and peace was in store. 

Stupid PC lyrics people.

MadCarlotta - 12 December 2007 03:30 AM

I always get him and Daniel Boone confused.

Daniel Boone fought in the Revolution whereas Crockett died at the Alamo.  Crockett is the one you almost always hear of, though Boone was just as famous in his own time, if not more so.  The only reason most people know of him is because of Disney, and the fact that Fess Parker portrayed both of them.

Is Daniel Boone the guy with a knife named after him??  I get all those guys mixed up.

Yes, the Boone knife was often used to skin cantaloupes in the outback of Iceland.

You’re thinking of Jim Bowie, who died with Crockett at the Alamo.

WTF????

Maybe I’m way off base here, but 5 years old and being carefully taught that killing ANYTHING NOT A THREAT TO YOU and not needed for survival, is not only irresponsible, and outrageous it is a hideous and inappropriate way to raise a child.  Then teaching him to brag about being a little ‘sh_t ’ is even worse. 

During the first days of our ancestors here, it was necessary to hunt for food and even the warmth of fur and skin as well as self-defense. 

What on earth is the excuse here other than, ‘gee, pick up a gun and take a life, even endangered animals’  This kind of idea is why so many animals are extinct today or on the endangered species lists.