Amanda Whitesell

Livingston Daily

It was a rare occurrence: A 12-point albino buck was shot with a crossbow by an 11-year-old hunter.

The act, perfectly legal according to Michigan Department of Natural Resources deer program specialist Brent Rudolph, has caused a lot of backlash for sixth-grade Hartland student Gavin Dingman and his father.

The story, reported Sunday in the Daily Press & Argus, went viral this week. It was listed as one of USAToday.com's most popular stories.

The story was carried by the New York Daily News, Patch.com and Examiner.com. Outdoor websites including OutdoorHub and fieldandstream.com carried the story.

Overseas, the story ran in England's Daily Mail and Australia's news.com.au.

And readers reacted posting comments, many negative, to those stories. USA Today's story drew more than 3,700 comments. More than 500 posted comments on the Press & Argus website.

Some say shame on the boy's parents for allowing him to kill such a "rare and beautiful" creature.

Others congratulated Dingman on his trophy animal.

Jordan Browne, a host on Michigan Out-of-Doors Television, was quoted on Patch.com as saying he knew the story would blow up as soon as he posted it.

"I was surprised mainly by the personal attacks on an 11-year-old kid they have no association with. When you look at his picture, he looks like the sweetest kid," Browne told Patch.

Whatever the viewpoint, the DNR has seen it as an "opportunity for public dialogue," Rudolph said, posting a message to its Facebook page Wednesday, to "add some clarity" regarding Dingman's harvest.

Albino and exotic, all-white deer have been legal to hunt in Michigan since 2008, when the state lifted protection of the creatures, Rudolph said. The purpose of lifting the protection was to clear up confusion for hunters, he said.

It's difficult to determine from a distance whether or not a deer is albino, all white or piebald — a white deer with some brown markings. The state also considered the possibility of all-white, exotic deer escaping from facilities. Protecting those deer would "exacerbate" the possible spread of disease, Rudolph said.

"We recognize there is an intense public interest in albino deer, as they do stand out quite a bit," he said. "There is no biological reason to protect the genetic trait that causes a deer to be all-white or albino."

Several hunters in the Dingman family's Oceola Township neighborhood had been trying to capture the deer. Mick Dingman, the boy's father, said his son felt like a "rock star" after having shot it while hunting with his dad. The family plans to have a taxidermist create a full-body mount of the deer.

Mick Dingman has not returned messages from the Daily Press & Argus since Tuesday.

But Mick Dingman reportedly told OutdoorHub, "we've had death threats and everything else that you can imagine."

"There is no indication anything was done wrong in this situation," Rudolph said. "We just ask that the public respect the decisions individual hunters make."

The rareness of albino deer aren't known for sure. Some biologists claim they're born once in about 20,000 births. Others claim only one in 100,000 deer is born albino.

Contact Daily Press & Argus reporter Amanda Whitesell at 517-552-2847 or at awhitesell@gannett.com. Follow her @MandyWhitesell on Twitter.