When a man and his young son spotted a deer hunter in their vicinity, they decided to harass him, causing him to whip out his cell phone and hit record. He captured a tearful, profanity-laced encounter in an utterly bizarre video that words can hardly describe.
Dominick Lobifaro, a 30-year-old hunter from Brooklyn, New York, was scoping out a nearby wooded area of state-owned land, looking for a place to hunt, when he was approached by an unnamed Long Island man, his young son, and a throng of neighborhood children on scooters and bikes. The unidentified man told the children, who were playing outside, that Dominick was there to “kill all the deer,” causing one of them to start crying.
Knowing he was minding his own business and doing nothing wrong, the hunter decided to capture the encounter on camera, and it’s a good thing he did. As he sat in his truck, the bow-hunter was harassed by the duo, who were obviously angry that he was a hunter as both the father and his young son laid into him, going on a profanity-laced rant that requires a language warning:
“Hey!” the unnamed man shouted to get Dominick’s attention. “The kids wanna know — why you wanna kill deer?” he inquired as his foul-mouthed son followed closely behind, adding, “What did the f***ing deer do to you?” And, things only got more intense from there as the distraught duo squared off with Dominick over the ethics of hunting.
Clearly taken aback by the man and his son’s remarks, Dominick Lobifaro calmly explained that he hunts deer because he eats them, pointing out that there’s hardly a difference between hunting and buying meat at the supermarket since, in both cases, an animal loses its life. “Do you buy meat from the supermarket?” Dominick asked. The young boy admitted that he does but refused to listen to reason.
As the boy asked the hunter if he would like to see one of his own pets killed, his father, apparently uninterested in explaining to his child that a deer is not a pet and some people hunt animals for food, chastised and mocked Dominick. He sarcastically calls him a “hero” before scolding him because “children are upset. They’re crying because you want to kill deer,” he said as he continued to berate and badger the hunter.
“I’m sorry that they’re crying,” Dominick responded while suggesting that the father tell the kids that hunting for food is a “part of life” and he’s not doing anything wrong. “I’m not trying to do anything bad,” he said calmly. “I’m going to eat [the deer]. Instead, you let somebody else kill it,” he furthered, but the child and father only become further enraged, insisting that hunting was immoral because hunters are “using a weapon to kill a live animal.”
As the furious father declared that he and his son “don’t want to see it” and told Dominick to “go away,” the hunter explained the police were on their way. The father shrugged off the warning, saying he doesn’t care as the boy shouts over him, “Leave! Now! You’re an ahole! F* you!” Realizing he wasn’t going to reason with the father or his potty-mouthed son, Dominick rolled up his window.
However, the father and son don’t give up. “Fck you,” the young boy shouted as his father mockingly called Dominick Lobifaro a “hero” a few more times, patting his chest and saying something about “heart,” as his son stomps and continues to shout, “Fck you!” repeatedly. The child screamed, “A**hole!” one final time before he and his dad walk away as Dominick let out an exasperated sigh.
“Are you kidding me?” Dominick said to himself before adding, “I can’t sit here for this, I can’t,” and the video draws to an end. According to the New York Post, Dominick Lobifaro called the state Department of Environmental Conservation, reporting the incident. An officer responded, confirmed that he was there “100% legally” with all his necessary permits, and reportedly told the unnamed man that Dominick had every right to be where he was and that he was doing nothing wrong.
Whether you agree with hunting and eating meat or not, hysteria and a lack of respect have no place in public discourse. It’s okay to disagree, but a profanity-laced, foul-mouthed meltdown is uncalled for and does nothing to better a situation. This kind of behavior and harassment is a problem and it needs to be called out. As many hunters will explain, it’s important to control the deer population. And, as the video demonstrates, it’s also important to control our children and teach them how to handle their emotions while still displaying respect for those with whom we disagree.
