minner
Well-known member
The hunt actually started 12 hours prior to legal shooting hours with me leaving Huntsville, AL at 8:00a.m. on Friday morning. A 5.5-hour drive was in front of me as I headed down the road with excitement and hesitation. I picked up a buddy of mine in Birmingham to make the third member of our gator hunting team then we headed on south. A quick stop in Prattville, Al at the newly opened Bass Pro to pick up last minute supplies and we were on our way for the last half of the trip.
We pulled in the driveway to my dad’s house at about 3:00 that afternoon, and after running around town and getting plenty of ice (80lbs to be exact). We started loading the boat for the first evenings hunt.
We left my Dad’s house at 5:30p.m. that same evening for Cliff’s Landing on the eastern side of the Mobile Delta. We arrived 40 minutes later, launched the boat, and blasted off to claim our spot were a large gator had been scouted weeks before. After getting there we settled in and waited on legal hunting hours, preparing our gear for the events ahead.
Finally dark started falling, and 8:00 p.m. finally came and the real stalk began. After spending about 40 minutes searching in the area and only on spotting one very small gator we realized our trophy had eluded us and decided to move on up river about 3 miles to the second gator we’d scouted.
Traveling up river wide-open throttle provided little relief from the 90-degree sweltering night. We occasionally shone the banks with the Q-beam for the miscellaneous gator About 1.5 miles into the trip we spotted the tell tale eyes of a gator, all alone, a sure trait of a large territorial gator. We steered the boat towards the bank for a closer look but the gator slowly sank into the water before we could get close enough to size him up. We decided since it was only 9:00p.m., and the night was still young, we’d give the gator a chance to reappear. Gators of any size will usually stay in a relatively small area even with a little harassment from “outsiders”.
Sure enough 20 minutes later the gator came up about 60 yards away. We rushed over to him to get a better look and then realized it was a gator worth perusing, and we estimated him at 9+ feet. The gator quickly sank again and didn’t reappear for another 10-15 minutes. Finally coming to the surface not too far away we got within range to throw a snagging hook attached via 80lb Spiderwire Stealth to my Ugly Stik Tiger and Abu Garcia Big Game reel. At 50 yards out I launched the weighted treble hook into the air and was able to snag the gator behind the head. A battle ensued and the gator retreated to deeper water pulling the boat out into the middle of the river and finally resting on the bottom. From then on it was a waiting game. Nearly 50 minutes went by before the gator ran out of air and had to make a swim for the top to catch his breath for the first time. The gator finally surfaced, thrashing madly, angered by the hook in his neck and the weight of the 21’ Kenner bay boat he had been pulling. It only took about 3-4 seconds for him to regain his breath and go to the bottom again. All we could do was hold on.
Now this might sound like total chaos to you but actually we knew all this would have to take place before we could get a good hold on this gator. We knew the next time he came up that he would be even shorter of breath and weaker, making him all the more manageable. Each time he’d go down to the bottom he was able to hold his breath for shorter and shorter periods.
The next time he would come up we knew the opportunity might present itself for me to get a shot at him with my bowfishing setup. Once a good shot had been made in the jowl of the gator (a tough but soft spot) we would be able to better manage his actions with a arrow head stuck deep and the 400lb mainline it was tied to.
It only took 15 minutes for the gator to come up again and this time I was at full draw with my Oneida Screaming Eagle bow ready to plink him with my fiberglass arrow tipped with a Muzzy Gator Getter head. He surfaced about 10 yards from the boat when I release my arrow and stuck him exactly where I wanted to.
Now he was really mad and returned to the bottom again. He pulled the boat around even harder now but we had him where we wanted him. He quickly grew tired and we winched him to the surface against his will. Each time he would bolt back down and then we’d winch him up again me taking up the 400lb bowfishing line and my dad reeling hard on the rod and reel. A few good times bringing him to the top, we finally tired him out. He was almost subdued at the waters surface too tired to fight anymore.
The next to final step was to noose the gator with a homemade cable snare to secure him to the boat. After getting the noose on the gator we easily brought him up where we could, humanly as possible, dispatch him with three quick poops from a .410 gauge loaded with #4 birdshot. We turned him over on his back against the gunnel of the boat where we taped his mouth shut for precaution. We then pulled him into the boat and “hand cuffed” him by tying his legs together behind his back just in case he decided to awaken from his “deep sleep”.
Once in the boat we made a final measurement and placed the CITES tag in his tail to make us 100% legal. Even though it took us over an hour and a half to get the gator I was only 10:45 p.m. and we still had long night still ahead of us.
We moored back to the landing and loaded out and headed for the Alabama DNR weigh station for the mandatory official weigh-in were each gator was weighed and measured for research purposes. Arriving at 11:00 we were we the 3rd gator to be weighed and measured. The gator was a respectable 10’ 0” long and weighed 280lbs.
After answering a few questions from Game Warden officers we were headed for home were we took some pictures and by 2:00 a.m. on Saturday morning we had the gator processed and ready for the freezer.
----We never made it “spot number two” that night like we had originally planned. We had spotted a VERY large gator there 2 weeks earlier but hated to pass on the 10 footer that presented itself . If we had continued up river that last 1.5 miles to “spot number two” we would have had the opportunity to deal with the current Alabama state record that was harvested there the next night by someone else. He went 12’8” 565lbs.
We pulled in the driveway to my dad’s house at about 3:00 that afternoon, and after running around town and getting plenty of ice (80lbs to be exact). We started loading the boat for the first evenings hunt.
We left my Dad’s house at 5:30p.m. that same evening for Cliff’s Landing on the eastern side of the Mobile Delta. We arrived 40 minutes later, launched the boat, and blasted off to claim our spot were a large gator had been scouted weeks before. After getting there we settled in and waited on legal hunting hours, preparing our gear for the events ahead.
Finally dark started falling, and 8:00 p.m. finally came and the real stalk began. After spending about 40 minutes searching in the area and only on spotting one very small gator we realized our trophy had eluded us and decided to move on up river about 3 miles to the second gator we’d scouted.
Traveling up river wide-open throttle provided little relief from the 90-degree sweltering night. We occasionally shone the banks with the Q-beam for the miscellaneous gator About 1.5 miles into the trip we spotted the tell tale eyes of a gator, all alone, a sure trait of a large territorial gator. We steered the boat towards the bank for a closer look but the gator slowly sank into the water before we could get close enough to size him up. We decided since it was only 9:00p.m., and the night was still young, we’d give the gator a chance to reappear. Gators of any size will usually stay in a relatively small area even with a little harassment from “outsiders”.
Sure enough 20 minutes later the gator came up about 60 yards away. We rushed over to him to get a better look and then realized it was a gator worth perusing, and we estimated him at 9+ feet. The gator quickly sank again and didn’t reappear for another 10-15 minutes. Finally coming to the surface not too far away we got within range to throw a snagging hook attached via 80lb Spiderwire Stealth to my Ugly Stik Tiger and Abu Garcia Big Game reel. At 50 yards out I launched the weighted treble hook into the air and was able to snag the gator behind the head. A battle ensued and the gator retreated to deeper water pulling the boat out into the middle of the river and finally resting on the bottom. From then on it was a waiting game. Nearly 50 minutes went by before the gator ran out of air and had to make a swim for the top to catch his breath for the first time. The gator finally surfaced, thrashing madly, angered by the hook in his neck and the weight of the 21’ Kenner bay boat he had been pulling. It only took about 3-4 seconds for him to regain his breath and go to the bottom again. All we could do was hold on.
Now this might sound like total chaos to you but actually we knew all this would have to take place before we could get a good hold on this gator. We knew the next time he came up that he would be even shorter of breath and weaker, making him all the more manageable. Each time he’d go down to the bottom he was able to hold his breath for shorter and shorter periods.
The next time he would come up we knew the opportunity might present itself for me to get a shot at him with my bowfishing setup. Once a good shot had been made in the jowl of the gator (a tough but soft spot) we would be able to better manage his actions with a arrow head stuck deep and the 400lb mainline it was tied to.
It only took 15 minutes for the gator to come up again and this time I was at full draw with my Oneida Screaming Eagle bow ready to plink him with my fiberglass arrow tipped with a Muzzy Gator Getter head. He surfaced about 10 yards from the boat when I release my arrow and stuck him exactly where I wanted to.
Now he was really mad and returned to the bottom again. He pulled the boat around even harder now but we had him where we wanted him. He quickly grew tired and we winched him to the surface against his will. Each time he would bolt back down and then we’d winch him up again me taking up the 400lb bowfishing line and my dad reeling hard on the rod and reel. A few good times bringing him to the top, we finally tired him out. He was almost subdued at the waters surface too tired to fight anymore.
The next to final step was to noose the gator with a homemade cable snare to secure him to the boat. After getting the noose on the gator we easily brought him up where we could, humanly as possible, dispatch him with three quick poops from a .410 gauge loaded with #4 birdshot. We turned him over on his back against the gunnel of the boat where we taped his mouth shut for precaution. We then pulled him into the boat and “hand cuffed” him by tying his legs together behind his back just in case he decided to awaken from his “deep sleep”.
Once in the boat we made a final measurement and placed the CITES tag in his tail to make us 100% legal. Even though it took us over an hour and a half to get the gator I was only 10:45 p.m. and we still had long night still ahead of us.
We moored back to the landing and loaded out and headed for the Alabama DNR weigh station for the mandatory official weigh-in were each gator was weighed and measured for research purposes. Arriving at 11:00 we were we the 3rd gator to be weighed and measured. The gator was a respectable 10’ 0” long and weighed 280lbs.
After answering a few questions from Game Warden officers we were headed for home were we took some pictures and by 2:00 a.m. on Saturday morning we had the gator processed and ready for the freezer.
----We never made it “spot number two” that night like we had originally planned. We had spotted a VERY large gator there 2 weeks earlier but hated to pass on the 10 footer that presented itself . If we had continued up river that last 1.5 miles to “spot number two” we would have had the opportunity to deal with the current Alabama state record that was harvested there the next night by someone else. He went 12’8” 565lbs.
