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Alligators

ashersdad

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 8, 2007
Messages
4,307
Location
Happy Valley, OR
I had some business meetings in Orlando and asked the boys if they’d rather do Disney or gator hunting. They made the right choice.











 
Great adventure for sure with dad....beats standing in long lines with 100,00 of your closest friends by a whole bunch.
They sure are growing fast
Were the jackets in the evening photos worn for warmth or bug prevention?
 
Great adventure for sure with dad....beats standing in long lines with 100,00 of your closest friends by a whole bunch.
They sure are growing fast
Were the jackets in the evening photos worn for warmth or bug prevention?

They do grow up way too fast. They actually wore the jackets for both. It had rained earlier and they got wet and then chilly riding in the side by side so they put on their jackets. Later that night back at the hotel, I was the only one with bug bites all over my back...
 
I drew a public leftover permit for Florida when I was skunked in the various Western big game draws I had results back when the deadline. Ended up I drew AZ Coues. The public permit is with two tags. I had a friend in TX that knew a guy in FL so we spoke and he suggested what leftover tags to try and get. Was a deal where the tags all load in system and who ever gets through online gets them but system crashed a few times. Thought I missed out but one of the credit card processing cycles actually completed though appears the process timed out.

There is an earlier draw if knew wanted to go to FL. And, can go on prevent land hunt anytime without drawing a tag.

The FL guy was a guide with an air boat and I hunted Labor Day weekend. You can't put bait on hooks on public land hunts so we would zoom a few yards in the airboat then kill the engine and coast a ways with the spotlights on. No joke, thousands of bugs swarming each floodlight. And hundreds of gator eyes glowing orange in the water. If staring at you then you can tell width between eyes. If a sideways view can look at diameter of the eye. Ease closer and if the gator doesn't submerge then shoot the crossbow. If arrow anchors in gator then get to side of boat and bang stick.

The smell of a gator in the boat is like two week old fish forgotten under the bbq. Got some of the gator juice on my shoes and not even bleach could fade the intense smell. Shoes went bye bye. Meat was like tough chicken but if pound chunks vey thin or "cube steak" the meat then can get full before wear out your jaws. Got the skulls for Euro mounts. Tanned the hides, one cut up belly to put on garage wall and one cut up back to have purse and key rings cut from belly.

One gator adventure was enough for me.
 
Way to show the boys a great time. They’ll talk about that hunt the rest of their lives.

In Mississippi, if you draw a tag, there are teams that will be happy to take you. They just want to go on the hunt and don’t care who’s name is on the tag. They already have boats, equipment, etc. If they don’t draw themselves, they still want to go. If you are interested, get in touch with Ricky, the program director. He’s a great guy and would point you in the right direction.
 
Nicely done! I tried to convince my wife to fit in a day of that when we were there a couple years back. I lost... :(
 
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