Alligator Season

[Jcour4]

Well it's that time of year here in Mississippi, yesterday alligators went on sale and over 900 tags sold out in about 45 minutes. My wife and I were lucky enough to our tags and were are ready for the August 26th season start. This will be our second year hunting alligators since we are originally from Illinois.

I will keep everybody updated throughout the season, probably in the Live hunt forum. But for now I'll rewind to last year and how our first alligator season played out (this might be long)

2015 Alligator Season

As previously mentioned I am from Illinois, but always wanted to do an alligator hunt. Now being a MS resident when the time came around to buy my alligator tag I made sure that I was planted in front of a computer with credit card readily available. The tags became available for purchase at 9 am on a Tuesday. The only glitch is we have a leadership meeting every Tuesday morning from 8-10 am. I went to the meeting as usual but I gave my updates and snuck out just before 9 to go to my office. I shut the door and got onto the website and prepared myself to get this gator tag.

There was a count down at the top and when I struck zero and I was allowed in I felt that the gator tag was all but mine. I start filling everything out and verify my info and poof the website crashes. I can't even get back to the home page, my heart sank but still had hope. I sat in agony, watching the minutes tick away and I still cannot get through. At 9:18 am I finally get in, I go through the 7 zones to choose from and my first three choices are sold out. Over 400 tags are sold in those 18 minutes that I couldn't get through. The remaining four zones I had no clue what to chose and none were close to where I lived, I made a judgement call and picked a zone. I made my fees and I was going alligator hunting!

Leading up to the season I studied the public waters that I could hunt me purchased supplies for the hunt. If you have ever seen Swamp People on TV, it is NOTHING like hunting alligators on public waterways in MS. Public gator hunting is limited to public waterways 24 hrs a day and you cannot shoot a free swimming alligator with a gun. Instead you have to snag, harpoon, or use bowfishing equipment. Once you get the gator to the boat you have to snare the head or a leg then you can uncase your shotgun/bangstick to dispatch the gator. You are allowed two alligators per license. The alligator has to be more than 4 ft but only one can be over 7ft.

I had scouted some areas and found some alligators to try when the season opened. My dad decided to come down from Illinois to hunt with me and we headed out to the swamp to give it a shot. We arrived to our area at noon on opening day and set out to find us an alligator. We launched the boat and cruised for hours and never saw an alligator, it was dead. I had just scouted this area the week before and saw 60 or 70 alligators, but they seemed to have vanished. About 6 hours into this ordeal I could tell that my dad thought I was crazy and that we would be lucky to see an alligator let alone harvest one. So we decided to go get some food and come back when it was dark.....

 

[Jcour4]

After the sun went down we headed back out to our spots to hopefully find one gator to mess with. I pulled the boat up to a little slough and flicked on the spotlight. The spotlight lit up dozens of red eyes, my dad turned and looked at me with a big smile, we found some gators. I grabbed my fishing pole and slung the weighted treble towards our first target. I threw the hook while my dad held the spotlight, the hook seemed to fly true but I was wrong I wasn't even close to any of the alligators. I hurriedly reeled the hook back and tried again, but I failed again.

Now I am a pretty avid fisherman and I like to think that I can cast pretty well but I was struggling. Throwing in the dark at a couple eyes sitting on the water was extremely difficult for me. After some more failed attempts I got to thinking and a light bulb went off. I had some glow sticks for night fishing in the boat, so I decided to tie it onto my hook to be able to see where I was throwing. I instantly felt more confident and after finding another alligator, I finally connected. When I snagged my first alligator it went nuts, but I kept tension and finally got it to the boat. It was a little five foot gator, but my dad and I were stoked. We didn't want to kill such a small alligator so we brought it into the boat and took some pictures.





We let the gator go and continued to catch and release some smaller gators throughout the night. Finally we decided to try for something a little bigger. I have a hard time determining the size of an alligator at night. You can't see anything but their eyes and if you get within 40 yds they go under water. We did however correlate that if an alligator is swimming fast, it's more than likely a larger alligator. We found one very nice alligator in a slough by itself and tried the rest of the night to catch him, but he out smarted us.

The next night we tried to fine some better alligators but the full moon made it difficult to get close to them but we did finally find what looked to be a good alligator. I through the hook and I reeled it over the gator's back and the fight was on. I handed the reel to my dad and he fought it to the boat. It was a good sized gator and it looked to be under 7 ft so I would still have a tag for a big gator. I put the noose around its neck and my dad got the single shot .410 with #6 shot. He fired and we had tagged our first alligator. It was 6'9" and we were having alligator meat to take home.

We got the gator iced down and headed home, my dad had to get back to Illinois and I had work. Dad hit the road and I processed the alligator. That was the ending to tag #1 I will post the story for tag #2 later.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Good Going! I hunted them in Louisiana with Hook and Line sets two years ago, hoping to get pulled for this season!!! John

 

[Jcour4]

DRAFTSTUD I see you're from Shreveport, my wife is about graduate from LSU School of Health there. She really has enjoyed her time there and good luck on your gator draws this year.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Good Going! I hunted them in Louisiana with Hook and Line sets two years ago, hoping to get pulled for this season!!! Here is my son Travis with a 7'2" and a 7'3" we got on opening morning. John

 

[Southern Elk]

I hate that the MS season always coincides with elk season. I've never had a chance to try alligator hunting. I do love me some alligator meat though!

 

[Jcour4]

Tag #2

So now it's Monday and there is just a week left in the season, but I have to work all week and I'm 3 hours from my zone. I stumble through the first couple days of work but I want to fill my second tag not think about work. I'm scouring google maps and looking for closer areas in my unit that might have a good population of alligators. I find a spot that I want to try, and decide that I was going to bring my boat to work and head for the water to scout the are for the weekend. It's still a long haul from home, but I figured it was worth a try.

I arrive at the boat ramp and launch my boat and take off down the river. This river was super low and my boat and outboard were bumping bottom ally along the way. I decide to keep going to hopefully see a few gator's. I make it a mile down and come up to a very shallow part of the river. I have to raid the motor and let the current pull me over to deeper water (more on that later). I lower the outboard and slowly troll searching for eyes. I just happened to turn the spotlight behind me and see a red glow coming from a big tree in the water. I didn't know if it was a coon, gator, or just a trot line marker but I turned around to investigate. As I get close the red glow starts swimming to open water. I think to myself "well there's at least one gator in this river". I put the trolling motor down and start heading towards the gator. When I get close I can tell it's a very big gator 11-12 ft. So I get the bright idea to try to capture this thing by myself. I new I couldn't hold the light and cast, but I thought I could shoot it with my bow and be able to manage him. I turn of my spotlight, turn on my headlamp, and ready my bow. I'm within 10yds in no time, I draw my bow, about to release and he goes under. I sat around and waited for awhile to see if he resurfaced but he didn't and I decided to go further down river to do some more scouting.

I saw some more gators and decided I'd come back on the weekend. It's around midnight and I have a long tip home and have to be at work at 7 am. I start heading back and I see the big gator again. This time he is on the shallow sandbar that I crossed earlier. I'm up close again and ready to shoot and the boat comes to a sudden stop. I hit the sand bar and I'm stuck, the alligator doesn't like the commotion and heads back for deal water. Now I'm ready to go home and I push of the sandbar and lower the motor. The motor did me no good the current was too strong and the water was too shallow. I have to hop in the water and pull my boat 50yds over the sand bar back to deep water. I struggle with this for an hour or so but finally get the boat out and motor running. I start heading home at 2 am, I just went straight to work and slept in my office. That was a rough day at work...

It was finally the weekend and I talked my wife into going with me. This time I took the smaller boat with the mud motor. We get the boat launched and head back down the river. We did see the big alligator again, but I screwed up the cast and we never saw him again all night. We continue to catch a few smaller gators but nothing too big, I just wanted my wife to have a chance. We did chase some other good sized gators and even hooked one that broke the line.

We started heading back up river and we see a set of eyes booking it across the river. I tossed the hook and snagged it. The water erupted, and pulled the little 15ft boat around like it was nothing. I fight it for awhile and we get it up next to the boat and it's a nice alligator to us. We want to harvest it and I tell my wife to grab the noose. She grabs it but it's a tangled mess,I immediately tell her to grab the bow. She is about to shoot and I look at the arrow tip and it's gone! It had rattled off and was in the boat somewhere. I'm afraid the alligator will throw the only hook that we have in it. I hand the rod to my wife and grab the gators tail to try to get the noose around it so we can legally shoot the gator with the gun. As soon as I pick up the tail the hook falls out. So here I am, a 9 ft alligator in hand, with no other restraints. I flurry of instructions came from my mouth and my wife scurried around and actually found the arrow tip. She shoots the gator and we finally get the noose on it. She dispatches the alligator and we filled our last tag!






I tanned the hides of both gator's and mounted the heads. My dad has the skin and head from our hunt together and my wife's alligator is on our wall. If any of you have a chance to ever alligator hunt I highly recommend it. It is very addicting and is more difficult than I had expected, but that's what makes it fun. I am ready for this next season and hope you all enjoyed my story.

 

[Jcour4]

Southern Elk, the confliction does stink but I move a lot for work and this could be my last year as a MS resident so no more alligator tags. If I didn't get tags I would have been going to Colorado in September.

 

[1_pointer]

Way cool!! Thanks for sharing. I think that'd be fun as all get out.

 

[WestT]

Great stories! Thanks for sharing!

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Man! They only let a Public Draw Tag holder to use set hooks for us. I found several in Cross Lake about 5 minutes from my house. A lot of folks used Chicken quarters, but I used fresh hog guts soaked in a 4 month old bucket of wheat......wheeeew!!!!! It drew them in like buzzards that they are. Good Luck this year!

 

[bowhuntmontana]

Cool stories. Thanks for sharing.

 

[publichunter1]

Couldn't believe when I logged on and saw this story. Not use to any of my local outdoor activities being discussed on here. Congrats on the tags and the previous hunts.

We have been hunting gators, helping friends and friends of friends to tag their gators for a while now. It is definitely an awesome hunt especially the way it is done on the public waters here in MS.

I hate to say that I won't be around for this gator season but the group I hunt with are great people and if any tag holders ever need help filling their tags please let me know and I can put you in touch with my group.

We are just a group that loves to gator hunt and help people out. #RiverReapers

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Chootem, Chootem! Nice Gators! John

 

[Jcour4]

Very nice gators publichunter, I am hoping to get a gator over 10ft this season. Good luck to everybody in your group and if it's getting down to the wire and I need help I might shoot you a PM.

 

[publichunter1]

Very nice gators publichunter, I am hoping to get a gator over 10ft this season. Good luck to everybody in your group and if it's getting down to the wire and I need help I might shoot you a PM.

Thanks. I think our groups biggest is 13'3" and personal biggest is a little over 12'. I'm sure they would be glad to help if you need it. What zone did you draw?

 

[Jcour4]

WC and SC

 

[publichunter1]

I personally have only hunted SC once and we got a 9'10". Some of the other guys in our group have hunted it a lot more.

We have all filled a lot of tags in WC. Most of the big gator tags we have punched in that area were 10 or better.

Like I said let me know if you need their help. If not good luck and hope to see some pics.

 

[Jcour4]

Well I'm a little late posting this but my 2016 alligator season was a major success but there were many ups and downs throughout the 10 day season. The first night of the season we were greeted with plenty of other hunters out and about and mostly small alligators. My wife wanted to try casting this year so the first night she he had the rod for the whole night. She struggled snagging any alligators, but she finally settled down and hooked up to a nice runt alligator. She got to feel the power of these awesome animals and fought it to the boat. We got the snare on and she dispatched her first alligator that she snagged on her own. We were happy and decided to head home for the night.

The next night we tried a new area but only caught and released a few small alligators and called it a night early. The next night we tried yet another new area. We again were plagued by small alligators until my wife spotted an alligator up in some trees, the alligator swam out and we knew it was a decent alligator. After some cat and mouse we snagged it and the fight was on. After about 20 mins the alligator was finally boat side and it was a solid 9 foot alligator. My wife was so excited and ready to in case the gun, but I told her we should let it go since we shot one nearly that size last year and I wanted something larger. She immediately gave me the classic wife "do whatever you want" phrase. She wasn't happy but we took some video and a few pics and I undid the snare and let the alligator go.

Without boring everybody with more details, we continued to hunt every day of the alligator season and we had not hooked nor seen anything larger than that 9 footer and we were both wore out from hunting late into the morning and going to work on a couple hours of sleep. So we stayed closer to home for the second to last night to try our luck. We spotted some eyes some flooded timber and went to check it out. We could see it was at least a ten footer and it let us get very close. It was ticked up next to a tree and I pitched the hook right over its back and started to reel. Well the hook snagged a log and the alligator started to swim even closer to us. I grabbed the bow and aimed for the jowls and let go. Well I pulled a little bit and smoked a tree limb right next to the alligator and it submerged. We were both frustrated that we let the opportunity slip through our hands but we regrouped and went back after him.

We saw him again next to a tree that had fell into the water. I figured we could sneak up on the opposite side of the tree and shoot the alligator with the bow. Everything was going perfect and we got very close I drew and let the arrow fly. The arrow hit the hard scutes of the alligator's back and the alligator took off and the arrow pulled. He wouldn't let us get anywhere near him again and he finally disappeared. We called it quit after not seeing much after the encounter with the big one. There was only one night left in the season but my wife didn't want to go the last night. I told her that I planned on going just to fill my last tag with an alligator.

 

[Jcour4]

It's about time to head out for the last night of alligator season and I'm expecting to be going alone since we were both run down from hunting all season. I was loading up the truck and my wife said that she was going and we would finish out the season together. I'm happy to hear this because I don't think I would be able to get an alligator by myself. We head to where we saw the 10 footer the night before and start scanning some flooded timber as it starts to get dark. I spot some eyes way back in the timber, we had seen a small alligator in the same spot the night before but I figured we would still check it out. We get closer and the alligator starts to swim away from the bank and I could see that it was a large alligator. It's under a tree so I sling the hook on a line and it looks good but again I snag a log under water and the alligator disappears. We get the hook back and continue to look for him. We spot him again but he goes under before we could get a clear lane to throw. He comes up again so I parallel him to get an opening in the trees and throw the hook. The hook looked like it was off but he was angled enough that I snagged him near the back leg and the fight was on.

The drag was screaming on my 10000 class Fin-nor reel as we were trolling through the trees to try to keep up. We were doing well with him and kept from getting hung up on logs. He went between two trees fairly close together and the rear of the boat was too wide to fit through. We tried and tried to get through but we had to go back to get out. I had to get a little wet to get us unstuck and the rod around the tree but we were free and started chasing him down again.

We finally made it to some open water and got above the alligator. My wife got the bow ready and as I pulled the alligator she shot it perfectly in the tail and we released the float. We chased it some more and my wife got another hook in it. We got it next to the boat and saw just how big it was. It was massive and my wife tried to get the snare on but the alligator took off again. It broke the float off the arrow and it threw my hook but luckily the line to the arrow was tangled to the hook plus my wife had a hook in it. It eventually broke the rest of the 600 lbs test line attached to the arrow and we only had one hook in it. At this point I wasn't sure if we would get this alligator.

We got over top of it and I snagged it with my hook near the head. I pulled as much as I could with hand on the spool to try to lift him off the bottom. As soon as I would gain ground he would go down again. But eventually my wife got the snare in him and we could legally dispatch the alligator. I leaned over to shoot him and my arms were shaking. After the gator was dead we were excited but knew there was a lot of work ahead of us to get it into the boat. We tried to get it in the boat but just couldn't even get close without almost tipping the boat over. We tied the alligator up along the side of the boat and headed for shore. The boat was able to touch bottoms and we pulled and struggled to get it over the side and finally it was in the boat.

He was massive, well over 12ft and fat. He had a girth of 54in and a tail girth of 44in. We even blew out a trailer tire on the way home from the weight in the boat. Definitely an impressive animal and an amazing experience. My wife and I worked together, persevered, and were successful on a huge gator on the last night. We couldn't believe it the alligator was at least 500lbs if not more as we didn't weigh it. We did it by ourselves on public water. Here are some pics.