Polecat
Well-Known Member
My father in law and I left out yesterday morning around eight and got down there around five o'clock and spent about an hour looking for a place to buy hunting licenses. We were starting to worry a little until we found a super Wal-Mart. We finally hooked up with our outfitter around 7:30 and made a short drive to the boat launch. We put in around eight last night and by 8:15 we had seen two gators and one other boat on the river also hunting gators. The weather that night was rotten for gator hunting. We had a storm push in bringing a cool front and wind. According to the guide wind is never a good thing when gator hunting because it makes the water choppy and slaps the bottom of the boat making a lot of racket and alerting the gators. To make matters worse we had a high tide and a full moon. The tide was about four feet high and was giving the gators all sorts of new places to hide on the bank and in the bushes. These gators had already been exposed to ten nights of heavy hunting pressure and weren't stupid. They were all skittish and very nervous. You'd hit 'em with a light and move on them, they'd let you get within 50-60 feet. Once you'd have one sized up as a shooter and it'd drop to the bottom and just lay there. A couple of gators we tried to grab with a large treble snatching hook on a saltwater rod (perfectly legal) and lift off the bottom but could never get the hook to take in their tough hide. I probably drew back on at lest ten gators and came close to releasing on two only to have them sink to the bottom and hide.
So far the only shots that I had taken were a few warm up shots on leaves floating on the surface of the water so that I could check my sight pin, get a feel for shooting from a boat and the guide could verify that I wasn't going to have any problems with my equipment. I had brought my own gear; a Mathews Q2-Xl at 70 lbs, Muzzy predator arrows with their gator getter tip, Spectra 600 cord with big game floats and para cord leaders, and an AMS retriever reel. Although if needed the guide has a crossbow set up with a red dot sight, a retriever reel, line, floats and innerlock bolts available should a client wish to borrow it or the need arises to quickly get two lines in a gator.
There was one gator that was hiding in a clump of cypress looking away. There was one gap in the trees that gave us a great angle at the back of its head and neck but the shot was a little long. The guide asked if I thought I could get an arrow between two trees and into the back of the gators head and neck, into an area the size of a can of Copenhagen. I felt good about it but the guide called it off just as I came to full draw. It was an iffy shot and if it didn't instantly kill the gator we'd have a mess on our hands with the animal back in the cypress trees and knees.
We had probably seen close to thirty to forty gators so far and had moved on quite a few but many times had to back off due to where they were laying; under trees, thick brush, swift river channels, places that they knew were perfectly safe for them but difficult or dangerous for us to get to. One was a very large bull gator that was between 11 and 12 feet in length and according to the guide would weigh around 600 lbs. You can't describe what it's like to see something that large at night swimming in the river along side of you just outside of range. This gator didn't seem too concerned with our presence but just kept distance between us. Our guide wanted this one...bad. We spent over an hour and a half trying for this one only to have swim up a small creek channel that was too small and shallow for us to follow.
We were making an attempt on another gator only to have it dive like the others. While working on that gator the guide said he thought he saw an eye shining in an adjacent creek slough. We were making a move on this one when it looked like we were going to get to see the same routine that we had seen all night. Just about the time we got within range the gator slid off the bank and did what every other gator had previously done and went to the bottom. Unfortunately for this one it was still in very shallow water thanks to the outgoing tide. As we were drifting the guide hit the area where the gator had been with his spot light. The light sandy bottom and the Q-beam lit the gator up like a neon sign taking us all by surprise. After all we had been through no one was expecting to see the gator just lying there stretched out on its belly. Unfortunately we had already started drifting past the gator when we spotted it lying on the bottom. I quickly turned around on the shooting deck and drew my bow dropping my sight pin just below the gators neck to allow for light refraction since my target was completely submerged. The guide was urging me to, �stick that gator!� It was one of those shots that just felt good, everything about it was perfect, the draw, the anchor, the release, the follow through. I couldn�t see the arrow hit due to the splashing but felt really good about the shot. Line was peeling out of my retriever reel as I was attaching a glow stick to the buoy to make it more visible should we have to give chase. Bernie, our boat operator reached over the edge and picked up the line and feeling tension announced, �Boy�s, we got ourselves a gator.� Fortunately the gator only ran a short distance for the deeper water and went back to hiding on the bottom. The boat operator and the guide were holding tension on the line while moving the boat away from the bank to keep from fouling the prop with the 20 yards of 600 lb spectra gator cord. Once we got out in the deeper water we started to ease the gator up. This one came up easy. Most of the time when they come up they started popping the side of the boat with their tail and snapping their jaws. A catch pole with a steel snare was slipped over its head to allow for better control. The arrow had struck the gator at the base of its neck, above the shoulder angling back and down into the chest cavity with the tip penetrating the hide behind the leg on the far side. A dispatching shot was placed to the base of the gators skull with a pistol and its jaws were taped shut to prevent anyone from accidentally getting bit. The animal was pulled into the boat and tagged with a numbered locking tag in the last portion of its tail. We made the next hour and a half boat ride back to the ramp and in the process saw at least twenty more gators. Once back to the ramp we took a few more pics, loaded the boat and the gator and headed to one of their homes where we took more pics and started the skinning and dressing process. The gator was measured out at seven feet eight inches and determined to be a female and weighed roughly 130 pounds. Long and skinny with a wide head. The gator was skinned; the head detached and the meat boned out and packed in coolers for the ride home. Our final stop was to allow a game biologist to verify the animal and attach a CITES tag to the tail so the animal could be taken out of state and the hide sent to a processor.
I will also never, ever gripe about not being able to get a deer checked in around here. I went to three different county's trying to get this gator verified so I could take it out of state. Only DNR personnel can do this and not every office has a biologist on site to register the gator and issue the CITES tag. I had a blast hunting with Russ and Bernie of Smoke House Outfitters. These guys know their business. Their dedication to their clients and to the hunt was unbelievable. They stayed with it despite the bad weather, unfavorable conditions, and shy, pressured, and uncooperative gators. Many times I expected one of them to want to call the hunt due to the above but they never even hinted at it much less suggest it. When I go back it will be with these folks.
So far the only shots that I had taken were a few warm up shots on leaves floating on the surface of the water so that I could check my sight pin, get a feel for shooting from a boat and the guide could verify that I wasn't going to have any problems with my equipment. I had brought my own gear; a Mathews Q2-Xl at 70 lbs, Muzzy predator arrows with their gator getter tip, Spectra 600 cord with big game floats and para cord leaders, and an AMS retriever reel. Although if needed the guide has a crossbow set up with a red dot sight, a retriever reel, line, floats and innerlock bolts available should a client wish to borrow it or the need arises to quickly get two lines in a gator.
There was one gator that was hiding in a clump of cypress looking away. There was one gap in the trees that gave us a great angle at the back of its head and neck but the shot was a little long. The guide asked if I thought I could get an arrow between two trees and into the back of the gators head and neck, into an area the size of a can of Copenhagen. I felt good about it but the guide called it off just as I came to full draw. It was an iffy shot and if it didn't instantly kill the gator we'd have a mess on our hands with the animal back in the cypress trees and knees.
We had probably seen close to thirty to forty gators so far and had moved on quite a few but many times had to back off due to where they were laying; under trees, thick brush, swift river channels, places that they knew were perfectly safe for them but difficult or dangerous for us to get to. One was a very large bull gator that was between 11 and 12 feet in length and according to the guide would weigh around 600 lbs. You can't describe what it's like to see something that large at night swimming in the river along side of you just outside of range. This gator didn't seem too concerned with our presence but just kept distance between us. Our guide wanted this one...bad. We spent over an hour and a half trying for this one only to have swim up a small creek channel that was too small and shallow for us to follow.
We were making an attempt on another gator only to have it dive like the others. While working on that gator the guide said he thought he saw an eye shining in an adjacent creek slough. We were making a move on this one when it looked like we were going to get to see the same routine that we had seen all night. Just about the time we got within range the gator slid off the bank and did what every other gator had previously done and went to the bottom. Unfortunately for this one it was still in very shallow water thanks to the outgoing tide. As we were drifting the guide hit the area where the gator had been with his spot light. The light sandy bottom and the Q-beam lit the gator up like a neon sign taking us all by surprise. After all we had been through no one was expecting to see the gator just lying there stretched out on its belly. Unfortunately we had already started drifting past the gator when we spotted it lying on the bottom. I quickly turned around on the shooting deck and drew my bow dropping my sight pin just below the gators neck to allow for light refraction since my target was completely submerged. The guide was urging me to, �stick that gator!� It was one of those shots that just felt good, everything about it was perfect, the draw, the anchor, the release, the follow through. I couldn�t see the arrow hit due to the splashing but felt really good about the shot. Line was peeling out of my retriever reel as I was attaching a glow stick to the buoy to make it more visible should we have to give chase. Bernie, our boat operator reached over the edge and picked up the line and feeling tension announced, �Boy�s, we got ourselves a gator.� Fortunately the gator only ran a short distance for the deeper water and went back to hiding on the bottom. The boat operator and the guide were holding tension on the line while moving the boat away from the bank to keep from fouling the prop with the 20 yards of 600 lb spectra gator cord. Once we got out in the deeper water we started to ease the gator up. This one came up easy. Most of the time when they come up they started popping the side of the boat with their tail and snapping their jaws. A catch pole with a steel snare was slipped over its head to allow for better control. The arrow had struck the gator at the base of its neck, above the shoulder angling back and down into the chest cavity with the tip penetrating the hide behind the leg on the far side. A dispatching shot was placed to the base of the gators skull with a pistol and its jaws were taped shut to prevent anyone from accidentally getting bit. The animal was pulled into the boat and tagged with a numbered locking tag in the last portion of its tail. We made the next hour and a half boat ride back to the ramp and in the process saw at least twenty more gators. Once back to the ramp we took a few more pics, loaded the boat and the gator and headed to one of their homes where we took more pics and started the skinning and dressing process. The gator was measured out at seven feet eight inches and determined to be a female and weighed roughly 130 pounds. Long and skinny with a wide head. The gator was skinned; the head detached and the meat boned out and packed in coolers for the ride home. Our final stop was to allow a game biologist to verify the animal and attach a CITES tag to the tail so the animal could be taken out of state and the hide sent to a processor.
I will also never, ever gripe about not being able to get a deer checked in around here. I went to three different county's trying to get this gator verified so I could take it out of state. Only DNR personnel can do this and not every office has a biologist on site to register the gator and issue the CITES tag. I had a blast hunting with Russ and Bernie of Smoke House Outfitters. These guys know their business. Their dedication to their clients and to the hunt was unbelievable. They stayed with it despite the bad weather, unfavorable conditions, and shy, pressured, and uncooperative gators. Many times I expected one of them to want to call the hunt due to the above but they never even hinted at it much less suggest it. When I go back it will be with these folks.
