Interesting Gator Season Chart Shows Most Productive Zones

mdhall

Senior Member
Hope this interests a few folks. Don't forget to become a fan on Facebook.

http://www.outdoorwriter.net/?p=480

gatorinfographic.jpg

Very helpful.
 

gatorstick

Senior Member
Interesting, thanks for posting.

I've hunted most of the zones or have ridden them. I find modest numbers of gators in most areas with the exception being zone 3. In that zone, the main waterbody is the lake & that place has a ton of pressure exerted upon it during season.

I'm of the opinion good gators can be harvested in any zone. The issue is the average gator hunter is not armed with "real world" information on either how to harvest (equipment, techniques) or encouraged to fill the tag with a legal gator as the public harvest will not negatively impact the overall population. (Public harvest means fewer nuisance gators for the commercial trappers)

Whether the area is a farm pond, river, impoundment or tidal marsh, the gators are there & can be hunted effectively. Just as with other types of hunting, one style does not usually work in every area. Dropping a pack of hounds is not wise on small plots of land, shotguns are for large open fields (long range) or a rifle the best tool when your dog is attached to a porker & the're in a palmetto thicket.
 

mdhall

Senior Member
Oh, and I agree with you gatorstick, but I'm glad a lot of folks do choose zone 2, because my home town appreciates the revenue. We saw gators in the city limits of Bainbridge that would make most people think twice about getting within a mile of the water.
 

Dep6

Senior Member
Nice information there sir. I agree it is not the same hunting in every zone. Some are tougher hunting than others.
 

gatorstick

Senior Member
Oh, and I agree with you gatorstick, but I'm glad a lot of folks do choose zone 2, because my home town appreciates the revenue. We saw gators in the city limits of Bainbridge that would make most people think twice about getting within a mile of the water.


I like spending $$$ in Bainbridge. Pretty & nice little town. I like spending a few $$$ at Wingates Lodge too. They are friendly to both airboats & gator hunters.

I'm of the opinion from my travels that zones 1 & 2 hold the highest number of very large gators in Ga. For zone 1, the Ga side of the river has better habitat than the Al side. Alabama, I think has better habitat in the NWR, but since that's not open to gator hunting, Ga is the best side to hunt.

Gator season pours $$$ into fish camps & small towns across the South during a dead part of the year. It's very good for the economy! Maybe the Wall Street Journal should do an impact story on public gator hunting across the South.
 

Hunter-Steve

Senior Member
Very nice to know... Also nice to know me and my son were two of the 8 lucky hunters in zone 4 to bag a gator last year. If anyone needs advice on hunting that zone feel free to reach out to me.
 

gatorstick

Senior Member
Where did you harvest your zone 4 gator?

Last year, got the largest one we've ever gotten from the area. Have done well there in the past but 2009 was the year some luck came through.

I like the area & believe it will continue to produce. Wish we could hunt Banks Lake NWR. Some hosses there.
 

Hunter-Steve

Senior Member
Ray's had some good one in it... I ended up hooking up with a local and got both on a private mill pond. Missed large ones on both Rays and the private pond. But I was very happy to get the ones we got since this was my first try and we had no one with experience. We learned a lot.
 

gatorstick

Senior Member
The Mill ponds around Nashville are loaded. That's where I got my 12' this season. Been there before guiding & they missed some real monsters. Last year was my tag & I didn't miss. Would like to return again as we usually harvest something fair from the zone.
 

Hunter-Steve

Senior Member
I may just have you guide me when I get my next tag in a year or two. I'm moving to Texas but have a lifetime license and plan to come back for some gator hunting.

I did see some 10+ footers. Kind of glad I got my experience with my 8 footer. Meat was good too. I tanned the hide and made 5 belts, 3 wallets, a checkbook cover and a clutch purse out of it.
 

Doyle

Senior Member
I'm really surprised at the low success ratio. Only 24% of the tags were filled. I wonder why that is.
 

Hunter-Steve

Senior Member
I think it is due to people holding out for a trophy gator and then ending up with nothing... Or it could be that there are people getting tags just to prevent anyone from harvesting them. I'm sure it is a mix of both.
 

mdhall

Senior Member
The image originally said there were 11,093 applicants, however that was the number of applications, each hunter could apply up to three times for chances at different zones. Only a total number of 5977 hunters actually applied. Which also means some folks didn't use up all their chances...oh well. Sorry for the confusion.
 

Hunter-Steve

Senior Member
That makes sense... I only applied for two zones last year.
 

gatorstick

Senior Member
I'm really surprised at the low success ratio. Only 24% of the tags were filled. I wonder why that is.

There are many reasons for this. One reason was stated above that folks hold for a monster & can't get it done or don't know how to get it done. Another is most don't understand the equipment needed and/or carry it, understand where it works or doesn't work or how to properly utilize it. Another is only a few understand the gator & how to hunt it under different terrain, habitat or circumstance.

It also appears, as in SC, that as the seasons get established, the stupid gators are killed & the remaining one become very, very weary. This may help explain why the success rate tracks down rather than up over time as it's the gators learning how to avoid the hunter, not the majority of hunters acquiring the skills of the successful predator.

When I've attended the many DNR seminars, the lecture is focused on methods employed for biological research or nuisance trapping, neither of which is fair chase hunting by the public.

In Florida, for the longest while the harvest rate hovered near 80%. This could be further broken down. The guides & folks that hunted every year & were knowledgeable gator hunters were in the 95-100% success rate. They dominated the tags awarded each year. The "newbies" were a minority of folks drawn & their success ran in the 20-35% range as they got out not knowing what to do or how to do it. A few would find a big & stupid gator. Others would tag out on the easy 5-7' targets that presented themselves, most just got a little bit of an education & had a good time.

One prevalent method is via archery. I compare hunting gators with bows to hunting ducks with rifles. While it works to a degree, there are much better & effective methods to harvest a gator. The arrows are heavy, drag a line, must often penetrate water, hide & bone (back scutes) don't have the range most assume they will archive and the thin line does not work well dragging 600lbs of water weeds or logs. Other than that, they work ok.

In the case of trophy class gators, there are only a handful of habitats where a bow is a wise choice of tools and the sportsman must have the knowledge to know when to ethically engage this method or utilize a better method.

Every year I speak to hundreds of gator hunters across the South. The reasons for gaining a permit & not hunting are verried but somewhat practicable. Believe it or not, a very common one is "Dad" draws a permit & "Wife/GF" kills it. (Too dangerous, divorce, not enough insurance, ect) Next are work/schedule issues followed by family issues such as births, deaths & illness.
 

hilljack13

Senior Member
Nice to see where the zones are actually at. I was putting in my choices by regular zones. This needs to be put in the regulations book. According to this zone chart if I got a tag it wouldn't be anywhere I was looking at...
 

mdhall

Senior Member
Yes, They are very different from the WRD Game regions. Which confuses a lot of folks I think. But, the entire state doesn't have gators, so it has to be a little different.
 

gatorstick

Senior Member
Georgia & SC make the zones easy. If you want to see convoluted hunting areas, try Florida's.

Most of the state is open to gator hunting but determining the boundaries of your actual area can be a challenge.

Here are the links to Georgia's DNR gator info:

http://www.georgiawildlife.com/hunting/regulations

DNR also has detailed info on the gator harvest broken down by year, much more than the link on the site alludes to. Might have to ask for it if you want it.
 
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