Toliver
Senior Member
We were a little disheartened when we checked in Sunday at Seminole State Park and were told no one was seeing gators. And it didn't get any better when we hit the water and hunted Sunday night and saw nothing. We were afraid the hurricane was somehow affecting the barometer and keeping them holed up.
We alternated over the next couple of days hunting late morning/early afternoon and then early evening til about midnight. We were seeing more during daylight hours but those typical summer storms kept popping up and messing us up.
Being novices, we were hunting with a mixture of winging it, trial and error, and a few things I picked up last year when I went hunting down in Jupiter with a professional. Mix that with just how spooky Seminole gators seem to be and it was one failure after another as the gators would disappear before we could close in on them. It never seems to amaze me how an apex predator that big is that easy to scare but I guess they don't get that big by being stupid. We were stationary and watched gators from a distance. We noticed as a boat up on plain approached the gators would go under when the boat was still 100s of yards away from them. Makes you wonder how many you pass out there and never see.
On Wednesday we hit the water at about 10:30 to get a little day time hunting in before the next round of storms showed up at 2:30. Once we got to our area, we spotted a gator pretty quickly. He was several hundred yards from us. Once we got to the area, we had a hard time finding him again. He blended so well that we almost missed him. He was within 5 feet of the bank just patrolling slowly.
We closed the distance and he went under. We waited and watched. I kept expecting him to come up a long way from us. But after about 5 minutes he surfaced right where he had gone down. The guy with the permit tried to hook up with a cross bow. The string messed up and the arrow fell 10 yards short. The gator didn't even flinch. So the next guy casts a treble hook. Great cast right over the gator.... and the hook embedded in a log we could not see. The gator didn't even flinch. He picked up the back up rod and cast again. This time he was just short and the hook splashed right next to the gator. This time the gator flinched. He did that big ol' swirl and it was impossible to tell which way he went.
We waited about 10 minutes and he surfaced about 100 feet from us. We tried to get back within casting distance but he went under. We waited about 5 minutes and he surfaced again. He had gone under us and came up behind us... again only about 100 feet away. I was beginning to think there was some reason this gator didn't want to give up his territory. I thought we might be on a mama gator with a nest nearby. I wasn't sure if they had finished hatching or not but it seemed there was something holding this gator near that bank.
We start closing the distance again. This time the gator would alternate between inhaling to float way up out of the water and sinking down to where only the eyes were up but it never went under again.
With a new hook tied onto the primary rod, another cast was made. This time we had hook up. We maneuvered the boat over the gator and I started throwing the grappling hook. The fourth throw found its mark and the fight was on. I pulled the gator to the surface and it promptly started trying to eat the boat. I handed the rope off to the other guy and grabbed and loaded the bang stick. I hit the gator twice and the bang stick failed to go off. I quickly decided to go with Plan B.... I drew my pistol and fired a round into the gator's head and stopped its struggle.
I pulled the gator's head up onto the boat and the rod guy taped its mouth. Well, it was now that I was the most nervous. I had a big gator in my hand and it was like the bullet had only knocked it out for a minute. It started pulling backwards and it blinked. Hooks were still in it so I let it go and we shot it one more time. I pulled it back up and we cut into its neck to sever its spine. We then struggled to get it up through that little door on the side of the pontoon.
We measured it across the top and got 10' 11". The processor said you get a more accurate measurement if you put it on its back and measure along the bottom and that it was probably 11 feet but we didn't bother... what's another inch unless you're possibly going for a record and it would make a difference. Regardless, it was a good time it wasn't bad for our first Georgia Gator.
Congratulations to all who have had successful hunts this year.
We alternated over the next couple of days hunting late morning/early afternoon and then early evening til about midnight. We were seeing more during daylight hours but those typical summer storms kept popping up and messing us up.
Being novices, we were hunting with a mixture of winging it, trial and error, and a few things I picked up last year when I went hunting down in Jupiter with a professional. Mix that with just how spooky Seminole gators seem to be and it was one failure after another as the gators would disappear before we could close in on them. It never seems to amaze me how an apex predator that big is that easy to scare but I guess they don't get that big by being stupid. We were stationary and watched gators from a distance. We noticed as a boat up on plain approached the gators would go under when the boat was still 100s of yards away from them. Makes you wonder how many you pass out there and never see.
On Wednesday we hit the water at about 10:30 to get a little day time hunting in before the next round of storms showed up at 2:30. Once we got to our area, we spotted a gator pretty quickly. He was several hundred yards from us. Once we got to the area, we had a hard time finding him again. He blended so well that we almost missed him. He was within 5 feet of the bank just patrolling slowly.
We closed the distance and he went under. We waited and watched. I kept expecting him to come up a long way from us. But after about 5 minutes he surfaced right where he had gone down. The guy with the permit tried to hook up with a cross bow. The string messed up and the arrow fell 10 yards short. The gator didn't even flinch. So the next guy casts a treble hook. Great cast right over the gator.... and the hook embedded in a log we could not see. The gator didn't even flinch. He picked up the back up rod and cast again. This time he was just short and the hook splashed right next to the gator. This time the gator flinched. He did that big ol' swirl and it was impossible to tell which way he went.
We waited about 10 minutes and he surfaced about 100 feet from us. We tried to get back within casting distance but he went under. We waited about 5 minutes and he surfaced again. He had gone under us and came up behind us... again only about 100 feet away. I was beginning to think there was some reason this gator didn't want to give up his territory. I thought we might be on a mama gator with a nest nearby. I wasn't sure if they had finished hatching or not but it seemed there was something holding this gator near that bank.
We start closing the distance again. This time the gator would alternate between inhaling to float way up out of the water and sinking down to where only the eyes were up but it never went under again.
With a new hook tied onto the primary rod, another cast was made. This time we had hook up. We maneuvered the boat over the gator and I started throwing the grappling hook. The fourth throw found its mark and the fight was on. I pulled the gator to the surface and it promptly started trying to eat the boat. I handed the rope off to the other guy and grabbed and loaded the bang stick. I hit the gator twice and the bang stick failed to go off. I quickly decided to go with Plan B.... I drew my pistol and fired a round into the gator's head and stopped its struggle.
I pulled the gator's head up onto the boat and the rod guy taped its mouth. Well, it was now that I was the most nervous. I had a big gator in my hand and it was like the bullet had only knocked it out for a minute. It started pulling backwards and it blinked. Hooks were still in it so I let it go and we shot it one more time. I pulled it back up and we cut into its neck to sever its spine. We then struggled to get it up through that little door on the side of the pontoon.
We measured it across the top and got 10' 11". The processor said you get a more accurate measurement if you put it on its back and measure along the bottom and that it was probably 11 feet but we didn't bother... what's another inch unless you're possibly going for a record and it would make a difference. Regardless, it was a good time it wasn't bad for our first Georgia Gator.
Congratulations to all who have had successful hunts this year.
I loved your hunt story! Yes, they will try to eat the boat, and anything else they can get their teeth in 
Taping their mouth is the most dangerous part in my opinion. It's not a good feeling when you have your hands right there around those jaws and teeth, and then you see them blink and feel them move 
One minute you think they're dead and the next you realize they are still very much alive. I've been bitten by a small gator and I sure wouldn't want to find out what it felt like to be bitten by a big one. Thanks for sharing the hunt with us 
