Came very, very close to losing my son to a gator today.

[Mark K]

Never crossed my mind.



Really???? Go on....

Yeah I’ll play then.
Have you ever seen a pond lose water?? What happens to all the fish?
Go on, guess???
Yes, that’s right, they all get concentrated in one little area. And I’d be willing to bet that makes it a whole lot easier for their predators to catch them.
Not sure where you were going with your answers, but you went the wrong direction.

As far as the gator comment, it’s an alligator being an alligator. People float by, swim by, wade by, even walk the banks by gators every single day. And, if you remove one, another fills it’s place. It’s the same with trapping. What I take out, another eventually moves in.
Wasn’t being smart, just trying to understand your reasoning and how you expect a water source not to have gators.

 

[SemperFiDawg]

Yeah I’ll play then.
Have you ever seen a pond lose water?? What happens to all the fish?
Go on, guess???
Yes, that’s right, they all get concentrated in one little area. And I’d be willing to bet that makes it a whole lot easier for their predators to catch them.
Not sure where you were going with your answers, but you went the wrong direction.

As far as the gator comment, it’s an alligator being an alligator. People float by, swim by, wade by, even walk the banks by gators every single day. And, if you remove one, another fills it’s place. It’s the same with trapping. What I take out, another eventually moves in.
Wasn’t being smart, just trying to understand your reasoning and how you expect a water source not to have gators.

I'm gonna be gracious here, and just assume you skimmed over my posts, because there's no way you fully comprehended them and then drew these conclusions about me from them:

You do realize that’s probably not the only gator in the river.

how you expect a water source not to have gators.

.

It's just not possible.

 

[Budda]

Gator just doing what gators do. Eat. Aweful glad yall made it and all but just remember its all groovy being on top of the food chain but being lower then that aint so much fun. Be careful out there. Gators generally will leave you alone but if its you or starving, sorry son, but you are gonna be the food.

 

[hambone76]

Glad that you and your children are ok. Good job keeping your wits and thinking of the best way out of there.

 

[fireman32]

Glad y’all are safe. We have gators here in Dooly co. With plenty of water for them to be anywhere. Even had a four footer show up in my shop and another 5 footer by my mail box. It pays to be aware of your surroundings.

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

Glad you and your sons made it out ok!!! Got to tell a story.
Lived in Florida for a couple years in high school in the early 80's. Buddy's parents owned some property on the Little Wekiva river. Beautiful undeveloped place with white sand, crystal clear water, palm tree's, elephant ears and palmettos. River about 20ft wide so best way to fish was wade and we did non-stop. Bag of rubber worms, hooks & bullet weights under your hat and a bait caster. Took my cousin once who was not an outdoorsman at all. Proceeded to wade upstream and casted into a hole I knew was full of roots and got snagged. Waded up to unsnag my worm and reached down to see I was snagged on the back leg of about a 6 ft gator. I had seen many gators so didn't really affect me so backed up, bit my line and turned to see my cousin literally walk on water back to the shore. Have very fond memories of that river but amazed none of us ever got chewed on. Several oxbows we would have to put our rod between our teeth and swim through deep holes. Wouldn't do it today.

 

[Mark K]

If you’ve ever been to the beach, you’ve swam with sharks.
If you’ve ever swam in a river, you’ve swam with gators.
If you’ve waded a swamp, you’ve waded with gators.

 

[SemperFiDawg]

Glad you and your sons made it out ok!!! Got to tell a story.
Lived in Florida for a couple years in high school in the early 80's. Buddy's parents owned some property on the Little Wekiva river. Beautiful undeveloped place with white sand, crystal clear water, palm tree's, elephant ears and palmettos. River about 20ft wide so best way to fish was wade and we did non-stop. Bag of rubber worms, hooks & bullet weights under your hat and a bait caster. Took my cousin once who was not an outdoorsman at all. Proceeded to wade upstream and casted into a hole I knew was full of roots and got snagged. Waded up to unsnag my worm and reached down to see I was snagged on the back leg of about a 6 ft gator. I had seen many gators so didn't really affect me so backed up, bit my line and turned to see my cousin literally walk on water back to the shore. Have very fond memories of that river but amazed none of us ever got chewed on. Several oxbows we would have to put our rod between our teeth and swim through deep holes. Wouldn't do it today.

Oh that brought back a memory. WAs doing the same thing one time with my cousin. Up to our necks traversing a bend in a creek, Hands over our heads, crickets in one, spinner in the other, fish stringer in our teeth and a huge cottonmouth came around the bend and swam right between us and my cousin was already about in my back pocket because he was nervous to start with. If I remember correctly he called it quits very shortly after making shore. Didn’t bother me. I had the creek all to myself after that.

 

[Browning Slayer]

Yeah, I'm not sure I would have called the Warden. I would have taken care of the nuisance gator after getting the boys back to the truck.

Glad it turned out good for you guys. Could have been a lot worse.

 

[mattech]

Man, having a son that just turned 13, and just took him gator hunting for the first time a few weeks ago, it definitely makes me scared for ya. I've been in some wild places in the middle of the night, and only had one gator ever charge me. I was in a boat though, and was getting ready to hook it when it finally dove under. I've walked up on Gators on land and had them his at me, but never with my kids. I've also seam in that river not far from that area, and although knew Gators where there, didn't stress it. All animals are different, 99.9% of the time they will try and get away, but all it takes is that .1% of the time.

 

[Dep6]

Very glad yall had a good outcome. I have had the boat bitten, harpoon shaft chewed up, even had the line on a treble hook get cut on a Gator's tooth over the years. Like so many have said, Apex predator, size being the key factor most times in the danger to humans, but remember a 5-6 footer will try to take a dog if it is hungry!!