Gator Hunt

SGaither

Senior Member
Well a couple of my friends and I were drawn for the gator hunt and all three of us gigged a trophy. I don't have much time to go into detail of all the events but I can tell you that gigging a gator is not as easy at it seems. I missed 4 different gators before I got mine (6:00 am Saturday morning) and by buddies each missed 3 or 4 times at different gators before they got theirs (both at 3:00 Sunday morning). Mine was the largest at 10'7" and could have been longer if the tail hadn't been bitten off at an earlier stage in his life. The second largest was 9'4" and the third was 7'0". I'm not sure on the weights of the other two but mine weighed in at a whopping 271 pounds. I was told that if he was at his peak weight he would be pushing 400 pounds. I would love to post a picture or two but this new board format will not let me, saying that the file is too big or something and I don't know how to reduce it.

sgaither
 

Trizey

Senior Member
Great pics and that must have been a great hunt! Thanks for sharing!
 

rip18

Senior Member
Looks like some happy hunters!

Congratulations. When you get time we definitely want to hear some of the details!!!
 

dbodkin

Senior Member
Congrats.... dont think I care to do that though...
 

SGaither

Senior Member
It was a blast

I was drawn for the Miller, Seminole, Decatur county area. We all harvested the gators on the Flint River north of Lake Seminole.
It started out like this. We had planned to put the boats in the water right at midnight, but due to the rain, slight lack of preparation, hunger, and oh yeah late party members we got on the water around 2:00 am. I was in a 14 stick steer aluminum boat with a 10 foot ghenoe tied to the side. We scanned the water with the spot lights until the little red dots appeared (gator eyes). The first set we saw was about 10 minutes into the trip and I was thinking this is too easy. I was wrong. After spotting the eyes two of us climbed into the ghenoe leaving someone in the chase boat (oh, to make things clear we had 7 people total 3 of us had tags. 3 in one boat, 4 in the other). The first gator stay at the top of the water as we were able to get about 3 feet from him and I could see his whole body with my head light. I passed on him cause he was a little small.
The next gator we got on we chased all over the river for a good half hour before get got fed up and lost us. Well I was able to get within gigging distance of 4 different gators, 3 of which I missed cause my gigging skills were a little slow.
The 4th gator I over anticipated and before I went to release the gig my knees buckled and I almost caught the gator with my hands but I was able to stop myself before taking a swim. That was a close call and we all had a laugh.
Well at this time it was getting late or should I say early, it was about 5:45 am and we spot a set of eyes not far from the bank and headed his way. I admit I was a little discouraged after my misses but I wasn't ready to give up. We drifted close to the gator and all I remember was seeing his eyes as if I was in a trance. I threw the gig as hard as I could and for a split second thought I missed again, then I felt the resistance on the rope which was attached to a couple of jugs. Instant relief took over my body when I saw the jugs go over the edge of the boat. I don't know what I said but I screamed something. My buddy driving the ghenoe turned his spot light on the jugs and we witness them go under the water and return to the surface after being out of sight for what seemed to be an eternity (15 or so seconds).
The chase boat came and pick us up and we headed to the jugs.
My originally thought the gator was 5 or 6 feet and when we went to pulling on the jugs and the lizard on the other end went to pulling back we soon had and idea it was larger than 5 or 6 feet.
We wrestled with the gator for about 20 minutes as he pulled us through the hydrilla and then up to the surface to try and bite his way out of the situation. We now have several bite marks in the aluminum boat. We were able to tire him enough where we could lift he head out of the water and I took a shot with my .357 mag pistol. We thought that was enough. A friend of mine reached for his head and as their skins touched, the gator decided he had more fight left in him and started thrashing about. We were able to get him back under control and I was able to place the death shot just in the sweet spot. As the gator sighed his last breath and went limp I thanked God for an awesome experience and allowing me to harvest one of his creations.
Now the real work begins. Getting him in the boat was a chore that took all three of us. We didn't get back to the boat ramp until around 8:00 am, the rest of our party had no idea what kinda night we had just experienced. But they soon found out what kind of emotional roller coaster one goes through when taking such an animal cause they got their chance that night.
Sorry this was long but I still feel I couldn't do this story any justice, as I am not the writer that some of ya'll are. Thanks for reading.
 

gabowman

Senior Member
As a friend whom has pas sed awau used to tell me...."As Dizzy Dean used to say, Doing Aint Bragging!"

Nice hunt and thanks for sharing that pic....AWESOME! :D

GB
 

pendy

Senior Member
Heart Beating

I bet your heart was beating fast. That is to scary for me. What did you do with the gators?
 

SGaither

Senior Member
the gators

We all decided to have their heads preserved and we ended up putting all the meat in one big cooler and when all the cleaning work was done we took what meat we wanted and needed. Needless to say I'm in no big hurry to get into the deer woods, I have enough meat to last for awhile. I looked into getting the hide tanned but I don't have the experience, patience, or money to flesh the hide. I called American Tanning in Griffin (only 1 in 5 operations allowed to mess with gators in the US) and they gave me a quote of $300.00 just to tan the belly, that's not fleshing it out, that's another $150.00 - $200.00. I have contacted a local nuisance trapper and we arranged that he would take it and he would get me a tanned back to hang on the wall. Thanks guys for reading my adventure and thanks Jim Thompson for posting my pictures.

Sgaither
 

fredw

Retired Moderator
Sgaither

It's a small world. At my North Georgia Striper Club meeting last night, I was sharing some of the details of my gator hunt. One of the guys in the club started telling me about his buddy (and his friends) and how they got three gators. The story sounded so familiar I asked if one of the guys was names Gaither. He said yup...a friend of his buddy.
 
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