Alligator hunt issues

[trial&error]

I accidentally used all my priority points this year and got drawn for everything. This is my first legal alligator hunt. That being said I have had equipment failures on 2 hunts so far. It was based on the fact that we don't regularly get to do this every year and I was ill prepared. I ordered a starter kit on line. it came with big beefy weighted treble hooks, floats, ropes, harpoon, bangstick and I don't know what to call the harpoon heads. Thinking i was ready and being a trad bow hunter I decided to take the long bow out. That was an epic failure 45# long bow will kill a deer, but it won't sling a fiberglass arrow very far. My FIL had me come do a hunt with him in florida. we cruised up on a 6'9" gator and it was literally like giging flounder with a 12' gig. gator went down i tugged on the line and it actually rolled itself up in the line and kept bumping the boat. When it's head was resting against the side of the boat and it closed its mouth. A quick grab of its closed jaws and a little knife work and the deed was done.

Butttt I still have a georgia tag to fill since using up all my points. Don't put in for hunts when your half asleep. I reequip and take my compound with one of those fishing wheels you screw into the front of your bow. I'm on the water and seeing eyes so i do an equipment check and test fire my compound. It felt good and went where i aimed. Problem was my line got caught on the backside of the wheel and snapped the line. All is not lost I have a spare, so I rig it up and take aim on a 7 footer. That was when I noticed a problem with my line and repositioned it with my index finger. Unbeknownst to me the line is still wrapped around my finger. I let it fly and the string digs a nice little grove around my finger. OOOuch I missed of course and disgusted with my bow I spend the next 2 hours trying to gig one after another I could only get close enough on the small ones.

So I spent today buying one of those fishing rigs to put on my cross bow. After a little machining it's all setup. This time I make sure to test fire it several times. I did it with out the line and at 20ft it performed as it should. Then I attached the line to the front without the barb to see what happens. well it was off target some and I noticed the bolt had spun around backwards when it entered the target. That won't work. So I tied the line to the rear and draped it over the front to be as straight as possible. Feeling nervous I was quite surprised that it all worked as expected and the bolt blew though my target and out the back. Note to self buy new target.

Tomorrow I will be heading down to Lake Seminole again. Hopefully the third time is the charm. I have seen lots of gators there in 2 trips. I'm hoping to find bigger ones than I've seen for this trip.

 

[Mr Bya Lungshot]

Trial and error.
You can’t mess up everytime.
GoodLuck nexttime.

 

[nmurph]

@trial&error updates?

 

[trial&error]

My last trip to Seminole produced no results, and lightning chased me off the water. Lots of vegitation to deal with in the dark, having to chase them from one side to the other was tiresome only to find out it was smaller than expected. If allowed to do so more often I'm sure the kinks would work out. There's plenty of them there, I just couldn't connect.
My fil had pity on me and offered up a hunt in florida. Landed 2 a 6'4 and 9'0 . The big one was found near boat ramp when leaving. Gigged both like flounder eased up and harpooned with a long pole feet from the boat. That's 3 for me this year.

 

[Son]

Nobody's gotten the big bull that roams between Cypress pond and Hickory Pond in Seminole. Before cold weather moved in, we saw him in the small pond just south of Hickory pond, along with a smaller female of about 8 feet. The bull is over ten for sure. For couple years now, I have seen people after him in gator season, but he's smart. And like you said, the grass, and probably stumps are a pain in the dark. I live on the bank of one of the ponds.