2016 alligator season (to be continued)

Cone · August 29, 2016, 03:59:59 AM

Sorry I'm so late posting. We drove over to the Choctawhatchee River on August 15th. We got on the river about 5:30 PM and got off the river the next morning about 8 am. We saw quite a few gators but none that were over 6 feet.

We got a few hours sleep and hit the river again after 5 pm. We had a great night and caught 4 gators. We released one that was 6 1/2 feet long. I tagged a 9 foot 9 inch alligator. Samuel, tagged a 7 1/2 footer and a 8 foot 4 inch alligator. We had to get out of the boat to catch his 8 footer. We kept seeing her swim across in front of us in a canal that was blocked by a fallen tree. The only way to get to her was by foot.

We unloaded the alligators from the boat took a few pics and loaded them in the back of Samuel's pickup. Samuel was tagged out and Ron had to go back to Pensacola. A friend of his had his son die in a traffic accident and he had to go to the funeral.

I stayed and hit the river alone that night. I didn't see many alligators and I picked up Ron about 11 pm at the ramp. He had his son's father in law with him. We had about a 7 foot gator on but lost him at the boat. We saw several other people alligator hunting and I think it had the gators spooked. The first two nights we saw no other hunters on the river where we were. The river was also up and and a full moon didn't help.
Right at daylight we decided to try an area that looked promising on google maps. When we got there the sun was up but we saw a gator swimming that looked to be about 10 feet long. We also got out of the boat and found tons of fresh hog sign. We left to get some sleep and decided to try that area that night.
That night we had a monster gator take a bait. It wrapped the line around a live tree that was about 5 or six inches in diameter and broke it off at the base. It wrapped the line around some other trees growing out of the water and spit the bait.

Later that night we caught another alligator that was about the size of the one I had tagged. We released him unharmed at the boat. We will be returning in mid September around the new moon to try for the one that got away! We heard boats and saw lights all night where others were alligator hunting. No one else came back where we were. It was kind of hairy getting in there but I think we may have found the spot.
Here are a couple of pics. The time/date stamp is wrong. Also the lens had some moisture on it and most are blurry.

Dominick · August 29, 2016, 04:05:58 AM

Give us more. This is exciting. Dominick

Cone · August 29, 2016, 04:21:14 AM

Dominick, I hope to be able to give you more come September.

The one that got away swallowed a pig shoulder with the upper leg attached. It was attached to a 25 foot long piece of 2500 lb breaking strength amsteel line that was tied to 100 lb test spectra on a penn 4/0 with a JVariance frame. The amsteel line was strong enough for him to break the tree when he wrapped it. It had to be at least 12 feet long to be able to swallow the bait we were using. No hooks or wooden pegs just the pork leg and shoulder on the line. Paracord would have just snapped, the amsteel was strong enough to snap the tree.

Bob

Shark Hunter · August 29, 2016, 04:24:16 AM

Bob,
You are the Man!
Be careful Brother, You are messing with Dinosaurs.

alantani · August 29, 2016, 04:46:57 PM

ok, i want you to know that i say this with the deepest and most sincere respect. you guys are nuts!

thorhammer · August 29, 2016, 05:32:47 PM

Ya, NOT getting out of the boat in the dark to gator wrassle. But you boys have at it and keep the thread updated!!!! This is great stuff! Maybe we should see headlamp footage of the Tank on a 12 footer!!!!

steelfish · August 29, 2016, 05:49:35 PM

I bet what you are using as bait is bigger than my biggest fish of this season.

awesome report

Big Tim · September 01, 2016, 02:03:55 AM

That was cool! Thank you.

BT

Alto Mare · September 01, 2016, 09:48:50 AM

Bob, good job out there.
Be safe, they're stronger than you, but not as smart, they're the ones laying on the street

Sal

Bill B · September 02, 2016, 02:30:42 AM

Bob, great report....glad everyone is safe.....can't wait for the next update....Bill

Dominick · September 02, 2016, 03:02:53 AM

Slay the Dragons. Smite the beast. Dominick

rippin_lips · September 02, 2016, 01:24:29 PM

Awesome stuff. I'm itching to fill a couple tags come Monday night.

Keta · September 02, 2016, 01:53:33 PM

Cool.

David Hall · September 03, 2016, 01:41:33 AM

Okay I want to know how you break them down? How do you process and prepare the flesh and what do you do with the hide?
Cool stuff we don't have this kind of fishing around here!

Cone · September 03, 2016, 05:09:47 PM

Here is a link that goes through skinning etc. It's pretty good. I would add you need to scrub it with a bleach and soap solution first. This is to get the mud off and kill the nasty bacteria etc that can contaminate the meat.
He shows how to skin a gator to send to a tannery for leather. Your other option is to skin from the belly. this is called a hornback hide. When tanned it has the scales and scutes left on the hide for a taxidermy mount, rug, etc. A hornback hide is more expensive to get tanned due to the thick scutes and scales.
We flesh the hide with a pressure washer and a rotary nozzle. I salt the hide and put it in a sealed container with a saturated salt solution and about a tablespoon of bleach. The solution should have a couple of inches of salt in the bottom after it has dissolved all the salt it can. Put the rolled up salted hide in and submerge it completely. Put on the lid. I kept one for over a year like this and it looked like the day I put it in.
Because we didn't have time to clean the gators we caught and put the meat and everything on ice we were concerned about them spoiling. They would have been in the boat all night and then in the sun for a couple of hours on the road coming back. We kept them alive in the boat and only tagged them. My friends dispatched them when they got back and put them in a cooler.
Bob