TIP Death by Alligator

Burt Gummer

Veteran Member
I don't want to start a riot but it is a mistake to let the Gator population and territory increase. One day down the road when they start eating dogs and cats and kids and adults the authorities will change their mind on all that. I live in East Texas and just yesterday there was a post on Facebook there was a Gator crossing the highway not too far from me. I could be wrong but unless it's changed it's against the law in Texas to kill an alligator unless you have a license. Sooner or later people are going to start dying because of these damn things. Same thing as with the pythons.

Believe me, I know about animals that grab people.
 
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sy32478

Veteran Member
Took an airboat ride through the ‘Glades back in February. Some stretches were gator free, the sunny stretches - well, the banks, holes, and water was just packed with these dinosaurs. 5 footers through 12+ feet.

I’ve been SCUBA and free diving with sharks, but NFW would I dip a toe in the water there. :shk:
 

ginnie6

Veteran Member
Both are tasty, a reward unto itself.
One year on family vacation we went to a restaurant that was serving alligator. Most tried it, a few of us didn't. They ALL had then worst nightmares, to the point they all got up, that night. The ones that didn't try it slept wonderfully. Coincidence? I think not lol.

That being said I'm NOT getting in water with something big like that that can eat me. Not just no but heck no. I love kayaking around here and thankfully no gators here. If there were I'd give that kayak away so fast.
All that being said, going to Florida later this year with girlfriends and we're supposed to go swimming with the manatees.....they're big and I'm kinda nervous about that. My kids are saying "who are you and where's our mom?"
 

Zahra

Veteran Member
My late husband and I looked at a home in Lake Charles, LA once. The home was gorgeous, and it had a nice boat dock too. Unfortunately, there were gators who made themselves at home and were sunning themselves in the back yard. The homeowners thought they were "nice to watch". Uh no, just NO -- back to the car and away we went as quickly as we could! Some people are just plain nuts!
 

Millwright

Knuckle Dragger
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My late husband and I looked at a home in Lake Charles, LA once. The home was gorgeous, and it had a nice boat dock too. Unfortunately, there were gators who made themselves at home and were sunning themselves in the back yard. The homeowners thought they were "nice to watch". Uh no, just NO -- back to the car and away we went as quickly as we could! Some people are just plain nuts!

Where I grew up.

Gators are just scenery...and snacks.
 

Firebird

Has No Life - Lives on TB
My late husband and I looked at a home in Lake Charles, LA once. The home was gorgeous, and it had a nice boat dock too. Unfortunately, there were gators who made themselves at home and were sunning themselves in the back yard. The homeowners thought they were "nice to watch". Uh no, just NO -- back to the car and away we went as quickly as we could! Some people are just plain nuts!
Growing up, there were many days that we couldn't play in the yard, because of how many big gators there were sunning themselves.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
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Hmm.... It might be time to have a gator hunting season in some locales. I hear it tastes like chicken and the leather is good for handbags, luggage and such.

Gator DOES NOT taste like chicken, not even Chicken Fried Gator Tail tastes like chicken. You have to know how to cook gator correctly or it has a really bad fishy taste to it. And you really have to use the younger, smaller gators. Those big suckers might have big meat on 'em but ... ew, yuck. Think "turtle" when you think about how gator tastes. It isn't to everyone's taste.
 

TeaLeaf

Contributing Member
Whether in a canoe or a kayak is an important element in this story. I've camped at Fisheating Creek many times, teaming with giants and with a metal canoe, no problem.
 

ainitfunny

Saved, to glorify God.
A .38 Special is just enough to get a big gator pissed off. I don't even trust my .44 Magnum revolver on them. Big gators require big medicine! You want a 12 GA shotgun loaded with buck or a large, centerfire rifle like a .308 or 30-06. I think the shotty is better.

Best
Doc
I watched many gator hunters routinely kill them with a well placed .22 round to the head.
 

TeaLeaf

Contributing Member
Gator DOES NOT taste like chicken, not even Chicken Fried Gator Tail tastes like chicken. You have to know how to cook gator correctly or it has a really bad fishy taste to it. And you really have to use the younger, smaller gators. Those big suckers might have big meat on 'em but ... ew, yuck. Think "turtle" when you think about how gator tastes. It isn't to everyone's taste.
I've heard coon tastes better
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
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I've heard coon tastes better

Depends. About like pigeon, it is all in what they are eating. Generally to make either one palatable you need to live trap them and then feed them on corn and similar. They're kinda nasty otherwise.

Raccoons and similar beasties are omnivores and whatever they've been noshing on plays a huge part of how they taste.
 

Doc1

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Where's Troy Landry when you need him? Choot 'em!

The stories of Mr. Landry killing gators with a .22 are almost certainly true. There also many stories of elephants being killed with .22s.

But here's the deal: The people doing that know the animal's anatomy perfectly and are taking slow, controlled shots. They are not taking snap shots in a high stress environment.

Alligators, like all reptilians, have tiny brains that are hard to hit. That's why, earlier in this thread, I suggested shotguns (with buckshot) or high-powered rifles to take gators. The high-powered rifles will almost always inflict hydrostatic shock, which will put the animal's lights out in the case of near miss cranial shots. Buckshot patterns are not going to expand much at close ranges, but they do open up somewhat more upon contact with bone and flesh and create traumatic "smashing" wounds.

Ms. Kathy's suggestion of using slugs isn't bad, but it has two drawbacks: Slug velocities (unlike high-powered rifles) aren't usually high enough to cause significant hydrostatic shock damage and slugs require better accuracy than buckshot.

On many occasions I've taken my 16' canoe down small bayous and canals which had gators sunning themselves on the banks. I have a little old 1.5 HP Johnson outboard that I use with the canoe, so my approach isn't silent. The gators often ignore me or slide into the water and sound upon my approach. I'd be lying if I said this didn't bother me, but nothing untoward ever happened. I've spoken to a lot of old timers around the marshes and no one ever heard of a gator attacking a boat. This isn't to say it's impossible, but the chances seem to be vanishingly small.

My wisdom regarding gators can be summed up very succinctly by saying that you shouldn't keep them as pets, but if you do...don't let them sleep in the bed with you!

Best
Doc
 

Millwright

Knuckle Dragger
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The stories of Mr. Landry killing gators with a .22 are almost certainly true.

We have family friends down that way, one went to school with Troy.

Said he never shut up in school. :lol:

All the thrashing and drama you see on tv is just that, drama for tv.

What they try to do is bring up the gator really slow and put the muzzle of the 22 right on their head and choot it.

The kill spot on a gator is about the size of a quarter.
 

Doc1

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I watched many gator hunters routinely kill them with a well placed .22 round to the head.

Yes, m'dear. I just addressed that in my post, above. Just because a thing can be done doesn't mean that it should be done. In that vein, I'll note that I've known some 'crazy Cajun' types that wrestle gators for fun. In parts of Cajun Country, it's almost a rite of passage for young dudes. They start with small gators and the braver (and stupider) ones progress to fairly large animals.

The thing is (in the water) that you are in the animal's territory and one small slip or bad move will instantly put you in gravest danger. Personally, given the choice, I'd rather be hunting Cajun sweeties instead of wrestling gators!

Best
Doc
 

Wildweasel

F-4 Phantoms Phorever
Hmm.... It might be time to have a gator hunting season in some locales. I hear it tastes like chicken and the leather is good for handbags, luggage and such.
When I had gator, I thought it tasted like muddy shrimp. Well prepared and smelled wonderful, like shrimp scampi. Took a mouthful and it was muddy tasting like wild-caught catfish that wasn't prepared to remove the muddy taste.
 

Doc1

Has No Life - Lives on TB
When I had gator, I thought it tasted like muddy shrimp. Well prepared and smelled wonderful, like shrimp scampi. Took a mouthful and it was muddy tasting like wild-caught catfish that wasn't prepared to remove the muddy taste.
A lot of things that come out of the marshes taste like sh*t. What needs to be done is to capture the animals live and then feed them clean food and water for a couple of weeks to a month. That cleans them out and improves the taste dramatically.

My big thing used to be pig hunting in the marshes. I never had the inclination or equipment to trap them live; I'd just shoot them out of my boat. It was a crap shoot as to what I got and that depended on the animal's recent mast (food). Sometimes I'd get a nice, sweet tasting sow, but other times the animal - though appearing fine - was inedible. I once brought a pig home that was so nasty even my dogs wouldn't eat it!

Pigs are basically nasty animals and will eat anything, including long-dead carrion. That's probably where the Biblical warnings not to eat them came from.

Best
Doc
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
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We have family friends down that way, one went to school with Troy.

Said he never shut up in school. :lol:

All the thrashing and drama you see on tv is just that, drama for tv.

What they try to do is bring up the gator really slow and put the muzzle of the 22 right on their head and choot it.

The kill spot on a gator is about the size of a quarter.

It's where the "ear hole" is, or so I'm told.
 

Wildwood

Veteran Member
I never thought I'd see the day we had them here but I believe we do. A few decades ago we were at a local lake looking for arrowheads so we were stopping at every likely spot on the banks. One spot we stopped at had a fallen log about fifteen feet from shore and it looked just like an alligator had crawled over it...we moved here from southern Mississippi so I'd seen it before. Everyone laughed at me but a year or two later, right there on the five o'clock news, there was a fairly credible story about one being spotted in that same area. Since then it's happened enough that I guess it's a credible fact. It's warmed up even more since back then.

That's the last thing I want in the water with...makes me cautious of even getting in our creek right here in the hills of Arkansas.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
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One year on family vacation we went to a restaurant that was serving alligator. Most tried it, a few of us didn't. They ALL had then worst nightmares, to the point they all got up, that night. The ones that didn't try it slept wonderfully. Coincidence? I think not lol.

That being said I'm NOT getting in water with something big like that that can eat me. Not just no but heck no. I love kayaking around here and thankfully no gators here. If there were I'd give that kayak away so fast.
All that being said, going to Florida later this year with girlfriends and we're supposed to go swimming with the manatees.....they're big and I'm kinda nervous about that. My kids are saying "who are you and where's our mom?"

Manatees don't bite. LOL Think of them like big, fat, rolls of jelly that just eat salad. They don't smell lovely but not as bad as a dirty fish tank. Extremely docile.
 

ginnie6

Veteran Member
I never thought I'd see the day we had them here but I believe we do. A few decades ago we were at a local lake looking for arrowheads so we were stopping at every likely spot on the banks. One spot we stopped at had a fallen log about fifteen feet from shore and it looked just like an alligator had crawled over it...we moved here from southern Mississippi so I'd seen it before. Everyone laughed at me but a year or two later, right there on the five o'clock news, there was a fairly credible story about one being spotted in that same area. Since then it's happened enough that I guess it's a credible fact. It's warmed up even more since back then.

That's the last thing I want in the water with...makes me cautious of even getting in our creek right here in the hills of Arkansas.
We've heard various reports over the years of there being one in the big part of the lake near here. I don't think there really is one though. It still gets way too cold in the winter for it to survive..... I hope.
 
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