If you follow me on Instagram, you might remember a certain photo from a few weekends ago… A photo of one large and in charge gator. Actually, my dad shot another (even bigger) gator earlier that day. You’re about to find out why we didn’t get our gators side by side for a photo op.
Many landowners are issued nuisance permits to take care of the many (many) alligators there are around the lowcountry and midlands. When there are 30+ gators (most of which are longer than I am) in 1 pond, I know I’d be afraid to let my dogs go anywhere close, much less if I had kids! We started the hunt on Saturday afternoon, walking around the ponds scouting for Mr. Big. Yes, those same ponds we duck hunt in every winter. Although we didn’t intend to pull the trigger that afternoon, we brought our guns just in case. Trust me, you don’t want to get caught on the bank with a 7 ft. alligator in front of you, and an 9 ft. one behind you. Yikes! We definitely had success when it came to spotting alligators, seeing little guys that were about 14 inches to one monster than had to be 12 feet. {Things that make you say bbblluuuhhhh, am I right?}
Wood duck sneaking by
Looks like someone caught a little snack
Back to the house we went, ready to take off the next morning on some serious gator hunting. We started off, taking a scenic walk to another location, with my Dad as the first shooter. Believe me, it didn’t take long before we started seeing another kind of “shooter” – alligators 8′-9’+. Big guys, similar to how an 8 pt. buck, outside the ears, is a “shooter.”
{The bottom left photo is a huge alligator slide}
Then we saw this guy coming over to check things out… He looks so friendly, doesn’t he?
Well, that settled that. Dad got the rifle up onto the tripod, focused the scope, safety off, and let the big dog eat. The gator only moved a little bit (it was very much a direct hit) before going still, then slowly sinking to the bottom of the pond as the guys went out to retrieve him. It actually took much longer than we’d anticipated to find him, as the pond has an uneven bottom full of weeds and stumps and… well, more alligators. In fact, it took a day or two for him to resurface (still dead as a doornail, mind you). That might be a good thing, seeing as he was essentially the length of the boat…
He ultimately measured 9’5″ and was one heavy son of a gun. I’d say my Dad is pretty good with a rifle, no? We’re hoping that his skull isn’t tooooo messed up to make a good mount, but we’re sure going to try! Nice work, Dad!
Well, 1 shooter down… Are you ready for round 2 tomorrow?
