Huge Gator - Big Game Hunting – Elk, Moose, Caribou - Big Game Hunting – Elk, Moose, Caribou

OK, here is the story.

ŒGator¹ Hunting Adventure
By Karen Newman
(Photos)
Greg and Renee¹ Leonard recently traveled to Bristol, Florida, population 951 (near Panama City) to experience a hunting adventure that was up-close and personal. Renee¹ stated, ³A little too close and personal for my taste!² A hunting client from Bristol had made several trips to Iowa for deer and turkey hunting with Greg. He asked if Greg would be interested in coming down for an alligator hunt. So the couple took a few days vacation and headed southeast. Gator hunting is not for the easily spooked. Hunting is done in the pitch dark with only faint moonbeams filtering through the clouds and cypress trees to light the way. Oh, and a very small headlamp worn by the guide. He motors his boat through the swamp using a call to attract gators and shining his headlamp along the top of the water and back into the base of the trees and lily pads looking for red, glowing eyesŠgator eyes. As he scans for gators, his light picks up other glowing spots, yellow reflections snakes – definitely poisonous, green reflections frogs – maybe poisonous and blue
reflections very large spiders – probably poisonous. Renee¹ wanted to get a picture of the spiders until Greg informed her he had seen one with his light and it was close to saucer plate size. She decided to keep her
distance and her legs and arms inside the boat. And then of course, there were the bats swooping and diving for the insects in the air. They left the swamp and traveled to a large river. They saw several gators
but Greg felt more at home in the swamp so they concentrated on hunting there. He stated, ³It is just beautiful there. The 1000 year old cypress trees with Spanish moss hanging from their branches, the water is pretty clear, although it is stained from the leaves laying in the bottom but no moss in the water and lots of lily pads with large, yellow flowers. It felt very homey to me.² Gator hunters have several options when hunting. They can shoot with a bow, a harpoon, a rifle or by using the Œjugging¹ method. Greg chose to harpoon for his first gator. The first night of hunting they did not have much luck but saw several pairs of red eyes. Renee¹ states, ³Greg is a very calm and laid back person, usually in control of his emotions. He must have been very wound-up that night because as we were scanning the water, the guides¹ light shone over a pair of very large red ³eyes² that were quite high up.² Greg hollered, ³There!² The guide and Renee¹ both looked to where Greg was pointing and they dissolved into laughter. The ³eyes² were a pair of tail lights on a boat trailer parked on a boat ramp. Renee¹ laughed so hard she cried. She told Gregg if those were gator eyes, they had better get out of there because it would stand at least 4¹ high off the ground! She still laughs every time she thinks about it. That incident right there made the trip worth it for her.² The second night Greg harpooned his first gator just 4¹ long with lots of very sharp teeth trying to bite. Shortly after this harvest, the guide put out a shark hook baited with deer organs that were tied to a 6¹ rope which was tied to a one-gallon plastic jug that floats to show where the gator is. This is the Œjugging¹ method. When they came back the next day, the jug was gone. They found it about one-half mile from where they had left it. The jug was bouncing up and down. As they got closer to it, it submerged and they knew they had a gator. They just didn¹t know how big. The guide used a gaff hook to hook the jug and pull it up so Greg could try to pull and fight the gator up to the boat. The goal was to wear the gator down, pull it close to the boat and then use a bang stick on it, like the ones used on sharks. But the gator yanked the rope out of the guides¹ hands. The guide hooked the jug again, this time the gator yanked the rope away again but it got caught on the motor at the back of the boat. The gator swam to the bottom of a deep hole and the 17¹ boat started bobbing -not a strong enough word for the experience – up and down like a cork and then spinning around like a twisted swing. Everyone in the boat was just trying to stay inside the boat and out of the water. The excited guide said, ³This is very dangerous and the gator is tearing the boat apart! We need to cut him loose and get out of here!² The rope did eventually work its way off the motor and the gator stayed down in the hole at the bottom of the swamp. They waited an hour with no sign of the gator. Who knew a gator could hold his breath that long? The guide decided to leave, hoping the alligator would feel safe and surface. The guide stated the gator was just lying on the bottom listening to us and watching the boat. The Leonard¹s had three choices: come back that night, return the next day but the outfitter was not able to come along, or they could stake out on land and wait for the gator until the guide returned with the boat. Renee¹ prayed for the guides¹ safe return. No one but him knew they were out there alone. She made him promise to return in two hours. It would be getting dark by then and she just knew the yellow and blue eyes would be coming for her, not Greg, he could run faster than her. Greg didn¹t want to leave and Renee¹ did not want to leave him there alone, so being the brave or insane woman she is, they went to shore and sat about 8¹ from each other to wait for the alligator. Of course, they were fully armed, Greg with his rifle and Renee¹ with her video camera. After another hour, the gator surfaced near the opposite shore and did a barrel roll and sank back down again. The jug popped up again about five minutes later. This time it was very near Renee¹ who is sitting nearest the shore to video
tape the experience. Renee¹ states, ³The theme song from Jaws is pounding in our heads, da duh, da duh, da, da, da, da, da as the jug makes a beeline straight towards me. I see the eyes and about 4² of the gator¹s head rise to the top of the water. His head is to the left of me and he is so close I can see him looking straight at me. I don¹t dare move or I might scare him back down again. I cut my eyes at Greg and realize he is looking at the jug, not the gator. I am whispering frantically to Greg, ³Left, left, left!² Greg finally hears Renee¹ and looks left. He sees the whole head out of the water now, long snout and huge jowls. He is apprehensive to even try the shot as he realizes how close the gator is to Renee¹. When Greg does take his shot, the gator¹s entire head is out of the water and he is looking at Renee¹, only 5 or 6 steps away from her. One shot and the gator sinks back down into the water on a 4¹ deep shelf near the shore. The jug is still floating on the surface so they know where the gator is. Unfortunately, Renee¹ was so nervous, she did not get a very good video but you can see the jug coming at her and a little bit of the gator¹s head. A major thunderstorm was brewing by the time the guide got back. When he and Greg
wrestled the gator up out of the water, they could not believe his size. The guide wanted off the water but the gator was too big to get into the boat, so they tied the gator up and drug it behind the boat back to shore. Greg and the guide winched the gator onto the boat trailer and tied him there. The complete darkness, torrential rain and the size of the alligator made the task very difficult. They left the boat in the swamp and high-tailed it out. The road was flooded and they had to take an alternate rout but finally got back to town. The guide just kept saying, ³You have no idea what you have here!² The guide called ahead for some help unloading the gator. When they got back to Bristol there were approximately 20 people waiting to see the monster gator that Greg had harvested. There were many congratulations on Greg¹s expert
shot and Œoohing¹ and Œaahing¹ over the gator¹s size and great condition. It took five men to carry/drag the gator into a walk-in cooler. The alligator is 13¹ long, weighed 850-1000 lbs. (per a long-time gator man), and is guesstimated to be 75-100 years old. The gator is 1² under the No. 10 all-time record for the largest alligators harvested in the wild with a rifle. Leonard¹s¹ one regret is that there was no equipment on hand to hoist the reptile to show its¹ size before it was skinned. At 13¹ it is more than twice as tall as Greg. He also stated, ³By having Renee¹ along, there is no way I can embellish this story. I have to tell it just the way it happened!² Renee¹ said, ³I am sure there will be embellishment, that¹s the nature of the beast – hunter.² The gator was skinned and the meat cut off, packed and frozen with the skin and brought back to Iowa. During the skinning process, they found a partially digested wild hog in the stomach. Greg researched information and habits of alligators and learned that if a 12¹ gator eats a 150 lb. deer, they will not need to eat again for a year. Greg plans to do a life-size mount with his mammoth-sized gator and display it at his business, ³Leonard Taxidermy², in Correctionville. Renee¹ is wondering exactly where he will put it since his ceiling is only 13¹ high. ³There would be no reason for me to ever go back gator hunting because I would never be able to better this hunting adventure. No way!² said Leonard. Greg welcomes visitors to his taxidermy studio to see all of his gator and Florida pictures. He might even be persuaded to relate his gator tale again and again.