Gator on my dock

[pmreed]

Dead gator, as you can see in the pictures. If any of you central Floridians caught the local news on Channel 2, or 6 about the Lab that was almost killed by an alligator, I can tell you the whole story...I was the one taking the pictures :yes: . My next door neighbor, Roger, won a tug of war Saturday afternoon with a 9' 2" gator who wanted Roger's son's dog for lunch. A trapper put two lines in the water that evening, and the gator bit. He wrapped the line around one of the pilings on my boathouse. Trapper showed up Sunday AM, and did the beast in with a bangstick :fire: . Interestingly, he pulled just the head out of the water and cut a deep cut all the way across the back of the head behind the skull. That severed the spinal cord to eliminate any possibility of reflex movement. Then he pulled him out and took him off. Must be making a good living; he trapped 42 last week!!(that's what he said, but I think that's a little extreme) :eek!:

Phil

[Darrell]

WOW, and to think I have complained about bugs on dock. :eek:

Darrell

[gold-n-rod]

How exactly does one go about "putting out a trap line" for a gator??

I understand the bang-bang part, but the trap lines, "tied to my boathouse" is foreign to me.

Now, if you want to know how to trap a snowshoe wabbit, I'm in......... :jestera:

[Lenny]

eeeewwwwwwwwww :eek: .....

[penbroke]

Every time I see something like that I tell myself that shoveling snow ain't that bad...

Frank :anchor:

[pmreed]

gold-n-rod,

The trapper puts out big treble hooks baited with rotten meat. He uses heavy nylon cord rather than fishing line, and ties the free end to the dock. Comes back the next day and checks the line. There's no mystery to it...very basic but effective.

Phil

[Cuda]

I was talking to a big redneck dude in a bar once in north Florida when I was up there hunting. He was telling me how he catches gators.

He said he ties a cable to his truck, baits a shark hook with a rotten chicken then throws is out in the water and leaves it overnight.

I asked him if the gators were dead when he pulls them out.

He replied, "Sometimes they are, and sometimes I gotta make 'em that way". :biggrin.:

[Cuda]

That spot behind his head is exactly where Debbie's daddy told me to chop the gator with a hatchet the time he had me over a gator cave. I've never been so skeered in my life. :eek!:

I kid you not, Debbie's daddy makes Steve Irwin look like a *****!

[Cuda]

Phil, what's the story with the dog? I worry about that constantly when my lab gets in the canal behind the house.

[Patti]

Ok.........EWWW!:eek:

Lord knows I have had hard enough time living here in the country and dealing with the bugs in the house :rolleyes:

A gator would totally send me over the edge :tongue:

[pmreed]

Dog's doing fine Joe; she's up and around and doesn't get that she's got many, many stitches and staples. :)

Phil

[Cuda]

Where did the gator have the dog?

[goatee]

i was wondering about that myself. i'm quessing hind leg?
yeah,,,, i'll take the snow! :cool: but,,,trappin sure sounds like a fun job.
you guys ever eat gator? ...it's pretty good but, you'd better have strong set of teeth and jaw!! :wrench:

[pmreed]

Started with the right, front leg, then regripped in the chest area.
See this video (http://www.local6.com/news/4993171/detail.html) from Channel 6. I don't know how long they'll keep the video up. No organ or significant muscle damage, so the only challenge is to keep her infection-free during recovery.


Phil

[Cuda]

Dang! I think I'll keep a loaded twelve gauge with slugs just inside the back door. It's so hard to keep a lab out of the water. They love it.

[Lenny]

Oh, LOOK, it can get worse :eek:

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/09/20/ethiopia.lions.ap/index.html

[MainBrain]

This was found between Orlando and Titusville , near a house. How would you like to meet this fella in the dark? Never let it be said that we don't grow them big in Florida .

Game wardens were forced to shoot alligator <guess he wouldn't cooperate>
Published June 16, 2005

Titusville - Anita and Charlie Rogers could hear the bellowing in the night.

Her neighbors had been telling them that they had seen a giant alligator in the waterway that runs behind their house, but they dismissed the stories as exaggerations.

http://www.donzi.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=14939

[ChromeGorilla]

no dice on the picture....

[MainBrain]

Hmmm... pic shows up on my thread. How 'bout now?

http://www.donzi.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=14942&stc=1

[gcarter]

For our Northern friends, these aren't generally things you need to fear. You just kind of avoid each other. I would imagine it would be like bears in Montana or mountain lion in West Texas or elsewhere.
Where they congregate isn't necessarily where you would water ski. They're generally afraid of adults, small animals and children are different. Only need to be careful not to feed them, or they lose their fear....not a good thing.
I'm not as close to a lake as Phil is, but they're here on our golf course, or at least until someone reports it and it's removed.
During trapping season, you can hear the airboats out on Lake Griffin all night long. They use lights like the photo that Poodle posted recently.
I've lived and worked in Michigan, I'll take the South any time. Gators and such are just not that big a deal i.e. there are fewer gator incidents than lightning strikes by a long shot.
They are still pretty scary looking. I guess movies do that to you.

[sweet 16 1966]

PHIL,
I don't like gators no matter what George said! Glad to see all is OK and Rogers dog survived .

Georgia has gators in the south but good to know not where I am.

MainBrain, does'nt look real! Never saw one as large? WOW!

[Cuda]

I was at a friend's boat that lives in a marina near my house Sunday. We were sitting on the dock, when I saw a gator swimming away from us behind my friend. I motioned at the gator, and he said that was his pet gator. He called out, "Toothless!", and damned if the gator didn't make a 180 and swam right back to him. It hung out on right beside the dock where we were standing, not six inches below where we were. This guy was from Wisconsin, so I pointed out to him, that feeding gators is illegal, and that once they lose fear of people, then generally have to be destroyed.

Like George said, you're a lot more likely to be hit by lightning than bitten by a gator. I know I'm a whole lot more likely, because I stay out of gator infested waters. :)

[BUIZILLA]

Cuda, if he's really toothless, the worst case would be he would just gum you to death :bonk:

[Cuda]

Cuda, if he's really toothless, the worst case would be he would just gum you to death :bonk:
As a matter of fact, when it opened it's mouth, we could see his teeth, and Kurt said he'd have to change his name because his teeth are bigger. I told him not to let Debbie see the gator, cause she'd say he's perfect eating size!

(about five feet)

[goatee]

For our Northern friends, these aren't generally things you need to fear. You just kind of avoid each other. I would imagine it would be like bears in Montana or mountain lion in West Texas or elsewhere.
Where they congregate isn't necessarily where you would water ski. They're generally afraid of adults, small animals and children are different. Only need to be careful not to feed them, or they lose their fear....not a good thing.
I'm not as close to a lake as Phil is, but they're here on our golf course, or at least until someone reports it and it's removed.
During trapping season, you can hear the airboats out on Lake Griffin all night long. They use lights like the photo that Poodle posted recently.
I've lived and worked in Michigan, I'll take the South any time. Gators and such are just not that big a deal i.e. there are fewer gator incidents than lightning strikes by a long shot.
They are still pretty scary looking. I guess movies do that to you.
im sure thats true, its just that bears dont come from under the water.