What an amazing experience it is to share some time with 3 generations of Langers as dad Bill and grandpa Dick introduce Billy to big time out of state hunting for a Florida alligator. They put in considerable time and effort in preparing Billy for the moment of truth. Billy inherited the Langer lethality and took a very nice alligator with his first shot ever at a big game animal. He had nerves of steel and his preparation paid off as he went into auto mode and made a great shot. This hunt was in conjunction with the free alligator hunt I gave away as part of the PBS membership drive last year. The winner was first up and took a good solid gator before Billy was up on deck. It took Billy about 10 minutes of deck time to score.
The pride of dad and grandpa was inspiring to see. Like the passing along of a family heirloom the torch has been passed to another generation of Langers. Billy is a wonderful young man with great manners and obvious signs of a loving family. This young man will be successful at whatever he chooses to pursue and with the family support he is blessed with will certainly be someone we'll be hearing about again.
Congratulations to Billy, Bill, and grandpa Dick on keeping the tradition that we all love alive and well.
Now that the main priority of getting Billy a gator we will be back at it tonight to try to fill tags for Bill and Dick... Keep tuned in for more updates.
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Been waiting since last week for this one :campfire: :coffee:
:thumbsup:
How very cool is this? Way!!! I'd say.
Congratulations to Billy!!
Now sic'em Bill and Dick!!!
God bless,Mudd
Way to go Billy--you've got some great role models in Dad and Grandpa :clapper:
Oh man, I'm having a hard enough time waiting and you had to go and post this! That really gets me fired up.
I am leaving on Thursday and after a couple of days with Marty M. chasing hogs will be on the water Sunday night for our St. Jude alligator hunt.
Congratulations Billy! You da man! :notworthy: :notworthy:
Got any extra skin...make great bow handle wraps ... lol !
GREAT SHOOTING !!!
Very cool!
sweet
Way to go Billy! :readit:
Do you eat 'em?
Great pic! Although Dick looks a bit unconfortable...must be the gator head in his lap:)
Dick and Bill are awesome dudes, The Real Deal.Im sure young Billy is too.Congradulations young fella. Way to go Terry, you too are one of the Real Deal Dudes. :clapper:
Way to go young man! Good luck to Bill and Dick! :thumbsup:
great hunt, congrats
Way to go..Congrats...
nice gator.the memories will last a lifetime.great job
Pretty cool thing of a Dad to do! Not to mention with HIS Dad there too.....way to go.
GOOD SHOOTIN' LITTLE MAN!
Congrat's guys. That looks like a blast.
What Izzy Said. Congrats and keep it coming. Good luck tonight!
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
AWESOME!! Shawn
Congrats to all involved :notworthy:
How cool :clapper:
Terry, You da man!
Pass it on! What a great frist big game animal. :clapper:
Grandpa scores!!! Too late to tell the story. Off to bed! Tomorrow is Bill's turn.
Very cool, been waiting for this!!
nice gator. i've always wanted to go gator hunting, there not many here in ohio.ha! can you tell me a goog place to go?
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Big Ed, the bow you made for Billy worked flawlessly and looked good doing it!
Well all 3 generations of Langers scored on nice gators. Being fully committed to providing quality videos for others to enjoy, they sacrificed taking larger gators for those with good video opportunity. The next Traditional Adventures DVD should be terrific.
The Langers are great people and I was very fortunate to spend time with them as they experienced a 3 generation hunt for the first time.
I'm sure Bill will chime in or start another thread with all the hunt details.
Also as part of this hunt, I took out the winner of the PBS membership drive free alligator hunt. The hunt winner was Eric Port of PA and he hunted about 1/2 of a night to take a good solid alligator.
My daughter Jennifer was with us and overall it was a great trip.
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Dang, them Langer boys are machines :thumbsup: Congrats, especially to Billy! Doc
WOW! COOL!!!
Now what, matching boots? (that's what I'd do!)
:thumbsup:
:thumbsup:
Now that looks like fun, I am putting on my to do list.
Bucksdown, it is hard to beat Lake Okeechobee for gators. We saw hundreds each of the 3 nights we hunted.
Of the four gator hunters there was only one that took just one shot at a gator. Guess who that was?
Yep, Billy! He stepped up to the plate and performed like a seasoned veteran.
Congrats, being from Knoxville TN I have always wanted to shoot a Gator LOL :laughing:
I'd like to thank Terry for putting this hunt together. The effort he put into this,with hauling his boat from NY nonestop, aranging with his dad so we would have a place to stay, getting tags from a resident so my grandson could hunt,and the list goes on. His unselfish dedication to traditional bow hunting is second to none. Because of his guidance it allowed me,my son and grandson to experience a 3 generations hunt, something I've been looking forward to since my first grandchild was born.The hunt was captured on vidio, but the image of my grandson executing the shot on his firstever big game animal will be forever burnt in my memory, he was flawless. I'm not trying to brag, I'm one proud grandfather. THANKS AGAIN TERRY
I'm proud to call of you all my friends :notworthy:
Congrats to everyone :campfire:
Dick, I'm so grateful to have been able to share such a special time with you and your family. You have created an amazing legacy of true sportsmen. It was really great getting to know you, Bill, and Billy. I'd drive twice as far and pull a bigger boat just to share another camp with you and your family.
Good job guys - looking forward to the DVD - Great night - talk soon.
We forgot the draw this year here.
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Fantastic just about sums it up.
Congrats :thumbsup:
The smiles say it all ... great hunt, congrats
Wow guys....what a great time it must have been. Thanks for taking the time to share it. Now, what about some of that gator meat? :D Terry....I may need that recipe! Lol.
Although we got home Thursday from the gator hunt I have been too busy catching up at home to post. And this will be short and sweet until I have time later this week with the story and more pics.
First off thank you Terry Receveur for making this possible and being such a great host. Thank you Jen for looking after Billy at the pool while the old farts slept!
Thank you Capp Williams and Jay Trent (the local gator experts) for helping out with Eric's and Billy's gators.
Eric Port (PBS hunter) and Gene Shrout (Terrys old Indiana buddy) thanks so much for making Billy feel so special and all of you for welcoming my family like we were old friends.
Thanks Dad and Billy for sharing "THE 3 GENERATIONS HUNT " with me!
We have been told Billy is the youngest bowhunter to take an alligator with a longbow- all "traditional" no "bang stick". One shot one arrow! Billy has always made me proud and this gator hunt just keeps me grinning from ear to ear!!
More pics and story to come...
My wife was reading and we are wondering if may ask how old is Billy? Also congrats on the grators and congrats on having a family that hunts together means a lot to us sons when our father take us hunting. I am only 22 and hoping to get to hunt with my dad this year for the first time in about 7 years. Keep it up and be proud. As I know you are. God Bless, Tyler
Hey Tyler
Billy is 10. My father and I both shot about 6 arrows each before we connected. I still think arrows should be shot with no strings attached...but that is probably because I am no good at it. Anyway-Billy did it with his first shot, it was somthing to see.
I hope you get to hunt with your dad this year Tyler-GOOD LUCK!!
Will be back later with the story...
Bill, I didn't think much about it, but I bet Billy is THE youngest hunter to ever take a alligator with a longbow. There might be some Seminole Indian somewhere back in time, but I bet Billy holds the distinction of being the youngest in modern times. That's my story and I'm sticking to it until I'm proven wrong. We definitely have proof as it is all on film. That is something Billy will have for the rest of his life. Pretty sweet!
You have every right to be proud. Billy is not only a great shot and hunter, but he is a very polite and well mannered young man.
I think the experts are right, Terry. Billy's definately the youngest to take one on video with a longbow.
This story begins at the 2010 JLMBH at Shawn Leonard's house. After reading an article in PBS magazine about Terry Receveur and his kids hunting alligator in Florida, I asked him how I would go about getting a tag for Billy to hunt. He said just get family and friends together and apply for the upcoming season in August. And so we did. My father drew Okeechobee West which gave us two tags, and Terry had two tags from the PBS contest. Eric Port, the winner of the PBS contest, would shoot the first gator, Billy would shoot the second on that tag, and my dad and I would shoot the two gators that were allowed with his license and tags.
Terry said that we could all stay at his father's house in Okeechobee, and that his friends, Capp Williams and Jay Trent, local gator experts, would help us with Eric and Billy's gators, and that my dad and I would hunt with Terry in his boat when Eric and Billy were finished. So that was the plan, the stage was set, and off we went. Billy will take the story from here...
Hi everybody, this is Billy Jr. And this is the first time I am posting on Tradgang using my dad's computer. My mom is helping me type.
We left on August 14th. My grammy dropped us off at Bradley International Airport. I was a little nervous about flying at first but once I got on the airplane and was in the air I was fine.
Our plane landed at Orlando International Airport and we used the shuttle to get to the rent a car place. We got our car, and started to drive to Mr. Receveur's house.
When we got to the house we met Mr. Terry, his daughter Jen, Eric Port, and Gene Shrout. Then we went scouting for alligator. We saw a few small ones. But the next day we were going alligator hunting.
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Papa, me, and Daddy
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Getting the gear ready in Mr. Terry's boat
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This is me standing at the back of Mr. Capp's boat just before we shove off for my first gator hunt
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Eric, me, and Jay Trent waiting for Mr. Capp to come aboard
Eric hunted first and saw quite a few gators. Legal hunting hours are one hour before dark until one hour after day light. Although we saw a bunch of nice gators, and Daddy got great video footage, Eric had no shots until after dark. His first 3 shots were misses. :banghead: but his 4th shot found its mark. :clapper: I witnessed the three misses but had to watch the hit on video because I was sleeping at that point. They yelled my name a bunch of times and Daddy had to shake me to wake me. It was all caught on tape. Once I was awake it was very exciting getting the gator into the boat.
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Mr. Capp, Eric, and his gator
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Me and Eric with his gator
After a quick break and some chicken fingers, it was time for my hunt. But it's getting late so I have to go to bed. I'll tell you about my hunt tomorrow.
Way to go Billy!!!
Awesome job Billy! Great story telling. Can't wait to hear the rest and I was there! :)
Great job Billy!!
I think you've got this story telling stuff down...lol Keep'em hanging on for the next installment.
Congratulations on your hunt and gator!
I think it's awesome that you got to do something this cool with your family.
I'll be hanging around myself as I too am waiting for the next chapter of your hunt.
God bless,Mudd
GREAT STUFF!!! :clapper:
Very cool!
Good job Billy. :thumbsup: I can't believe your 10 all ready. Seems like I've watched you grow up on your Dad's videos. Can't wait to hear more of your story :campfire:
Hi it's Billy Jr. again. Thanks for posting all the nice comments!
I'll start off telling about my hunt with how I began practicing for it.
My story begins in the summer when I was practicing for the gator hunt. Me and my brother Ben went frog hunting at my dad's shop. Also, I shot at water jugs with my dad's heavy fish arrow. We went frog hunting at night so I could sort of feel what it was like to shoot an alligator at night. But most of what I felt was the bugs and mosquitoes. ;) It is kind of hard to see at night even with the lights.
And that brings us to my hunt. It was dark, with the faint light of Mr. Capp's headlight. I was about 10 minutes into my hunt from the time Eric shot his gator when Mr. Capp saw a good 6 foot gator for me to shoot. We slowly crept up to it until Mr. Capp said, "Billy, stand." Then he told me to shoot. I was feeling fully awake then. Then I shot, and "thump", it hit right in the back of the jaw! First shot! The gator splashed around covering himself in weeds. It took us a while to get the gator in because it was putting up a pretty good fight. But finally we got it up to the boat. Mr. Capp then grabbed it by the jaws with his bare hands and Jay Trent taped up the jaws. They made sure it was dead first with a knife before we pulled it into the boat. I helped get my gator into the boat.
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Daddy, me, Papa, and Mr. Capp with my gator. Thanks for your help Mr. Capp
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Daddy, me, Papa, and Mr. Terry and my gator. I really appreciate the help that Mr. Terry and his daughter Jen gave me and their hospitality. It was really fun being with them, especially when we weren't hunting and I was at the pool with Jen.
Hey Mr. Terry, if you are out there, please post some more of your pictures of me, Daddy, and Papa with my gator. They are really good ones.
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I plan on making a rug out of my gator. We also brought home 30 pounds of meat that we will have at my birthday party on Friday. I forgot to tell you that the first night in Florida we ordered alligator at the Cowboy's restaurant and it was so good that we ordered seconds. I can't wait to have it again.
It's time to go to bed now. I'll write about Papa and Daddy's hunt tomorrow.
:clapper: Well done young man, on the hunt and story!
How cool! Great story telling Billy :notworthy:
Congrats again little buddy...you'll have to make sure you come to NY so you and Cade can shoot together :campfire:
Sure thing Billy!
Here is Billy hoisting his gator into the boat.
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This is dad (Bill) congratulating Billy on a fantastic job with proud Papa looking on. Folks this picture pretty much sums up the whole trip. A happy and proud family.
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As the old saying goes "a family that plays together, stays together".
This is Billy checking out his gator.
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This a good view of how you hunt for gators.
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I can't wait to see the video of this hunt! Bill makes awesome videos! Great Job again Billy!
Great story Billy. :thumbsup: :clapper:
Hi, this is Little Billy again. Thanks everyone for following along. Tonight I'll tell you about my Papa's hunt. It was dark and rainy out. This was the first hunt that Jen was hunting with us. Most of the time she and I were in the back of the boat resting. It was sort of hard to fall asleep because of all the mosquitoes. We used a thermocell next to us to get rid of the bugs and covered up under a rain coat. Papa was on the hunt for about 3 hours before he shot his gator. But he missed a few times before he actually shot one. I have to admit that I was sleeping through this hunt too. Daddy tells me that we got within about 8 yards of the gator. Papa made a perfect shot. Mr. Terry quickly manned the line and started to fight the gator. It got quite tangled in the weeds and it was a big struggle to get it out and close to the boat. I woke up about the time it started banging against the boat. Jen was already up manning the big light so that everyone could see. I was barely awake when Papa put another shot through the gator's lungs. Then Mr. Terry and Papa taped the gator's jaws shut and then we were able to get it into the boat. I don't have a picture of Papa's gator. We used Papa's camera and we haven't gotten the pictures yet. But the gator was just shy of 7 feet. Hopefully we can post some pictures of Papa's gator tomorrow. I'm really tired from soccer practice. I'll tell Daddy's story tomorrow. Good night everybody.
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :notworthy:
Hi Billy! Here's a couple photos of Papa's gator. You're doing a great job and are stringing it out and keeping us waiting. Must've learned that from Guru. He's the king of suspense.
Billy and Papa
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Billy, Papa, and Bill
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It wasn't all hunting. We had to eat too. It is hard to maintain a figure like mine. It takes a lot of eating.
Here is the 3 generations at Pogey's in Okeechobee for breakfast. Billy is getting his "usual" of 3 french toast and bacon.
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This is Billy's hunting buddy Jennifer setting the HS 100M hurdles record. She also has the pole vault and 4x100M relay records. The girl can run. She won a 4 county cross country race by 1/2 a minute. We'll have to see how she does on bears next week in Maine. I sure hope we don't get chased by a bear, cause I'm pretty sure I'm not going to out run her.
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Nice going gators slayers.Young B.Langer is a chip off the old block.What a treat he gets to bowhunt with his dad & Grand-Dad he is a Lucky Lad !! Looking forward to NEW langer production in MARCH 2011' !!! Thanks for sharing Terry.
Thanks for posting those pictures, Mr. Terry. Now I'll tell you about Daddy's hunt...
We just got out on the water and we were already seeing a lot of gators. They were pouring off the sides of the bank and popping up around us. Papa was filming. Daddy took a couple of shots in the day light. It was good footage because of the day light. You could see all his misses very well. When night time came I was wide awake. A half bag of M&Ms did the trick. It was around 11 0'clock at night when Daddy made a good shot on a gator. I asked to help participate in getting the gator into the boat. Mr. Terry handed me the reel, that was attached to a broom stick with a buoy on the end, just in case it went overboard. I got to reel the gator up to the boat. It was really hard because the alligator was very strong. Once I reeled it up next to the boat Daddy used the "traditional bang stick" with a perfectly placed arrow through the top of the gator's head. We pulled the gator's head up next to the boat and Daddy grabbed its jaws with his hands and Mr. Terry taped the jaws shut. Then we hawled the gator into the boat.
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Daddy and me with his gator
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Daddy, me, and Papa with Daddy's gator
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Three generations of Langers and their gators
I had a great time hunting in Florida with Mr. Terry, and his daughter Jen. Thank you Mr. Capp for helping me get my first big game animal with a longbow. Thank you Daddy for bringing me on this hunt. Wait until the kids at school hear about this. I love you Daddy. :archer2:
Another great story Billy!!!..You're off to a great start. Keep it up.
Way to go to all the Langers. A very special pat on the back to Dick for passing the Tradition and Heritage. Well done POP!!
Awesome job Billy! I can't wait to hear of your next adventure.
This won't be the last we hear from the Langer clan. They are raising up some true hunters. Bill's youngest daughter told me on Wed. that she wanted to hunt black bear. I think she is 4 or 5 years old. His next youngest son told me about how he wants to hunt grizzly bear. Not any grizzly bear, the biggest one in the world. Being the ever teaching father that he is Bill quickly pointed out that the Kodiak Brown bear and polar bear were bigger than the grizzly. No problem, Ben will hunt them!
Bill, you and Kate are keeping the priorities straight and your kids are the evidence. Congratulations on a great hunt and experience with your son and I look forward to many more. Thanks for letting me tag along.
Papa, you are the man!
Thanks again Terry!!!! I will tell Katie.
I Love you too Billy!
-Daddy