Just wanted to share a recent success of taking a 8 foot 1.5 inch sow gator in Florida last month.
(http://3riversarchery.com/images/trophyroom/2011KarchJohnnyFLGator.jpg)
I got a good chunk of meat and the hide. I plan to mount the back plate on a board and put it on the wall. Not doing anything with the belly hide right now, too expensive to have tanned (over $300). I am getting the head mounted (with skin on it, the ones I saw looked really neat), and from the paws one will be a business card holder, one a pen holder, and two just plan.
Any recipes would be great to get if you have cooked gator before.
Congrats, Thats a nice gator.
Nice lizard.
2 more years and my boys will be on their first gator hunt. I booked it a couple weeks ago. One will be 10 and the other will be 8 hears old. They are both going trad hunting for them.
Nice one, fried gator does a body good.
I haven't cooked any gator, but I have eaten it. It was cut into little strips and deep fried. It was tres bon!
Nice gator, I've always thought it would be cool to hunt one of them bad boys; someday perhaps. The one time I've had gator we did an egg wash then into a dredge of Andy's fish batter, then into the deep fryer. Delicious!!! TRW
Congrats on the gator. Cut up in bite size pieces and fried is good. Blackened is also good. Alligator sauce picquante is also good. I've got 3 gator tags and my hunt starts Saturday.
Way to go Johnathan.
Jack
I did mine in bacon on the grill
Congrats, that is a great Gator!!!
what a cool hunt to do.
Awesome swamp lizard, congrats on some fine eating. :thumbsup:
That's a real nice gator you got there, congrats!
going out next wed myself~
if you didnt bleed it out immediately, soak the meat for a few hours in buttermilk- roll in cornmeal and fry. OR soak in buttermilk and roast in the oven. ya can pound em a bit and grill em too. I like the cheek meat myself- nothing else quite like it imo.
L.R.
Tastes like Chicken! :goldtooth:
always wanted to try gator and mt. lion! Might someday! :)
Congrats! Sounds like a plan for the whole thing...I'd try to self tan the hide vs let it go... but maybe reg tanning stuff won't work?
Nice lizard Johnathan!! Cangratulations :clapper:
Do you have any pics of what the business card holder and pen holder will look like? I have some gator feet in the freezer from last year. Had no idea what to do with them, but they are too cool to throw away.
QuoteAny recipes would be great to get if you have cooked gator before.
Try this(garunteed success) I've only done this with tail meat so I don't know about the rest of the Gator and it's the same recipe I use for fresh Gulf Shrimp.
Cut into 2" cubes or bit size pieces, marinate in soy sauce(and I like to add a little liquid smoke) then make a mix of 70% corn starch and 30% flour. Dip pieces in egg & milk then lightly season with Tony's Charchere's, Lowery's Season Pepper and some sea salt. Then coat pieces with the corn starch/flour mix. Place in fridge for a half hr.(helps coating stick to meat) then dip in egg/milk mix again then roll/coat in Panko bread cumbs,place back in fridge for a half hr for the same reason then deep fry at 300-325 degrees til golden brown....killer..yum yum!
Congrats on your gator!
:archer:
Congrats!!
Very cool! What kind of set up did you use to land that thing?
I got a PM from Mudd... told me they're excellent cooked up with GRITS!
:bigsmyl:
nice looking gator, grats.
Nice! Congratulations
Glenn
That's cool! I am going on my first gator hunt next Monday. I hope to get a beast like yours.
Congrats on the big lizard!
Bisch
congrats! did you go with Rob H and "Big Un"?
Nice shooting Johnathan. I hear you took him out real quick. I'm sure however you make it will turn out good. I've had it a couple times and it is alot like chicken nuggets. Seemed like a shame to just deep fry a good piece of meat.
Great job. What was your bow setup?
Nice!!!! Congratulations
Congrats Jonathan!!! I'll bet the experience was one you'll remember forever.
:thumbsup:
Congratulations!
Sounds like you guys had a great time Johnny. Congrats on a cool trophy! :) :) :)
Thanks guys! The hunt was a lot of fun and I hope to do it again next year. I was NW of Orlando and did go with Rob and Big'um.
My bow was 61# Tomahawk Longbow and for an arrow I had a Steel Force Gator Head (wicked head that performed great!), Yellow Jacket fiberglass arrow (for the extra spine), and my trusty AMS reel converted to Big Game reel.
I have 4 BIG bags of chunks for frying and cut the tail up into steak pieces. Going to do a fair amount of grilling steaks, but plenty of meat for the deep fryer. I got recommended a Web site that has a good chunk of recipes so going to try a bunch of them.
Thanks Guys! Such a fun hunt.
Great pics and story, thanks for sharing! I have deep fried gator before, I took flour, added Cavenders Greek Seasoning, and some Cajun seasoning to the flour, in a zip loc bag, dredged the gator in eggs, then dropped them in the bag and shook good, dropped in the deep fryer till done, fantastic eating. This is on my to do bucket list.
That had to be an awesome hunt. Congrats on a nice Gator!
You will have to post some pic's when you get your head mount back. Nice gator! Congrats!
Salt the belly and send it to me!
Congrats on your harvest!!!!
Johnathan, I dont have any recipes but that gator is just awesome congrats
Nice Gator. Congrats!
Great job! That must've been one great experience!
Well done Johnny, your Dad had told me about your hunt. Good to see the old girl.
I really like gator dusted in a little flower mixed with salt, pepper and garlic, then deep fried with ranch dressing for dipping-great stuff!!!
I fried up some gator meat over the weekend (did BBQ pulled pork with a hind quarter of a hog I got same trip too). I need to put the pieces a little smaller and soak them in the butter milk for a couple hours I think. TASTED GREAT, but was a little chewy. Plenty more meat to go! I am pan frying some for lunch today. Loved the hog though. The wife cooked up the hog and ate plenty of both, which is great news for me!
Osagetree, I have the belly hide in the freezer right now. $400+ to have it soft tanned to where I can do anything with it. Not sure what I am going to do. I have dried out the back plates and plan to mount them on the wall in the office (wife wont have it over the fire place).
Thank you everyone for your posts! I was a great hunt and is really great to be able to share with you guys!
If you went down the river and up the creek..that's always a nice place to go..then there's the 3 Wheeler and rickshaw ...those sumter country guys know how to get er done..
Congrats! :thumbsup: