Trad Gang

When he's not on here answering our questions or giving expert advise on bowhunting and bowfishing, Mark Land is out hunting something. He's too modest to post his pic so I'll have too.. LOOK at this toad he shot in Ga..12' 6" and estimated # 740... Great Trophy for a great guy...Stuff em' Whole Mark...Go Muzzy!


(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c114/swamprooter/MarksGator.jpg)

Holy crap...  That's one big lizard!    :scared:    :scared:    :scared:  

What's the story?  It's GOT to be a good one!    :thumbsup:    :notworthy:

congrats mark

Way to go Mark!

That will require a lot of hot sauce!

Hey all,


OMG,  What do you do with a carcass that big.  What do you do to a thing like that.  Skin it? Stuff it?  Grind it up into Gator burgers?

By the way... Great shooting Congrats.

Brian Gillispie

WOW! :scared:   Wonder how long it took to get it in the boat.

My gosh!  :thumbsup:    :clapper:

Mmmmmmm....gator....
Great job mark!!!  :clapper:

Thats a monster and why its a whole diffent experience stalking hogs around the swamps of Florida vs deer hunting in the Midwest.Sometimes you feel like the hunted.I have seen a few that big in the swamps down their.They dont get much bigger!Cool trophy

No words needed  :scared:  

(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c114/swamprooter/MarksGatorpic.jpg)

Great, a chameleon that can eat you.   :eek:  

Dang that thing is big. A true prehistoric beast.

I ate alligator tail once..tasted like chewy chicken    :bigsmyl:

WOW, thats a bigun!! Who's making the donkey kickers outta that one?

Good going Mark!!

                      Brent

:eek:    :notworthy:    :eek:    :notworthy:

Awesome!!!

BOWZERS THAT THING IS HUGE! Ferret your right it could eat you whole  :bigsmyl:    :biglaugh:  . Congrats Mark. BTW I would have wrestled him down and knifed him if'n it were me   :rolleyes:         <><

Now how do you figure a guy makes friends w/ a lizzard that big and gets him to pose for a photo?

Everyone is smilin' in the photo....


Shoes and handbags!

Congratulations, that is one awesome critter, makes me want to put one of those on my dream list of hunts.

Walt Francis

CONGRATS.  Where is the Story??  :thumbsup:    :clapper:

That is one big gator.

Tell Mark congrats! Nice gator for sure. That's a lot of money sitting there and a bunch of good eating.

WOW! I'm stoking the coals, lets hear the story..

My Goodness  :thumbsup:    :notworthy:  ...Van

Very well deserved...Marks "good people",Congrats bud!!   :clapper:

Big enough to get a pair of boots and a back quiver out of him dontcha think?

Congrats Mark! That thing is huge.

So, HOW dead was this thing - that he had to tape the nozzle - even for the trophy pics?!?

Man thats huge , congrats :0)

Trad no less!

Thanks everyone, yes he is huge, had no idea he was that big until after I shot him.  We figured he was over 10 but his body is just unreal.  We normally try and tape and hog tie them to keep them alive until we get them processed, kinda hard to ice down a big gator, but when I saw how big his body was I put 2 more arrows and line in 'em and with my 1st arrow in his L lung and my 2nd arrow in his R lung, he drowned on us when we tried to tow him back down to a ramp and figure out how to load it in the boat.  
I got him opening night of GA's gator season on Lake Eufaula, I had a buddy with me along with my friend and guide/nuisance trapper for the state of FL, Tate Morrell.  I had scouted out these gators the week before and knew they were good, but not this good!  Jason was up 1st and 40mins into legal time we had an arrow in his, 2 hours later when we finally got his in the boat it measured out at 11' 4" and about 500#.  Now off to find mine!  Looked at about 4 more but not quite big enough, so it was all I could stand and I told them to sit down and get ready for a long boat ride.  Had to run all way up river to where I had seen the big one the week before.  As soon as we got up there we located him and then spent a while trying to get close to him, after 5 tries he finally let me get within 10yds or so and put one in him right thru the ribs, he tore out of there, popping my bouy off and taking it under.  I rigged up another arrow while Tate grabbed the line and pulled along.  He had no problem towing my 20ft boat and then went down to the bottom in 32ft of water and sat there for over 20 mins not moving.  We pulled all we could be he would not budge.  Finally he shot to the surface and stayed on top and we could get an idea about how big he was, oh my!  I got ready and we pulled the boat to him and got my 2nd arrow in, then fought him awhile and got my 3rd arrow in the neck.  Now to figure out how to get him in the boat.  It was all we could do to pull the head up and get the jaws taped.  There was no way we were going to be able to load this thing.  It took all we had to get Jason's in the boat.  Fortunately there was a ramp just down the river and 4 guy's were pulling out after shooting their gator and they helped us, but we barely got him in.  Now off to the processor.  Nobody there had seen anything that big and we though he might be a state record, but I later found out that GA does not recognize weight and only goes by length, but he is a true trophy to me and I am sure I will never be able to top this one, so the pressure is off to even try.  He measured out 12' 6" and we took circumference measurements and used a formula they had to figure his weight between 720-739#.  He had a 53in neck, 6ft around the belly and over 50in around the base of the tail, he was a giant!  The nxt night we took Jason's wife down to Seminole and within an hour got her one right at 10ft.  Awesome trip and great time with some great friends.  Now I just feel like I have been playing tackle football with the college team, I am sure, but happy!  I never thought I would say it but he is actually too big to mount so I am getting the head done in euro, keeping the feet for the claws and getting the meat and selling the hide.  Just gotta figure out where I can find a mantel big enought to set this skull on??  Thanks, Mark

my son has been bugging me to get him a pet lizard, so i showed him Marks trophy and ask if he would like one like this. his reply "Dad are you crazy, that thing won't fit in my cage"....

that's one awesome looking trophy. lot's of boots and belts in that one. i'm with joebuck, stuff em whole....

thanks for sharing....

Congratulations!! How cool is that!!    :thumbsup:   I'll bet it felt like a real life "Jaws"(with a gator) when you had that beast on;)  Great job! Cheers, Matt

I think you should go in the hatband business. They would sell out here in a day..Congrats. Let be first on the list for a nice one off the back  :D  
G.

Congrats Mark !!!!!!!!!

Thats a sho-nuff dandy right there!!!!  :jumper:    :jumper:    :jumper:    :jumper:    :jumper:

Very nice one Mark !!! We are going tomorrow night but I can't shoot one thet big; he's bigger than the boat !!

Mmmmmm alligator tail!

Mickey, I had some that was in a seafood gumbo. I thought it was quite delicious, but then I like onions.

Let's see now...
Alligator quiver, alligator wallet, alligator shoes, alligtor handle wraps, alligator arm guard...

I'm with you,Mark....spending fifteen thousand to get him mounted life size is just too much money...why, that's a stone sheep hunt, or a moose/mountain caribou backcountry horseback hunt in the Yukon.

Better to do teh skull as you say, sell the hide, save your money and do more hunts.

Congratulations, friend.That one will be tough to top...big as any I've seen...even down on Jeckyll on the golf courses there.

That is a monster, way to go!!

 :bigsmyl:

Dang!

T-rex? WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well done Mark!  Dang.....big game bowfishing at it's finest!  Did you get that one on video?

Biggest I've seen out and about (hog hunting) was around 11 feet, and that was a dang big lizard.  Maybe we'll get a season here in MS before I'm too dang old to draw a bow.  What kind of poundage did it take to stick him, and did you have to modify your point?  Did you keep poking him with fishing arrows, or after the first one did you use broadheads?

Chad

I keep thinkin about all those people who swim in Lake Eufaula.........

The world is a safer place with that thing out of the picture.Congrats and great kill.  :clapper: