It's that time of year again! Florida alligator season starts on Aug. 15th. I will be heading down with two great traditional bowhunters tomorrow morning. It's a solid 24 hour drive from my house to Okeechobee, FL. We should arrive on Thursday morning. We'll unpack, jump in the pool for a refreshing, meander out back and catch a 7-8# bass, and then jump in the boat and go scouting for gators. We'll then get up the next morning and go shiner fishing for some hawg bass and then we'll be gator hunting from 5 PM to 10 AM...or until we get two nice gators.
This will be my 7th year in a row of chasing these modern day dinosaurs and it's just as fun today as when I first took my son. I'll try to post updates as we go.
This was our first gator!
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/TylerGator.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/TylerGator.jpg.html)
My daughter with a 9# bass.
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/Emily9Bass.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/Emily9Bass.jpg.html)
My other daughter with a nice fat gator.
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/JenBigGator-1.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/JenBigGator-1.jpg.html)
My 7 1/2 month pregnant daughter-in-law from last year.
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/1969030e-353e-4129-abf3-9e1195e600b9.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/1969030e-353e-4129-abf3-9e1195e600b9.jpg.html)
This is one of my favorite photos. This is my son with a solid gator from last year.
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/16fc7e6a-1223-4538-a3c0-51a0bcfc704f.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/16fc7e6a-1223-4538-a3c0-51a0bcfc704f.jpg.html)
Terry,
You are by far the best New York alligator guide I know!
:wavey:
Safe travels Mr. Great pictures and hoping you get to take more..
Terry, Have a great and safe trip!
I hope your new gear set up will help with the big ones.
:campfire:
Always look forward to this Terry, I know you'll have a great time!
David
Ha! Kevin, I'm likely the ONLY DIY gator guy from New York! But I'll still take it as a compliment.
Looking forward to your annual moose report. I believe you are the best DIY Alaska moose hunter in all of Ohio! :)
Terry...I just think we both try really hard to have a lot fun doing what we love.
I hope you all have a ball bumping gators in the dark. Fantastic times and fun people!
Where is the Kill zone for a Gator..?
Good luck buddy!! I woulda LOVED to be down there with you!! Can't wait for the updates!!
Once again, I'll be following this hunt just like every year. Good luck Terry.
Best of luck Terry!!
Keep us posted. Shooting an alligator is high on my bucket list!!!
Go "Git Em" Terry!!!
Can't wait for your reports.
GOOD LUCK!!!!!
Looks awesome .... have a great hunt and be safe
:campfire:
Good luck buddy!! One day I'll make it down there :)
Good luck! Great pictures!
Have a safe and memorable trip Terry
We're all done gator hunting. As usual it was a lot of fun and excitement.
The 24 hour drive is always tough, but we managed to roll in and head out to do some scouting. I wanted to look at some new areas and found a couple new places that looked pretty good. They would serve as a backup spot should we not be successful in my main area.
The next morning found us sleeping in till 6 AM and then hitting the lake for some bass fishing. Unfortunately, when the sun comes up in South Florida in August the fish go down. We caught a few, but not what I'm used to.
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/TerryNiceBass.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/TerryNiceBass.jpg.html)
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/BillNiceBass.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/BillNiceBass.jpg.html)
As much as I hate gar, they do bite in the hot sun and put up a good fight.
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/BillGar.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/BillGar.jpg.html)
Then came the gator hunting. The season opened on the night of Aug 15th at 5 PM. We were on the water and looking for gators.
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/BobandBillonBow.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/BobandBillonBow.jpg.html)
It didn't take long and the rain came...as it always does in August in Florida. We pulled up and waited out the lightening storm under this low bridge.
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/WaitingouttheStorm.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/WaitingouttheStorm.jpg.html)
We stayed under the bridge until well past dark and then we were back at it. It didn't take long and we were onto gators. We actually had already seen many gators and the guys had a couple of shots at some solid 8'+ gators.
Bill made good on his 2nd shot and the fight was on. Here we are trying to subdue the guy and he didn't like it much. I had him three times by the snout trying to tape it shut and he would do a death roll and break free. He really wasn't very happy with me.
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/BillandTerryFightingGator.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/BillandTerryFightingGator.jpg.html)
We finally got him under control and Bill was able to pithe the big guy and we rolled him in the boat. The first gator of the night came at around 10 PM. He was a great gator and measured at 9'.
Here he as right after we got him in the boat.
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/BillLongGatorinBoat.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/BillLongGatorinBoat.jpg.html)
The next two are the traditional hero shots.
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/BillBigGatoronGrass.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/BillBigGatoronGrass.jpg.html)
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/BillSmilingwithBigHangingGator.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/BillSmilingwithBigHangingGator.jpg.html)
Bob was up next and we had several great chances on good gators. It was around 11:30 PM when Bob made a great shot on a BIG gator. This gator took all the line out of the reel in a heart beat and we had to toss it over the side and chase it down for nearly a 1/4 mile. This big dude wasn't going to go easy. We finally caught up to the reel float and I began easing him up to the boat. Bill was ready with the harpoon and sunk it in deep. We now had the 250# PowerPro arrow line in him and the big rope from the harpoon to put some pressure on. He didn't like that...the fight was on! We fought him again for a long time and I had Bill rig another harpoon line, because this was a big strong gator and we wanted some lines on him before we tried to grab him and pithe him. I got him to the top and Bill sunk another harpoon line in him. We now had lots of leverage and were able to pull him up. Both of these gators were very unhappy with us and since they were so large we decided that they needed some air taken out of them and both Bill and Bob had kill arrows rigged to do the job. A big Grizzly took care of Bill's and a Snuffer did the job on Bob's. This didn't kill them immediately and we still had to do the pithing. Both of these gators were hard and mean fighters.
We finally got Bob's gator ready to pull into the boat, but that wasn't going to be easy. I'm 52, Bill's 72, and Bob's 68. A 300-400# gator is a big task for three less than young fellows. You can probably see the strain on Bob's face.
This gator was a beastly 10 footer.
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/BobandBIGGator.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/BobandBIGGator.jpg.html)
And of course the hero photos.
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/BobBigGatoronGrass.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/BobBigGatoronGrass.jpg.html)
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/BobandBigHaningGator.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/BobandBigHaningGator.jpg.html)
What a great night for two great friends and hunters. Unfortunately, we were only able to draw one tag this year for the two gators, so we are done gator hunting...guess whose going bass fishing in the morning. :)
Two very happy gator hunters.
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/TJReceveur/TwoGreatGuysandGators.jpg) (http://s102.photobucket.com/user/TJReceveur/media/TwoGreatGuysandGators.jpg.html)
Outstanding!
That's awesome Terry!! I had a huge grin the entire time I was reading the story!! Tell Bill I'm going to give him a call next week.
Great Stuff Terry.
Congrats Guys!!!
Awesome. Looks like so much fun. One of these days....
Wow very cool hunt! Thanks for sharing guys!
Terry,
Can you enlightening me on the "pithing" what is it exactly and hows it done?
I'm sitting here reading this and really enjoying the pics of your hunts.......and I have talked with my wife about doing this for months..... And she wants to go to ;) that would get one marked off my bucket list....
QuoteOriginally posted by South MS Bowhunter:
Terry,
Can you enlightening me on the "pithing" what is it exactly and hows it done?
To Pithe is to stick a long pokey thing into the spinal column and wiggle it around.
I know Terry can give a better explanations but its the same thing you did in science class with frogs. Besides he's Bass fishing right now.
Charlie,
I have never messed with frogs in science class.But as the Team Captain and Supreme leader of the F.R.O.G team I understand sticking pokey things into the spinal columns of frogs :bigsmyl: Thanks
Awesome story guys! I'm glad you guys got on them so quickly!
Great story and pictures. Job well done!!!!