My friend Billy from Louisiana called and said “How would you like to go on an alligator hunt?” Billy is an officer in Whitetails Unlimited and M&P outdoor adventures had donated an alligator hunt for their annual banquet. The person that got the winning bid could not make the Sept 15 date and wanted to sell it.
When Billy told me the hunt sells for $1250 normally and I could get it for $350, I said count me in. Beside that a gator hunt was on my “Bucket List”.
It was a 7 hour drive to Sulphur, Louisiana where Billy lives and where the hunt was to begin. I was to meet the guide on Friday afternoon at the Louisiana Fish and Game Department and purchase my non-resident gator license. My girl friend Linda and I drove over on Wednesday so we could fish with our friend Harold for two days prior to the gator hunt. Harold is retired now but fished for a living at one time and also has a shrimp license. He knows the bayou country around Lake Charles like the back of his hand. We filled the cooler with fish the next two days.
Harold caught a 30 inch red fish that took 20 minutes to land. We had redfish, flounder, drum, croakers, stingrays, sheep heads and lots of catfish. We all used the same lead head jig with shrimp for bait. The incoming tide was very strong after hurricane Isaac and it pushed the boat though a break in the level. The motor ran aground and we spent about 30 minutes trying to get out.
Saturday morning September 15, I met the guide at 5:30am at a Sulphur motel. Two men from Missouri were also going to hunt. Mike of M&P Outdoors stopped along the way and picked up James, who had 30 years experience hunting alligators. We continued south through Hackberry, LA and soon came to a private locked gate. Mike had leased rights to hunt alligator and had 33 tags to fill. The Louisiana Dept of Wildlife and Fisheries only issues tags to property owners or guides who have leases and is based on acres of alligator habitat and harvest records. A non-resident like me must hunt with someone with tags and buy the $150 license. We drove and drove on a levee with swamp on both sides and it started getting daylight. Mike said September 15 was the opening of teal season and the duck hunters would be hunting. This ranch has thousands of acres and the owner leases for fishing, duck and alligator. They also run cattle and before duck season they flood fields to draw in the birds. We finally came to some barns and buildings. Mike handed out some mosquito repellant and loaded all of us into a Polaris Ranger. This was a surprise to me; I thought we would be in a boat. As it started getting daylight, the teal hunters began shooting and we watched thousands of teal flying over. Mike said not to worry, there were no duck hunters where we were going. Mike and James had set out 5 baited hooks the evening before and we were driving up to the first one which was empty. Three hunters and only 4 hooks to go, this don’t look very promising. They used a ½ inch rebar with the top bent in the shape of a cane. It was about four feet long and driven into the bank. Tied onto the stake was 50 feet of 900 pound test line with heavy leader and a 9/0 hook about as long as the palm of my hand. Then a 6 foot cane pole was pushed into the bank hanging over the water with a clip clothes pin on top, which held the chicken quarters bait up off the water about a foot. They only set these where they saw large gators. The next bait was gone and the line was tight. Mike handed me a .22 magnum rifle with open sights and said, “I’m going to pull him in and when his head pops up, shoot him right behind the eyes”. I thought this is going to be interesting, standing on the bank pulling a 9 foot gator to us. The “Swamp People “show were always in a boat. I had watched gators attack prey on the bank and they are lightning fast when they want to be. Soon a big pile of weeds came up and Mike said, “Get ready”. Finally I saw an eye and pulled the trigger, the gun made a loud click, damn what a time for a misfire. Mike gave the line to James and grabbed the gun, ejected the round and put in a fresh one. The gator was really mad now and was rolling and thrashing around. I took careful aim and once again it made a loud click. Oh how I wished I had brought my own gun. Finally the third round went off and gator was done for. We pulled it up on the bank and it measure 7 foot 5 inches. The head and teeth never moved again but the legs and the tail continue to move. Mike said to watch out for that tail, which can knock you down even an hour later.
We got one more on the rest of the lines but he was a nice 9 footer. When we got the 9 footer in the back of the Ranger we saw two more gators out in the lake about 100 yards away. Mike told James to get out the rod and reel and bait up. James says the best bait is a black bird. The rod was short and heavy with 100 pound test monofilament. Mike hid behind some cattails and started making a distress bird call. To my surprise one of the gators started coming toward him. James was pulling line off the reel and when the gator got about 30 yards out, he threw the black bird in front of him. He swam over and grabbed the bait, then turned around and left. James was letting out line and said I’m waiting for him to swallow it. Pretty soon the gator stopped and down went the bait. James hauled back and set the hook, then handed me the rod. I have fought some large fish in my life but nothing like this. After a long fight one of the Missouri guys shot the gator and we loaded it in the Ranger.
We continue around the lake and got one more with the rod and reel. Mike said we needed to get these four on ice, so we headed back to the truck. They put a large tarp down in the bed of the dually truck and poured ice over the four gators. As we were doing this, one of the ranch workers pulled up and said, “There is a large gator eating on a dead cow in one of the duck ponds”. Mike and James said, “Load up, let’s go get him”. When we pulled up to the flooded duck pond, I could see the dead cow about 200 yards away at the edge of the water. I didn’t see the gator but Mike said, “There he is and he’s a big one”. We continued down the levee in the Ranger, then got out and made a stalk out of sight of the gator. When we peeked up to look, the smell of the dead cow was bad. Gators love rotten meat and will store fresh kills until they decompose. Then they rip it apart and swallow chunks whole. One of the Missouri boys was carrying a 9mm Glock handgun and was dying to kill a gator with it. This gator was almost 10 foot long and was guarding the cow. He got within about 20 yards and fired 3 times. One of the bullets hit the sweet spot and the big gator rolled over. The water was only about a foot deep so we didn’t have to worry about it sinking. Mike and James waded out and pulled him to the bank. He didn’t fit in back of the Ranger and was hanging over both sides.
On the way back, James hit the roof twice which means he spotted another one. This one was in a 12 foot wide canal. Mike gave me the rifle and said stalk up and try to get a shot. Mike and James were behind me with lines attached to large treble hooks. Before I could get a shot, the gator went under but I followed the bubble trail. I waited and waited and finally his head popped up and those beady eyes were looking right at me. Mike said,” Shoot him right in the eye“. At the crack of the .22 magnum, the 9 footer rolled over belly up. Mike and James threw the treble hooks over him and pulled him to the bank. Mike said, you only have a few minutes to hook them or they sink to the bottom. This one made us 6 for the day and the temperature was up to 80 degrees so Mike said, “Let’s call it a day. ” When we got back to the barn, Mike said, “We forgot to take up that one bait”. So James stayed and took care of the two gators and us three Sport hunters when back to take up the bait line. When we pulled up, Mike said, “We got one hooked”. As we started pulling the line, we discovered the big gator was on the bank about 20 yards to our left. We had left the rifle in the truck and only had the 9mm pistol. I got back in the Ranger; I didn’t want anything to do with a gator on dry land and no weapon. As the young man from Missouri was trying to get close enough for a shot, the gator dove back in the water. We tried to pull him in with the line but it was all tangled up in cattails. Mike got in the water and started following the line. Mike suddenly said, “There he is right in front of me”. It looked like the almost 10 foot gator was trying to decide if he wanted to fight or flee. Mike just froze and said “Shoot this SOB quick”. The shooter finally got in position and fired three quick shots and the gator went under. Mike said, “You hit him but I’m not sure if he is dead yet”. Mike handed us the line and we started pulling. Suddenly the head came up and all I could see was teeth. He obviously was not dead by a long shot and it took three more rounds to finish him. That big one made 7 gators.
We got them all iced down in the back of the truck and headed out to the gator warehouse in Hackberry. The guides make their money selling the gators and the “Sports” only get the head, unless you want to pay the market price. The market price was $27 a foot, so I decided to just take the head of my 9 footer. One of the Missouri boys said he wanted the big one to have a taxidermist to do a full body mount. There were two men skinning gators on a big table. These would be salted down and shipped to a tannery, most of which are out of the US. The meat is sold to restaurants.
The gator population in Louisiana’s 4.5 million acres of coastal marshes is around 2 million and the harvest during the one month season is about 300 thousand. This is a resource for the state and is carefully managed by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Every alligator tag is locked and all tags must be accounted for.
Some September when you want a little excitement, plan to go on an alligator hunt in the Louisiana.
Pictured above is author Russ Porter with his alligator. Below are more shots of the day’s hunt.
