Well I tried something new on Friday night. I went after me a lizard. I have never tried getting a gator before but felt I needed to spend too much money on something and this seemed as good as any. I decided to go with the bow and arrow gimmick and started to do my research. I did a few stops at cabelas, Bass Pro, and Gander and found out that they do not have anything that I need. I mean seriously, how the hell do those places not carry gator stuff for Florida during season. Oh well off to the internet we go.
I was doing my research and decided the Muzzy Gator Getter kit was going to fit the bill and ordered it from them directly. They were very nice and walked me through a lot of the process in setting up. Cost was not that bad at a tad over 200 and it comes with some nice heavy arrows.
These arrows weigh in at over 2000 grains. Needless to say they drop like a bowling ball being thrown by an 8 year old. After some sight pin experiments I went with the 40 yard pin out to about 30 feet. I is still pretty darn accurate and I could hit a 2-inch circle every shot. I got my gear attached to the bow and meandered down to Keith place to go find me a new pair of shoes.
Got their and we went to check feeders and made dinner. We were told that the later it got the better so we met Ron (our neighbor gator killing friend) and checked out the boat. Harpoons, bang sticks, gaffs, headlamps, and everything else. We were set to go dinosaur hunting.
I was told that an 8 foot alligator was a dime a dozen, that a 10 foot gator were few but available, and anything over 12 feet was just about impossible. We were also told that with the full moon it was going to be hard as hell sneaking up on the gators because they could see you in the moonlight. But what the heck we were going to give it a try anyway.
We launched to the tune of a million frogs and started out the channel and took a left. Within 15 minutes we could see the gleam from a BUNCH of eyes watching us and we started our stalking. We would slide up to them and just about in range and they would submerge. They did that for about 30 minutes till we managed to sneak up on an 8-9 foot number. It was very early still and so I wanted to try for something a bit bigger sense this was going to be that easy. BIG MISTAKE! For the remainder of the night (10 hours) we crept, skulked, snuck, creeped, sneaked, and generally did everything in our power to get close to a damn gator. They would always submerge right at the 51 to 54 foot range and generally drive us freakin nuts. We worked the hell out of some gators that later I would find out were some pretty damn big gators.
We were exhausted. It was 4:40 in the morning and I had been standing on the bow of a boat holding my rig all night. We were just about to call it quits and heading into the ramp and did some drive by on the weed lines. Well as usual there were plenty of eyes and we said what the hell lets give these few a try. We slid the boat up on a set of eyes and for once they did not immediately disappear. As we got closer Keith kept telling me to shoot. First the gator did not look like it was 3 feet long (lesson learned). Second the gator was out of range (lesson learned). Third he was blinding me with a Q beam (big lesson learned). Right when I felt we were in range I let the shaft fly. HOLY CRAP I STUCK HIM. The arrow had hit exactly where I was aiming and the range was exact. It was so exact that the instant the arrow struck the line came tight and stopped it. But it was good enough to pop him and get the head under his hide. We got him in the boat and I found out that the "little" gators I had been seeing were probably pretty damn big cause this one went 7 feet long. I mean I was looking for the gators you see in Busch Gardens type of gator but it was a good learning lesson.
I ate gator etouffe last night and it was darn good.
Ingredients
2 pounds alligator tail meat
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chopped celery
4 cloves garlic
1 cup chopped bell pepper
2 (15-ounce) cans stewed tomatoes
1 (15-ounce) can tomatoes and chili pepper
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon sugar
2 beef bouillon cubes
salt and pepper
Serves 8
Cooking
Sprinkle meat with garlic powder and Cajun seasoning. Place in a covered dish. Add half of the onions, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and lemon juice to meat and let marinate overnight in refrigerator. (This step is optional - if desired, just sprinkle the meat with the garlic and Cajun seasoning.) Remove meat from marinade (save marinade for later) and fry in vegetable oil in a skillet until meat is brown. Place meat in a 6-quart pot. Drain vegetable oil, leaving about three tablespoons in skillet. Add the rest of the onions, celery, garlic and bell pepper. Sauté until tender. Add vegetables, marinade and all other ingredients to meat. Cook for 45 minutes on medium heat. Season to taste and serve over rice.
__________________
Jesus said, "he who stands firm to the end will be saved" Mark 13:13.
Live Life in such a way that those who do not know Christ will come to know Him because they know you
hey snook what a great story. It isn't quite as easy as you would think. We had at least a nine footer at about 8 feet last friday went to shoot him and the string broke on crossbow. It's hard some nights to get very close. The night I got my 2 we were back in by 11.30. Other nights you hunt all night and never get a shot. In case you or anyone else is interested I hunt on Lake Okeechobee this weekend we go out and the first gator we come up on has a rabbit in it's mouth. As we get to moving around hunting there are hundreds of rabbits out on the lake any thick weed clumps have rabbits. Since we had such low water for a couple of years they have really multiplied. now they have no where to go and as you can guess where ever you find rabbits these gators are close by. Just a cool thing that's happened down here.
__________________
white shooting system .50cal
cva optmia elite .50cal
ruger M77 30-06
ruger M77 .257 roberts
ruger M77 300 win mag
rem 700 30-06
rem 700 7mm rem mag
rem 700ML .50 cal
Sooweee...no wait...LIIZZZAAAARRRRRDDDDD!
