I doubt from your area that they would be allegator gar,they are "long nose gar"prety common in and near rivers.They can be a pest when your fishingfor game fish,yet they are fun to catch with hookless hairrigs.

They really are pretty good to eat if you want to fight cleaning the suckers.

Imagine walking up on this guy drying up in the middle of the woods

Definitely, NOT an alligator gar. It is a longnose gar,which is native to the Missouri and Platte River drainages. They are a cool fish...caught one that was 54 inches the other day at work. They are one of the oldest freshwater fishes in North America.

Yup. I'm also thinking longnose. We've mostly got spotted gar in the lakes around my neck of the woods, but there are alligator gar in the Trinity River (not quite as big as the one in that pic though [:-]).

Hit the nail on the head we catch them all the time in the ohio river. We also catch them in a small creek we wade for smallmouths. Just wait till you walk up on one about 3 feet long then you'll be scared.

Here are a couple bow kills for you.

Just in case it needed any reinforcement... It's NOT an alligator gar; it's a longnose gar. I've caught hundreds on trotlines as well aspole and line and probably shot hundreds more growing up in the Missouri Bootheel.

Fox, tell me you threaded an arrow through the small one in the second piccool pics.

I got to see this gar in person at the Ill deer and turkey classic. They had the beast mounted, it was awesome, got to meet the guy who shot it to.