Well I don't see anything from those redneck Louisiana boys so I guess I'll throw my 2 cents in. Man is it ever hot! Sure don't feel like deer hunting weather. It's gonna git better though. Does anybody know where I can line up an alligator hunt? Preferably with a pistol. I have been looking for some ads but i haven't found anything yet. Anywhere in LA, TX, MS, AL. I've got a friend from Canada that is itching to kill a gator and I'd sure like to accomodate him. Thanks!

I hunt them down here in Florida, but you are not allowed to have a gun in the boat (only a bang stick, harpoon, crossbow). I've got a two permits to hunt the first week of October, but the huricanes have got everything flooded so we hope for the best. It's still a night out on the airboat chasing Gators!![:@]

sdeshazo,

What are the seasons on gators there in Fla.? I'm sure my buddy would settle for a bowhunt if I could get it arranged. i don't know when he can make it, maybe not until next Spring. What would the costs be and would we need our own gear? Appreciate the info.!!

Gordonfan, here is a link to will give you all the details. You can pay a guide but I guess I everything else it can get costly. I paided like $250.00 for two permits & you have to apply in a lotto for your locations. The best spots go fast, but we have caught up to a 12 1/2 foot gator that weighed about 1000 pounds.

Florida Gator Hunts

Ok Ok here is the story.
Okeechobee Gator Hunt Saturday 10/02/04

My buddy John got two Gator permits this year for Lake Okeechobee & left the rest of the details to me. I got Joey & a friend of his with an Airboat & the date was set, & then reset due to Hurricanes. We finally all meet up at Okeechobee Saturday afternoon & get something to eat. The town has just got power back & there was still powerlines down all over the place, roofs tore off building, etc.
We all get to the ramp & put the boat in right before dark & head out. Right away we are seeing Gators all over the place but mostly small. We rode around till it got good & dark just enjoying the ride, I’d never been on an Airboat (man what a ride!). About 8:30 we started spotting for big Gators & it did not take long. Found a really nice 10 or 11 footer & slammed the harpoon into him & it just bent. Oh well grab the other harpoon & on to the next one. Missed a few more getting the hang of this kind of hunting, & finally around 10:00 got a nice 8 footer in the box. What a rush! Now we want a big one! We searched & searched finding big ones but was not able to get close enough or missed, etc, etc. About 4 in the morning we just wanted to use the last tag & get back to the ramp. We found about a 9 footer & slammed the harpoon into him with a good set. On the boat he comes, (the guy Gill who owned the airboat handles Gators for a living) so the live Gator on the boat was not anything new to him. Well two of the four of us had never been on an airboat before & having not been around many live Gators with in feet of you. Everybody ended up on one side of the boat & OVER IT TURNS! Everyone goes into the water with the harpooned Gator! Anyone nervous yet? I was!
We get the boat turned back over & it goes straight to the bottom. We climb on what we can & by standing on the seats & cage manages to stay about chest deep. The bag with the flares & safety gear is lost when the boat flipped, & everyone’s phone was wet, no VHF, no nothing. So now what? The boat was sunk & we had a 9 foot or so Gator with in feet of us somewhere. I remembered I had a dry bag that I thought I put my phone in. Swan down to the boat & dug it out of the forward storage along with the bang stick. Well the bang stick had lost the barrel so that was going to do us no good. The only weapon we had was a spear gun. Not sure what we would have do with that. Anyway my Nextel & hand held GPS was in my drybag & in good shape, hell I even had a signal. Turned on the GPS & we were 5 miles back in the swamp with no way of getting out on our own. Called 911 on the cell phone & gave them our Lat & Long, they said hold tight it’s going to be awhile before we can get to you. My response was please define awhile?? As Joey took the Q Beam & scanned around the boat seeing 11 pairs of Gator eyes with in range of the light! The Wildlife Officer said at least an hour. About that time we heard a hiss behind us & Gill said we must be around babies (Not Good) scanned the area where we heard the noise & sure enough about 6 pair of little eyes, things are not improving. We just hung out & told a few jokes trying to keep each other calm & finally saw lights from the rescue airboat.
We sank the boat at 4:30 & the Wildlife Officers finally got to us at about 6:30. That was a long two hours in the water. I bet we saw over 100 Gators that night & just can not believe that no one was hurt. The Officers did let us keep the one Gator & bring him back with us. He was only 8 feet but he means more to me that a 15 footer would have.