Look What I Pulled From My Favorite Run
 

I get to hunt and board in the same spot of river near my house. How convenient. I removed this critter last week from the middle of my favorite run.

Last month I had a 400# bear in my yard. I just finished vacuuming the boat and was walking to the garage and there he was 50 feet away.

Haha...how did u catch him? Be careful...you can get arrested/fined for messing with the gator.

Thats a big one!

I don't know if I would ever be comfortable wakeboarding in spots that are prone to gators.

45 between the eyes?

Ha...the whole state of FL? stay out of the water around dusk & dawn and dont taunt them. Ask me how I know lol

Have you ever heard of anyone getting attack by a Gator? Just randomly? I know the dumb A*** taunting them have. We ride a river here and there are gators everywhere, but no problems.

I have a permit for 2 of them from the state. There is a yearly quota hunt.

This lizard is 11+ feet and was caught with a rod and reel. Snagged him at the front leg. I fought him for over an hour and he never surfaced. He died on the bottom but I hit him with a bang stick anyways. He pulled the boat 1000 feet in the hour he was on line all on 1 breath.

I saw a bunch this size in a couple hours of hunting. There are no shortage of Florida gators.

Holy hell...11' ?? Guess you did it the proper way and had tags.

To answer the other posters question...I havent heard of any random attacks on people. Mine happened back in 2001 and it was me being a jacka**.

There are gators in the waters I frequent and hvent been an issue. One became an issue in the past seeing my dog as food, my ex would have killed me. So I had the trapper come out to catch the 9'.

Every time I pull up my anchor I put on my best Troy Landry voice and say " shoot em jacob!"

I've eaten Alligator many times but, what do you do with that? Where do you put all of the "parts" you don't use? Do you sell the thing whole? I'm curious.

Curious now. Were you actually attacked?

Options galore. There is a big market for the meat and the hide. You can drop him off at a processor. They will butcher and give you the meat in trade for the hide, trade you the meat for some on hand if you don't want to wait for yours, butchering services for trade of meat for the hide - he keeps meat and you get hide. Or you can do it all yourself. Its a lot of meat for one person so you can give some away. If you just want something for the table the best option is to take a smaller gator and butcher him yourself.

I am going to make a rug so I traded the meat for butchering. I will then take the hide to a tanner.

With my next tag I am going to get some meat and make a wallet and belt for myself and briefcase for my wife.

Srock...maybe I missed this before. What area do you live in?

Gator got my hand. I was liquored up in college (probably everclear) and thought i was unstoppable at the time. Yeah...not so much. Rushed to the ER to have several stitches and shots taken care of. And it was only a 4 footer lol

This was at my vacation house in Astor Florida. The gator came from the St Johns River about 1/2 south of the hwy 40 bridge. You have miles and miles of glassy water and I have become spoiled with perfect conditions.

Gators just don't like a running boat or person nearby and they retreat quickly and hide but you surely don't want to stumble upon a big gator. Their instinct is to bite and eat. I stick to the middle of the river and avoid the early morning and dusk runs. You see them moving and active at those hours. While I'm not overly fearful I am also not overly stupid about the water I stick my toes into.

Even a 4 footer has a mean bite.

We have a small gator that lives in our lake house cove in Trinity, TX. He doesn't bother anyone but we are worried he might start to see our little mini dachs as food. There are gators all in the river we ride but like others have said, as long as you don't pester them they will generally leave you alone


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Had a gator tangled in the mainline of our ski course on vacation in Winter Haven when I was 16. Lotta fun figuring out how to get him out. Ended up sending the boat in front of him to hold the mainline while I swam and tried to wiggle and lift on the line. He did get free, at which point I started screaming like a little girl. In fairness, little girls probably don't scream like that. It swam the other way, and the boat came back in a hurry. I don't think I even touched the platform, just was suddenly in the boat.

Great story, that probably would be hilarious if caught on film.

Keep your hunting bull**** off the wake forums. I'm sure there is a forum that will share your murderous stoke. I for one don't need to see that.
We're invading their very limited space and it's part of the risk. Killing a gator is like killing a great white so that you evan make it safer to surf. Pathetic!

Dustfarter (lol) There are roughly 1.5 million gators living in Florida alone and less than 350 great whites living in The Red Triangle... Not to mention he had a tag issued by the state. Go eat a salad and re-think your analogy.

Who's this guy?? Next you're going to tell us not to worry about these pythons/boas here in FL too.

Crap...just stepped on a lizard while walking.

lets release some Pythons to take care of them Gators

I think it totally appropriate for everyone to recognize what is in their waterways. I cringed for a hour watching a guy teaching his young kids to board along the shore I saw 4 of these monsters. And yes, I stopped and suggested he stay a bit further off of the river bank and weeds. What if you were the unknowing father and child?

I did not kill him to protect my waterway where gators easily outnumber boaters; I am going to eat every bit of him. The alligator is no where near endangered and every bit of inhabitable space in Florida is likely to have a gator unlike the great white which is hunted and dumped for its fins alone so drop that comparison.

Obviously you are vegan and I understand and respect that position. But, perhaps there is also a more appropriate forum for things like this along with boat candy, boats on fire, boat bun, and bitching about tubers.

Good luck saving the world.

srock. If you ride in Fl and don't already know what's in the water you're an idiot..........so drop the public service angle to defend your position. There are warnings everywhere.
So you killed the gator for fun? That's awesome! That's actually what I have a problem with.....killing for fun. I completely understand the need to hunt for food. Just not in the USA when you can afford to be a wakeboarder. Lets face it we're all no more than a few miles from a food source.
I'm not going to get into the hunting ethics debate any further but just like religion and politics it is a very polarizing topic and it certainly ruined my day to see it on a WAKE forum.
I think there is an appropriate place for this and it's not here. I'm out.

Its always better to pull your food from nicely presented packages from the grocers shelf. That is so nice and steril...let someone else do your dirty work. At least I know its organic.

srock, you should be ashamed of yourself for hunting. Yes, you should buy your meat from the grocer where it's made!

Wow...that's a big gator! Nice catch! Glad to hear that you are using all of the parts! Enjoy!

Yea stop hunting!!! Let the animals overpopulate!!!

I'm REALLY glad Arizona doesn't have gators in our lakes.....

He did not kill any animal. He harvested an alligator. Its the same as you eating any meat regardless of where it originated from. If you ate ham, someone raised a pig and then harvested it for its meat, now you ate it. Whats the difference? If he has a tag for it, its perfectly fine. If he was poaching its a whole other story. Get over yourself. Would it have been fine if it was an alligator farm and he harvested one from there?

Im just glad I dont have to deal with flying carp.

I thought the only thing AZ had goin for itself are the girls from ASU? :)

I'm actually amazed at how humans raise, breed and process animals for food and feel alright taking something to eat that has had a chance to live wild. I also hate to see people pile the animal flesh onto their plates only to throw it out. My hunting experiences have only increased my reverence for the animals that become food. And because I think its healthier about 80 percent of my meals are vegitarian.

You only see my "murderous" ways but I can tell you only see things one way, the right way, your way.

To me you sound like a hippocrite with a good chance at a very foul mouth to prove your point. Stop running your co2 creating noisey wave making machine and buy a kayak. I'm sure the boat is about about creating a surf wave to expand your purist stoke.

Tim, don't listen to fascist liberal Nazis when it comes to the whole meat/hunting thing. You can really sense the tension and anger in his posts. It just proves that's what he is.

Yeah if you like STDs. You are safer looking for tail at a strip club.

Oh man that was cold.

I've been hunting my entire life. Get over yourself and enjoy your tofu.

Nice!! Don't worry, there aren't any real men complaining about harvesting that gator. If we didn't kill thousands of deer during deer season in Texas they'd be killing themselves and hurting people in car accidents much more often and starving. The deer population here is nuts.

I agree 100%. Culling animals in their natural habitat so we can enjoy our little bullsh*t pastimes more safely is selfish and disrespectful. There is a time and a place to hunt, kill and eat... but recreational killing is ridiculous.

fascist liberal Nazis? Really? I have some more of that fox news coolaide in my fridge if you get thirsty

So what is the time and place for hunting and killing? Have you ever gone fishing for fun?

And I thought Troy & mhunter were going to drive me off this forum. But now there are PETA & animal rights activists here?

Yes they have infiltrated our ranks.

License to kill gophers by the government of the United Nations. Man, free to kill gophers at will. To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit - ever. They're like the Viet Cong - Varmint Cong. So you have to fall back on superior firepower and superior intelligence. And that's all she wrote.

Sooooo that time and a place to hunt, kill, and eat is when? where? I'm hungry, it's almost lunch...


Tim, glad to see your enjoying your natural habitat.

Check me if I'm wrong Sandy, but if I kill all the golfers, they're gonna lock me up and throw away the key... lol

Got this baby out at about 300 yards. I love my .223 I can shoot three round in a dime (or a ground squirrel's head) at 200 yards consistantly.

Attachment 25248


(Oh yea, if we don't keep the population down on these ground squirrels, then you elitist vegans wouldn't have fruit or nuts to eat)

:D Say it isn't so!

Haha, very original. Well I am a girl and I did go to ASU so I guess I can't argue with that. But in all honesty AZ has a lot to offer....great hiking, camping, watersports, off-roading, the Glamis dunes for riding, etc. Plus the old people only come in the winter, we don't have to deal w/them year-round like in Florida ;)

I didn't say all chicks, just most. And yes my wife is pretty awesome, I didn't meet her at ASU.

Alright..now you are about to get a bunch of profile views.

Haha...true about old people in FL. Send some of your awesomeness girlfriends this way bc I havent found much here in the sunshine state as far as quality/substance. Thanks for informing me of other things in AZ though, never been there.

Post a pic and I'll tell you if you are right

Ha! I thought the same thing!

Florida is awesome though, I've got friends out there with stand up jet skiis for the water and streetbikes for the pavement....and it looks like a lot of fun! Plus you guys have cable parks!

You sounded pretty confident so it was worth a shot. What can I say, I'm shallow.

i wonder if our boy stu wears leather? as in boots, belts, shoes ect. food for thought. pun intended.

the animals i hunt suffer the same amount as the ones in the grocery store.

im curious what your abortion stance is stu.

^^^hey hey hey...that's MR. DUSTFARTER to you sir!

My question is, what do you do with the gator after you've hunted it? Does it taste like chicken?

^^^Depends if you wrap it in bacon before cooking it or not...

You have to pound it a bit because it can be a little chewy but like anything the taste depends how you flavor and cook it. Gator does not have a gamey taste so yes it tastes more like chicken.

You will have to ask someone else about the squirrel but after looking at it my guess it that it tastes like lead.

dangerous wakeboard spot..

CHUTTE HIM!!!! CHUTE HIM!!!!!!!! haha

Are those conetrol skope mounts?

I've only tried it once when visiting Miami and it was pretty good stuff! If someone hadn't told me it was Alligator and said that it was chicken, I probably wouldn't have know that it wasn't. Just my experience, your mileage may vary, please consult the owners manual before operation,

Being a Fl boy and having seen many a gator while boating and boarding...I must be getting old because that one kinda scares me. He BIG!! I know the tags are not cheap but you got your $$ on that one for sure!! For anybody to be upset about the harvesting of this gator is absurd. To suggest you goto a food source miles away..pff why when you have a great food source where you are. No chemicalks preservites all natural and great tasting!! You ever have a cook out I am in!! Love the stuff! Happy and safe hunting!!

Tim Srock,
I was curious how you took your gator, Googled this, and I guess it fairly describes your experiences as well.

http://www.armytimes.com/offduty/spo...ting_120108od/

Good luck to you. I won't be competing for your gators.

Does gator taste like chicken?

Has anyone ran/hit there wake boat a gator? (unintentionally of course)

No, just regular 'ol Leupold mounts.

Tags are not that expensive. I think it was $265 that gives you 2 tags. If you have access to the right boat the rest of the gear is not too expensive but its never free.

Those are one of the few things I don't miss about living in Florida.... a few critters I won't miss from my short time down there:
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...602_5763_n.jpg
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...552_6408_n.jpg
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...532_6706_n.jpg
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...552_6953_n.jpg
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...162_6890_n.jpg

Hey Nick if we can keep these scare tactics up we'll soon have the water to ourselves! I don't like those snakes. They used to get a little aggressive on the dock.

"Killing a gator is like killing a great white" BAHAHAHAHAHA who is this guy. Stu Im aware of everything in the water here in FL and if I ever saw a gator near my house, dog, or children, espeically that size (if I had children) I'd kill it with or without a tag.

Stu's issue with me is that I "murder for sport" but in respect to the conversation, Florida wildlife officers are responding to 2500 nuisance gator call per year and its not from humans moving into their habitat. Gators show up anywhere there is food and water and they grow.

If your neighborhood changed and 1 in every 10th house in your neighborhood was a mean fight bread pit bull that was let out every sunset, I'm sure action would be taken.

My gator was taken from an area where many ski and there are many more than this one and of equal size. But it is a known area for gators and the locals know the "rules". If a gator becomes an obvious threat they are removed. If people feed or harass the gator they end up in jail. These big gators know people are a threat and that helps us all live together.

man what is that fish with pitchfork?? that thing is uuuuuugly

You guys in FL think you have it bad, we have Manbearpig lurking around AZ

Hahaha! Thank you Al Gore! but screw you guys, I'm going home

Hey we have tree hugging granola eating PETA supporting liberals in Cali. TOP THAT!!!

^Just tell them to respect your authoritah!

They are the fish that most people have in their aquarium as the sucker/cleaner fish... they got loose in the wild are are destroying everything

They are nicknamed "Armored Catfish", which is a perfect name since their skin/shell is hard as bone.... I watched a kid smack one 50+ times with a wooden canoe paddle and the paddle broke before the fish even had a scratch on it. They're insanely tough and the spines on their back are stupid strong/sharp

Yeah...we shouldnt worry about gators here in FL...HA, yeah right!

This screenshot is from googlemaps, they are all well over 8ft, surrounding a 100ft deep sinkhole (stumbled across this on my sup forum)

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/09/18/a6etare7.jpg