The First Hunt

With bellies full of burgers, beer and the best gator tail we have ever tasted, we arrived at Lake Pierce - Beautiful! (and eerie...)

The scenery from the boat was awesome! Natural and as we would come to learn, more dense than the trophies we set out to catch!

Mike & I were excited to be out hunting, which is MUCH better than watching gator hunters on television from the comfort of our moss green couch!

Right away we started looking for alligator snouts and heads poking out of the water. 

If they went underwater before we got to them, we would follow their bubble trail around (if we were lucky enough to see one!). After several great attempts at snatching a few 6-8 footers, we cruised around to look for more.

 

We hunted all through the night, which was exciting! (& buggy & spidery!)

We saw A LOT of gator babies and juveniles, which would let out a high-pitched yunk if you squeezed them. (... which we didn't do.)

Mike tried his hand at harpooning.

After about 13 hours of hunting, the sun finally started to come up.

I was glad that it was because I was cold, damp, bug bitten and in a lot of pain from trying to sleep on a cooler for ~ 5 of those 13 hours! 

This was the first sunrise Mike & I had shared in our 2 1/2 years together. 

We both agreed to start sharing more sunrises because they are beautiful!

:)

Well, still no catch...uh oh. We had seen about 6 medium size gators in all and a ton of babies - they were everywhere! The larger gators were onto all of our tricks and certainly did not want to get caught! They wouldn't let us get even within a hundred yards before they would sink to the bottom into the deep muck and refuse to come up! So our guide decided it was time to take a break & grab a cup of joe at a lakefront store that had just opened. After pulling an all-nighter on the boat, we all agreed that coffee never tasted better!

The mist on Lake Pierce after the sun had risen created a feeling of mystery.

The great mystery after a difficult night of hunting was, "How in the heck were we going to catch our gators?" Our guide assured us he would figure it out! We weren't going to give up easily so we cruised around the lake for a few more hours looking.

Were they in there somewhere?

Mike got a couple chances to use the crossbow.

At 10am our hunt came to an end. We had hunted for 17 hours! Our guide reassured us that I had drawn a difficult lake, the gators were wise and skiddish, and that we had been dealt every bit of bad luck imaginable. But hey, at least we were still alive! I could go to work tomorrow with all of my limbs and Mike could too. Even though we had to go home without our two gators we still had a blast!

So our hunt continues!

We hope that we get our two monsters before the season ends!

All About Alligators

This blog entry is all about alligators! 

It contains information that every Florida seventh grader knows & you should know too!  

 Adult male alligators can weight more than 1,000 pounds and grow as long as 14 feet.

 Feeding alligators makes them lose their fear of humans.

 A hand-fed alligator becomes a nuisance and will be trapped and destroyed.

 Dense native shrubs around bodies of fresh/brackish water can discourage alligators from sunning in your yard.

 Adult alligators dig holes or take care of holes that hold water year-round. Other fish and wildlife use gator holes during times of drought.

A female alligator can be fiercely protective of her nest, eggs and young. She is never far from her hatchlings.

I hope you learned something today!

Large Lizards & Herons

Anyone who knows me well knows that my favorite animal of all time is the heron. Especially the Great Blue Heron. Great Blue Herons would arrive unannounced, in the pond just outside our house when I was child and I was always surprised & I delighted to see them and watch them hunt!

I love the way they jumped easily away as if they are floating on air and then jump back again and then jab at the water and throw their head up to juggle some squirming little animal and swallow it with hurried zest. Over and over again I would watch the heron walk quietly around the edge of our pond, stop and stand statuelike for a time (a long time), then just as I would start getting impatient, it would suddenly strike out into the water more often than not lift out a succulent morsel.

When any of us ever got too close, the heron would squawk in outrage and take flight. Only to land in a nearby tree or on the bank at the far end of the pond. Directly opposite of where you were standing. I always thought of the cries of the Great Blue Heron to be gross overreactions to wrongs that were quite minor. Repeated causes to these outbursts would be our family dog(s) or frequent trips to the vegetable garden or to the barn to feed the animals.

The funniest Great Blue I had ever seen was at Blue Spring State Park in  Deland, FL. http://www.floridastateparks.org/bluespring/ It was just standing there, drying it's wings..but up until this point in my life, I had never witnessed a bird drying it's wings...

...he was totally exposed, like a naked man in a trench coat asking me, "Would you like to buy a watch?". I was stunned and didn't know what to say.

Herons will eat almost anything! From huge fish, to snakes, to gophers, to ducks and even RABBITS like you'll see in this video:

In the weeks spent waiting for the license, permit & tags to arrive in the mail, I couldn't help but think about the relationship that exists between alligators and herons in Florida. I have read that a lot of the trees the herons nest in are there because the gator built a high bank around a permanent water hole. The herons start to come in and nest and accidentally drop the odd egg, young bird, or fumbled or regurgitated fish into the pool, thus unwittingly aiding the gator in her foraging. The gator being down there would keep off some of the raccoons and snakes that would climb any trees that had no gator under them and eat the eggs and young of herons nesting in such trees. Thanks gator!

Getting Our Bearings

I strongly urged Mike that we should attend a training and orientation program that was being offered on August 7 (Sunday) before we went hunting.
It took us a little over an hour to drive out to Okeechobee where it was being held.  We arrived a little early and when we walked in, there were all sorts of vendors lining the perimeter of the room waiting for us! Places like "Southern Life", "Gator Pro", and "Bad to the Bone Taxidermy" had all sorts of equipment, tools and products displayed for sale.
The outfitters were eager to help us out with all of our gator hunting needs! They encouraged us to purchase their equipment TODAY to take advantage of deals they were offering especially because their equipment is "the best available" and "found nowhere else". We had to let them down gently and say we didn't need anything this year because we were going with a guide who had everything. BUT if we had a really great time and wanted to get into hunting, THEN we would start looking at getting equipment NEXT YEAR.
The guides "had the most experience" and claimed to be the only ones to "get you the most involved in the hunt". They offered to help us fill our two tags but I had to tell them that we were already taken. PLUS the guide I chose a few weeks ago offered a better deal!
The leather tanners & taxidermists were truly enticing! I couldn't help starting a mental wish list of all the things I wanted to do with our gators! We perused the information and talked with people who were there before the training & orientation seminar began.

We learned how to use harpoons, snatch hooks, baited wooden pegs and snares...

 

...how to effectively use a bang stick.  

It's important to mention that a bang stick should be discharged below the waterline when killing an alligator to reduce the potential for aerial dispersal of bullet and bone fragments!  Yikes!

We were shown how to humanely kill our catch...

(which is when I started to wonder if I could keep two adult gators as pets?!?)

(If you are also wondering, the answer is no.)

 

...then haul it into the boat and where to tag it!

 The program ended with a video on how to process our alligators. While it was playing, Mike was figuring out if and how it would be possible to process our gators ourselves back at the apartment. Although I would like to also, I told him I didn't think it would be a very good idea with the wall to wall carpeting and that it might hurt Jeeb's (Mike's Bearded Dragon) feelings. Maybe next year :)

All Fired Up!

So I was all fired up about going hunting when it dawned on me. How was Mike or Dr. Fred going to go?!? I was also wondering if there was anything else I needed to do or get in order to go hunting so I shot an email over to FWC hoping they could offer some help. If anybody knew the answers it would be them! I hoped. Here is what corresponded:

Dear FWC,

I have a few questions I hope you can clear up for me!

1. I was awarded an alligator hunting permit & two tags in Phase I & I purchased
it. Do I need to purchase anything else in order to go hunting?

2. A friend of mine wants to come with me so he purchased an alligator trapping
agent license & saltwater fishing license. Is he all set to go?

Thanks! Elisa

1) No. The trapping license and tags will be mailed to you in mid and late July. 2) Anyone assisting you in the take must have an alligator trapping license or an alligator agents license. Your friend is good to go.
YES! I said aloud. Awesome.

THE Email

"Dear Alligator Permit applicant" the email read. 

Alligator Permit Drawing Results were posted! The drawing for Phase I of the alligator harvest permit issuance process was complete and I could check the status of my application online to see if it had been drawn.

I checked Mike's application first. ***Unsuccessful*** then Dr. Fred's ***Unsuccessful*** Uh oh, this was not looking good. I finally checked my application. Was mine drawn? YES!!! :D

 ***Successful***

I had won the gator lottery!!! I had the privilege to hunt for two gators in Lake Pierce during the week of 08/15/2011-08/22/2011. The deadline to purchase the awarded permit was June 6th. I purchased mine the same day I had received the email. I could not let my permit be forfeited and made available during Phase II. I purchased my permit online, which was not free. Although I was out $280.59 before the adventure had even begun. I didn't care. I couldn't have been happier!

I waited anxiously for my license, permit & two tags to be mailed to me by FWC in July along with my training and orientation manual...

 

Apply Now!

It was the morning of May 16th. I was sitting in a comfy chair at my favorite coffee shop ***rb*cks reading the previous week's Weekender when I read the headline, "Apply for alligator-hunting permits beginning May 4". I thought to myself, Why haven't I heard of this before? Why hasn't anyone told me this was going on? I read further. "The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) will begin accepting applications on May 4 (May 4th! That's already gone by!)..for a chance to obtain highly coveted permits to participate in the statewide alligator harvest. Applications submitted will be entered in a random drawing to assign permits." I kept reading. "Applications will be accepted from 10 a.m. May 4 through 11:59 p.m.  May 17 (May 17th?! Well that's TOMORROW!)". I jumped out of my chair, ran out of the coffee shop and drove home to my laptop to apply!

I was thrilled to learn that a person can submit one no-cost application, which provides the option of prioritizing up to five hunt areas and period choices and that all those seeking a harvest permit must be 18 years old by Aug 15 (Check!). So I filled out an application for my boyfriend Mike, my associate chiropractor Dr. Fred (who really wants to "choot a gator!" and myself. Everyone else I frantically called and texted politely said, "No thanks.". The five hunt areas I chose were Lake Pierce, Lake Marian, Kissimmee River (Pool E), Lake Hatchineha, and Kissimmee River (Pool A). My period choice was 1 of course! I wanted to be one of the first ones out there to cherry pick my two gators. I printed out a copy of my application and displayed it proudly on the fridge like a trophy. Already feeling like I had won the gator lottery. 

 Now a permit allows the harvest of two alligators on a designated area. And there are more than 6,000 alligator harvest permits available each year. This is because while everybody in Florida is tolerant of fence lizards, geckos, anoles and other small lizards running, climbing, and clinging on their property, most people are intolerant of alligators exhibiting similar behaviors.

Thus, the statewide alligator harvest is an important component of alligator management in Florida. It has always appeared to me that anybody lucky enough to have a personal or neighborhood wild alligator ought to be so gratified that she would gladly put up with inconveniences in order to perpetuate the gator's happy state. This could possibly be due to the fact that alligators and I go way back. In fact, before I was even born my mother Eileen kept a baby caiman as a pet.

And when I was little I would play for hours with my rubber alligator bath toy outside in the roadside streams and were the culverts took the water under the road and dumped it into a pool.

While attending chiropractic school, some of my early adventures included hiking La Chua Trail and I have observed many times alligators lying in passive stacks on mud bars in Alachua Sink.

 

or drifting balefully about in ambush at The Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, FL.

An alligator is not likely to meet a violent end if it can avoid hunters. Mature alligators have almost no natural enemy. If people have anything approaching a valid complaint against alligators it is of their willingness to live in urban and suburban lakes and ponds. They even show up on highways or in yards or swimming pools of suburban homes. Alligators have a strong sense of locale. Once relocated, they will often return to the very place they were removed from. They also relocate to avoid drought, which draws unnaturally heavy numbers of alligators to deeper water and stimulates competition among them.

 The drought conditions in Florida this year didn't help any!

 In addition alligators also have unmannerly eating habits. They eat almost any kind of animal food available and for this reason it is against the law for the public to feed alligators...ANYTHING! Even marshmallows, which they are especially fond of! The problem is that if alligators fall into the custom of watching out for edibles thrown down by people on banks and boardwalks it makes you wonder why an alligator might not interpret the odd child falling into the water as some offering thrown down! The tendency of even the tiniest alligator to grab hold of an edible object too big to swallow and then spin in the water till a piece is torn away is reason enough to go out and harvest a couple gators. I want to help keep the population from getting out of control, to protect the children...and the PUPPIES! I sure hope my application is chosen!!!