Our own Benjy Epting generously offered to take me alligator hunting a few years ago, and the only catch was that I needed to draw a SC tag. He thought my chances were about 50% for first year, 80% by second year, and 100% by the third year. Naturally, I didn’t draw until the fourth year.
Last Thursday I made the drive down to Irmo, SC to meet him and his longtime friend John from Ohio who was also after a gator. John was up first and we spent all night out on the water, but didn’t see anything to shoot until after 3 am. John was unfortunately unable to connect on the opportunities we did end up with. We enjoyed the healthy options at Waffle House later that morning, but there were no alligators in the boat. With a 2+ hour drive each way, there was time for a five hour nap before heading back out. So of course Benjy went and got a haircut instead. Friday evening we launched in a different river and saw a great sunset as we headed up to Benjy’s honey hole.
I missed my first shot at a very nice eight footer within 20 minutes of starting the hunt, my arrow going just under was captured on John’s video camera. The alligator sat there for another couple seconds to taunt me before submerging. But it seemed like a good start compared to how long it took to see alligators the previous night. Then our luck returned and we did not see another shootable gator in Benjy’s favorite creek. I believe it was probably after 3 am (again), back out on the main river, when we finally started seeing some alligators. My second shot was rushed as I was originally going to pass on the little guy before changing my mind as he started to go under. I think I was just as happy I had missed. My third shot resulted in a “You got him!” from Benjy, only to come up with nada. We decided I was still aiming too low. The next one I would aim only an inch below the water line. (For those not familiar, you’re trying to hit the small spot in the neck right behind the skull as the body is generally very deep.) Our luck was changing as it wasn’t long before I had an opportunity for redemption. My fourth shot was perfect. At least we all thought so. But still no gator attached to the arrow.
At this point I was upset with myself and a little depressed. Why couldn’t I make this come together? Even when I made what I thought was the perfect shot, it wasn’t working. Combined with exhaustion, I had basically given up. We had long ago run the trolling motor battery down to about nothing and couldn’t use the floodlight. It was time to go in as far as I was concerned so I set my bow to the side and sat down thinking about what I needed to do to get ready for a third hunt later that night. And sleep – I was definitely thinking about sleep. But John and Benjy were hitting their second wind and were still actively pursuing any glint of reflected flashlight. I figured the effort was futile. When they found another set of eyeballs, I only half-heartedly picked up my bow and readied myself on the bow for the shot. As we got close enough to see he was big enough to shoot, my heart picked up a bit. Not taking chances, Benjy all but put the boat on top of him for me.
I don’t remember aiming. I don’t remember shooting. I remember holding my longbow at half draw, making the decision to shoot him, and then I remember the alligator erupting up out of the water. I can still see his belly in my head as he went straight up and spun around before retreating back underwater. And then it was quickly into recovery mode. I played my alligator on the line gently, not wanting to lose him. Benjy was convinced I smoked him, but I was nervous given how my luck had been rolling. Getting him into the boat was an experience I will always remember. Benjy said he had never had a gator spin that much at the boat. He looked like he’d messed with a giant spider when he was done! In the end it was successful, and he lay secure in the bottom of the boat.
I started cutting the lines off of him as the deliriously sleep-deprived Benjy started chasing a buoy swimming upstream that he thought was attached to another gator someone must have shot and lost. He was using all the juice left in the trolling motor battery and barely closing the gap. Turns out that the buoy was attached to a crab pot and it wasn’t going anywhere, the tide was just going out. Shows what happens when you don’t get enough sleep! As we were all having a good laugh about it, the sun started coming up. We had been on the water all night, and I had quite literally shot my alligator in the 11th hour.
My alligator measured out at 7’-0” and weighed 65#. I used a Hill style bow of my own make that’s 48# @ 29”. The arrow, preordained “Lucky”, was custom from my buddy Gary at D&M just for this trip and only the last 6” survived the annoyed alligator’s incessant biting of anything nearby. My thanks again to Benjy for his generosity and hospitality!
The adventure didn’t end there though. After another breakfast at Waffle House and the long drive home, it was time to skin and butcher the alligator. It was good that I no longer felt tired; it turns out that skinning a gator is not nearly as easy as skinning a deer. When everything was on ice, I turned in and got 2 hours of shuteye before loading up to try and film John filling his tag.
We went back to the first river as John felt it would be key to his own self redemption. And our luck looked to have changed. Getting ready to launch the boat, I saw a pair eyes from the ramp with enough separation that it was a good sized gator. While we were unable to get him in the boat, we kept seeing reflecting eyeballs to pursue. Benjy looked more at ease – this was how it was supposed to be!
At one point we started chasing a set of swimming eyeballs. Through the video camera, I thought it looked to be a fairly big one; but again, you’re looking at very little above water to estimate from. We chased this one up into a small break in the grass on the bank and figured we lost him. Then there was splashing around in the shallow water to the left. And the grass started parting as he came straight back towards us. He came out of the grass directly at the bow of the boat. John was in a bad spot to get the shot off without the line tangling with Benjy. Then the monster thrashed, water went everywhere, and he was gone in the deeper water off to our right. Benjy was visibly floored. He said it was the biggest he had ever seen. While I didn’t get a great look from where I was, John and Benjy were basically standing directly above him as he passed under the bow of the boat. John thought he was 16” wide at the shoulders. Benjy figures he was at least 12 ft. And after he started to calm slightly, Benjy realized the he was glad John hadn’t shot. Not just because of Benjy possibly getting caught in the line, but because he wasn’t sure how we’d even handle a gator that big, especially back up in the grass. Even if we did secure him to the boat, we'd be towing that guy in and calling a crane to put him in the truck.
We found another shootable alligator, but passed due to his location among a bunch of downed trees in the water and our worries he’d get tangled and we’d never recover him. Then we found one that looked small at first, but a bit bigger as we got close. John, who at the end of the first night was ready to shoot just about anything that legal (over 4 ft) was trying to decide whether to shoot this one. Finally, Benjy said, “Well, if you want to go home -- Shoot ‘im!” The shot was good. This particular fellow tried to take a piece out of Benjy’s boat in several spots before we had him secured. John’s gator ended up at 7’-3” and 80#. And the best part? We were in bed by 3 am this time.
Topic: SC Gator Hunting with Benjy (Read 613 times)
