Alligator Hunting and Family Fun - Billy's Story Added

[elkken]

The smiles say  it all ... great hunt, congrats

[ishiwannabe]

Wow guys....what a great time it must have been. Thanks for taking the time to share it. Now, what about some of that gator meat?  :D  Terry....I may need that recipe! Lol.

[bill langer]

Although we got home Thursday from the gator hunt I have been too busy catching up at home to post. And this will be short and sweet until I have time later this week with the story and more pics.
First off thank you Terry Receveur for making this possible and being such a great host. Thank you Jen for looking after Billy at the pool while the old farts slept!
Thank you Capp Williams and Jay Trent (the local gator experts) for helping out with Eric's and Billy's gators.
Eric Port (PBS hunter) and Gene Shrout (Terrys old Indiana buddy) thanks so much for making Billy feel so special and all of you for welcoming my family like we were old friends.
Thanks Dad and Billy for sharing "THE 3 GENERATIONS HUNT " with me!
We have been told Billy is the youngest bowhunter to take an alligator with a longbow- all "traditional" no "bang stick". One shot one arrow! Billy has always made me proud and this gator hunt just keeps me grinning from ear to ear!!
More pics and story to come...

[Tyler2045]

My wife was reading and we are wondering if may ask how old is Billy? Also congrats on the grators and congrats on having a family that hunts together means a lot to us sons when our father take us hunting. I am only 22 and hoping to get to hunt with my dad this year for the first time in about 7 years. Keep it up and be proud. As I know you are. God Bless, Tyler

[bill langer]

Hey Tyler
Billy is 10. My father and I both shot about 6 arrows each before we connected. I still think arrows should be shot with no strings attached...but that is probably because I am no good at it. Anyway-Billy did it with his first shot, it was somthing to see.

I hope you get to hunt with your dad this year Tyler-GOOD LUCK!!

Will be back later with the story...

[IndianaBowman]

Bill, I didn't think much about it, but I bet Billy is THE youngest hunter to ever take a alligator with a longbow. There might be some Seminole Indian somewhere back in time, but I bet Billy holds the distinction of being the youngest in modern times.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it until I'm proven wrong. We definitely have proof as it is all on film.  That is something Billy will have for the rest of his life. Pretty sweet!

You have every right to be proud. Billy is not only a great shot and hunter, but he is a very polite and well mannered young man.

[bill langer]

I think the experts are right, Terry.  Billy's definately the youngest to take one on video with a longbow.

[bill langer]

This story begins at the 2010 JLMBH at Shawn Leonard's house.  After reading an article in PBS magazine about Terry Receveur and his kids hunting alligator in Florida, I asked him how I would go about getting a tag for Billy to hunt.  He said just get family and friends together and apply for the upcoming season in August.  And so we did.  My father drew Okeechobee West which gave us two tags, and Terry had two tags from the PBS contest. Eric Port, the winner of the PBS contest, would shoot the first gator, Billy would shoot the second on that tag, and my dad and I would shoot the two gators that were allowed with his license and tags.
Terry said that we could all stay at his father's house in Okeechobee, and that his friends, Capp Williams and Jay Trent, local gator experts, would help us with Eric and Billy's gators, and that my dad and I would hunt with Terry in his boat when Eric and Billy were finished.  So that was the plan, the stage was set, and off we went.  Billy will take the story from here...

[bill langer]

Hi everybody, this is Billy Jr.  And this is the first time I am posting on Tradgang using my dad's computer.  My mom is helping me type.  

We left on August 14th.  My grammy dropped us off at Bradley International Airport.  I was a little nervous about flying at first but once I got on the airplane and was in the air I was fine.  

Our plane landed at Orlando International Airport and we used the shuttle to get to the rent a car place.  We got our car, and started to drive to Mr. Receveur's house.  

When we got to the house we met Mr. Terry, his daughter Jen, Eric Port, and Gene Shrout.  Then we went scouting for alligator.  We saw a few small ones.  But the next day we were going alligator hunting.

 
Papa, me, and Daddy

 
Getting the gear ready in Mr. Terry's boat

 
This is me standing at the back of Mr. Capp's boat just before we shove off for my first gator hunt

 
Eric, me, and Jay Trent waiting for Mr. Capp to come aboard

Eric hunted first and saw quite a few gators.  Legal hunting hours are one hour before dark until one hour after day light.  Although we saw a bunch of nice gators, and Daddy got great video footage, Eric had no shots until after dark.  His first 3 shots were misses.      but his 4th shot found its mark.      I witnessed the three misses but had to watch the hit on video because I was sleeping at that point.  They yelled my name a bunch of times and Daddy had to shake me to wake me.  It was all caught on tape.  Once I was awake it was very exciting getting the gator into the boat.

 
Mr. Capp, Eric, and his gator

 
Me and Eric with his gator

After a quick break and some chicken fingers, it was time for my hunt.  But it's getting late so I have to go to bed.  I'll tell you about my hunt tomorrow.

[Big Ed]

Way to go Billy!!!

[IndianaBowman]

Awesome job Billy!  Great story telling. Can't wait to hear the rest and I was there!  

[Mudd]

Great job Billy!!

I think you've got this story telling stuff down...lol Keep'em hanging on for the next installment.

Congratulations on your hunt and gator!

I think it's awesome that you got to do something this cool with your family.

I'll be hanging around myself as I too am waiting for the next chapter of your hunt.

God bless,Mudd

[PA stickbow boy]

GREAT STUFF!!!  

[rushlush]

Very cool!

[VTer]

Good job Billy.       I can't believe your 10 all ready. Seems like I've watched you grow up on your Dad's videos. Can't wait to hear more of your story    

[bill langer]

Hi it's Billy Jr. again.  Thanks for posting all the nice comments!  

I'll start off telling about my hunt with how I began practicing for it.
My story begins in the summer when I was practicing for the gator hunt.  Me and my brother Ben went frog hunting at my dad's shop.  Also, I shot at water jugs with my dad's heavy fish arrow.  We went frog hunting at night so I could sort of feel what it was like to shoot an alligator at night.  But most of what I felt was the bugs and mosquitoes.      It is kind of hard to see at night even with the lights.  

And that brings us to my hunt.  It was dark, with the faint light of Mr. Capp's headlight.  I was about 10 minutes into my hunt from the time Eric shot his gator when Mr. Capp saw a good 6 foot gator for me to shoot.  We slowly crept up to it until Mr. Capp said, "Billy, stand."  Then he told me to shoot.  I was feeling fully awake then.  Then I shot, and "thump", it hit right in the back of the jaw!  First shot!  The gator splashed around covering himself in weeds.  It took us a while to get the gator in because it was putting up a pretty good fight.  But finally we got it up to the boat.  Mr. Capp then grabbed it by the jaws with his bare hands and Jay Trent taped up the jaws.  They made sure it was dead first with a knife before we pulled it into the boat.  I helped get my gator into the boat.  

 
Daddy, me, Papa, and Mr. Capp with my gator.  Thanks for your help Mr. Capp

 
Daddy, me, Papa, and Mr. Terry and my gator.  I really appreciate the help that Mr. Terry and his daughter Jen gave me and their hospitality.  It was really fun being with them, especially when we weren't hunting and I was at the pool with Jen.

Hey Mr. Terry, if you are out there, please post some more of your pictures of me, Daddy, and Papa with my gator.  They are really good ones.

 
I plan on making a rug out of my gator.  We also brought home 30 pounds of meat that we will have at my birthday party on Friday.  I forgot to tell you that the first night in Florida we ordered alligator at the Cowboy's restaurant and it was so good that we ordered seconds.  I can't wait to have it again.

It's time to go to bed now.  I'll write about Papa and Daddy's hunt tomorrow.

[adeeden]

 Well done young man, on the hunt and story!

[Guru]

How cool! Great story telling Billy    

Congrats again little buddy...you'll have to make sure you come to NY so you and Cade can shoot together    

[IndianaBowman]

Sure thing Billy!

Here is Billy hoisting his gator into the boat.
 

This is dad (Bill) congratulating Billy on a fantastic job with proud Papa looking on. Folks this picture pretty much sums up the whole trip. A happy and proud family.
 

As the old saying goes "a family that plays together, stays together".

[IndianaBowman]

This is Billy checking out his gator.
 

This a good view of how you hunt for gators.