Orange Lake Florida Gator Adventure

[Chris Surtees]

The seed for this hunt was planted in my dad and myself over a year ago by our good buddy and fellow Trad Gang member Benjy.

Three seasons ago Benjy was lucky enough to draw a South Carolina gator tag and harvest a gator on his first night out.

After his hide was tanned he asked my dad about building some items for him out of his hide.

   

   

   

[Chris Surtees]

The following Spring Benjy calls us with the idea of putting in for tags in the hopes of one of us drawing.

As luck would have it I drew that year and planning begun.

Honestly I knew nothing about hunting gators but Benjy was there pumping information to me about what he had learned.

To put a long story short we both learned a ton about hunting gators and also the challenges of finding them in tidal rivers.

After 3 weekends of hunting our effort was paid off with his little fella.

 

[Chris Surtees]

Fast forward to this spring and the application process.

Both me and my dad applied for South Carolina in hopes of hunting with Benjy again.

We also started looking into Florida gator hunting and lakes close to us that provides good opportunities for hunting the big lizards.

There was not much available in our area of Northwest Florida but just below Gainesville there were several lakes that looked promising so we applied for the one in our area and four more down in the Ocala/Gainesville area.

When the smoke cleared neither me or my dad drew in SC but he drew area 722 (Orange Lake). Of course much research on the Lake was started and from reports it appeared to be a good lake but finding big gators was hard.

Of course we wanted to boat a big gator but decided that anything large enough for quivers, knife sheaths, and armguards would not be passed up...plus the smaller gator seem to have better tasting meat:)

[Mudd]

I like where this seems to be heading!  

Keep it coming Chris, you're doing great so far!


Thank you!

God bless,Mudd

[Chris Surtees]

Now onto the hunt...we headed out from my place in Georgia on Saturday afternoon towards our base of operations the Twins Lakes Fish camp.

Upon arrival everything was quickly thrown into the cabin, the boat was put into the water, and readied for a scouting trip onto the lake.

On the way down the creek I could not help but imagine what the Thompson brothers felt like the first time they hunted the swamps of central and South Florida.

 

 

 

[Chris Surtees]

The amount of animal life on the creek was amazing not to mention the birds which I was completely fascinated with...I can tell you driving an 18 foot boat on a narrow creek trying to take pictures is not advisable:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Whip]

Very cool Chris. You know I'll be following this one close. ;>)

[Margly]

This is looking good  

[knife river]

Originally posted by Whip:
Very cool Chris. You know I'll be following this one close. ;>)

Why's that, Whip?        

[Terry Green]

   

[recurvecody]

i'm liking what i read chris i'll be following this one closely. awesome gator by the way!

[Pops]

Man o man... I'm ready  

[PowDuck]

Originally posted by Chris Surtees:
The amount of animal life on the creek was amazing not to mention the birds

 

 

 

I call myself a duck hunter but just do not recognize this one. It LOOKS like a duck, I assume it QUACKS like a duck       so .... what kind of duck is it?

Looking forward to the hunt results post. Good luck.    

[mike hall]

     looking good......told the wife this year I'd like to get a gator hunt in the works. Looking forward to the rest of your story. Thanks for posting.
Mike

[swampdrummer]

Looking forward to this one! My old stomping grounds!
 Make sure you take the time to visit Marjorie Rawlings house just down the road from twin lakes.
If you go back to town for gas the Pearl station in Micanopy has some of the best BBQ in the state.

PowDuck, The black duck is a Gallinule. We call em coots.

Good luck!

Brad

[Benjamin199]

Nice pictures,  keep them coming, good luck!

[rastaman]

[Larry Surtees]

I've been reading a lot of threads about father and sons/daughters.  I'm another lucky dad and grandfather when it comes to traditional archery.  Three generations worth of shooters with me, my son, 2 grandsons (1 in Iraq), and my granddaughter.

Before Chris gets into our adventure over these last 4 days, I just want to say that my son is one fellow that goes the extra mile in everything he pursues. I'm a proud dad as many on here are with their children.  Chris is a good father, soldier, Trad Ganger, but most of all my best friend.  

Speaking of best, this was the "best" . . . repeat the "best" . . . Father and Son hunt I could have possibly imagined. Forgot to mention that my wife / Chris' mother was also  with us.

Thank you Son for making this a most memorable hunt, and taking the extra time with your old dad.

Now quit holding up the show and get on with this story . . .

[Larry Surtees]

My wife and I are vacationing and staying with Chris.  It'll be a while before he is back from the Post, so I thought I'd share a couple of pics of his boat.  Not the best pics, but the boat is more than impressive and can get just about anywhere there is water -- Chris had this in some places and with the Mud Buddy motor it easily cut its way through mud and foliage that I thought only an airboat would be able to travel:

 


 


 


 


 

[Chris Surtees]

Saturday afternoon we head down the creek towards the lake on a scouting trip.

While traveling down the creek we notice all the spotted gar and decide tomorrow that a little bowfishing is in order as we head out for opening night.

To say Orange Lake has gators is an understatement! We seen no less than two hundred gators a night...most of course where in the two to four foot range.

Little guys like these were laying everywhere but picking one up is not recommended as they have quite a temper.

 

 

Notice the missing foot! Life in these waters is rough but even with all the gators there is no shortage of wildlife.

Also as a side note this is a legal gator for harvest in Florida. A gator only has to be 9 inches from the nostrils to the vent. This one was quickly released back into the creek so it could go about it's business.

There are some parts of the Lake where gators of this size are so plentiful that it is hard to count the eyes when shined with a light.