Well I got to knock another one off my bucket list! I got to go alligator hunting in Brazoria county this week. I started my hunt at about 9:00am on a piece of land that was used for rice farming and a bass fishing club. The rice fields were surrounded by canals and the 3 lakes were all very low due to the drought. My hunt started with me getting out of the car to meet my guides who told me "Look, there is a 7-8 footer right therein that canal" (the canal was about 20yds from where I parked). My guides also told me that 7-8 footers were common for this property, but if I wanted a bigger one, we were going to have to look around and see if we could find one. They also told me they thought they knew where a 9+ foot gator was and that we would go look for him first.
The 9+ gator was hanging out in a canal several hundred yards from where we met and that is where we went first. We drove by in a truck to see if they could se him. As we drove by he boiled the water and made a beeline to get in a culvert that connected two canals. The guides told me that the gators use the culverts as a hiding spot and that it was common for them to go there. We circled around in the truck, stopped short of the area, and snuck back to the culvert. There he was with his head at the top of the water, just barely sticking out of the culvert. This was cool. Here it was, not 30 minutes into my hunt, and I had already seen a nice gator.
We spent another hour looking around when one of the guides, Joe, came back and said he had found a nice gator in a hole of water out in the middel of one of the almost dried lakes. We snuck into this area and found where he was. He was under water and so we just camped out waiting. It is amazing how long a gator can stay under water on one breath of air. Usually around 50 minutes. We stayed there and waited. Ater about 45 minutes the guide, Bobby, pointed at the water under an overhanging willow tree. Sure enough, he had come up, but I hod no shot. He filled up with air and sunk back into the murky water. We waited and waited and he never came back up. the guides decided that he must have had a tunnel back into the bank with an air pocket. After an hour and forty five minutes we gave up and went looking elsewhere.
We went back to the culvert where we had seen the first gator and he was still there but would not come out of that culvert. So we then took a break and had lunch.
After lunch, Joe decided he was going to ride around on the 4 wheeler to some different areas and see what he could find. Bobby and I hung out by the culvert playing cat-and-mouse with the 9 footer. Bobby then got a phone call from Joe saying he had found a 8+ footer in a canal and we should come over there. We got in the truck and not one minute later Joe calls again saying he found an even bigger one. We changed plans and went to this spot.
This was in the very corner of the same lake we had tried for the gator under the willow tree before lunch. We arrived and Joe said there was a nice gator that had come up right under a small pier in the shade. I set up on another small pier and waited. After about 30 minutes he surfaced, right under the pier, with the framework of the pier right in the way. I had no shot and after a few seconds he sunk back into the murky water. We waited again and the next time he came up he had moved of to our left, very close to the bank, but was again in a spot where I could not shoot him. I repositioned out to the end of the longest pier which would give me a shot if he came up near that spot again.
Bobby decided he was going to go look at a nearby canal (about 100yds away). I was gazing around and all of a sudden there he was! He came back up in the exact same spot he had the last time. I wasted no time in drawing back and loosing a bowfishing arrow at him. The arrow hit the water and there was a commotion. Next thing I knew, my arrow was swimming around and geting deeper until it disappeared under the water. I had hit him and had a fishing arrow in him! He went to the bottom and stopped.
The guides quickly came back and confirmed that I had hit the gator. We then rigged up another fishing arrow. When he came back up the next time I shot again but bounced this one off his head. He went back down to the bottom. The next time he came up I was able to put the second fishing arrow in him. Now it was time to start with broadheads!
The guides told me of a spot near the back of the head that I needed to put a broadhead to quickly dispatch the giant beast. The next time we got him up to the top I shot. He went to move as I let go and I missed the spot. This alligator went nuts and I though he was going to come out of the water and eat all three of us! It took a couple more shots but I finally got that "spot".
After he was done for, it took all we had to get him out of the water and up on dry land. This was a giant in my book! I had no idea he was as big as he was until we got him out of the water. We put a measuring tape to him and it taped out at 11' 1". We weighed him and that total was 390 pounds.
I had an awesome time on this hunt! Thanks again, Bobby and Joe! Y'all really know your gators. The cool thing about this was it was all trad bowhunting/bowfishing. There were no hook lines and there was no bang-stick or shotgun used.
See y'all later,
Bisch
Topic: Trad Gator!!!! (Read 2179 times)
