Southeast Alabama gator hunt. Tips and tactics for a newbie

[hunter1370]

Hey guys. I have applied two years in a row for the southeast Alabama gator hunt and was successful this year. I am completely new to this type of hunting and everyone on the boat will be greenhorns as well. I have looked on multiple sites for tips and tactics and they all differ, but I decided on using harpoons with darts instead of a bow and arrow. I've got 2 drivers, 4 darts, ropes, buoys, and snatch hooks (12/0 and 14/0). Can i just throw the snatch hooks with rope attached or do I need a rod/reel? Also most of the tactics I've read are about using bait which is illegal in Alabama. Can you normally just get in close and spear them without having to pull them in with the hooks or are the hooks necessary on the older and wiser ones? We only get 1 tag here in Bama and I might not draw again because more and more people apply every year. I want to be realistic but I also want to hang a big one cause this could be my one and only shot here in my home state. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Also does anyone know of anyone in the Eufaula area that processes the meat and/or hides??

[jpatz18]

A rod and reel is a lot easier but you can try it with a rope i doubt your get the distance like you would with a rod and reel. Heres the video of the site owner snatch hooking them and what you can expect.

Looks like there not a google search came up with this.
Because there are no official alligator processors in Alabama, Chuck said most of the animals were sent to processors in Georgia. Georgia has had an alligator hunting season since 2003, and some deer processors are also licensed to process alligators.

[admin]

You can get close enought to them to harpoon them directly. Your gators probably have not been harassed as much either. There are two ways to get close to harpoon them. One being stealth. We will use a trolling moter and make sure everyone is quiet as you approch the gator. Do not take the light off of them. If he goes down he may just have dropped down to the bottom. We have gotten gators by throwing the harpoon where they went down at. The other way is by speed. There are times where we will harpoon the gator while we are going quite fast. This takes much more practice. You must quickly look to see if it is the gator you want and then harpoon it. I would go with the first method. We use a rod to cast the hooks at a gator we do not already have a line on. You do not have to have a special rod to use the hooks. The line is the big thing. You will not be able to force a big gator to do what you want on a rod and reel. You will be able to keep track of where he is. Just keep the line tight and try to ease close enought to harpoon it. If a gator is stuck and not wanting to come up we will use a big hook on a rope to grab him and ease him up. Do not rush him up. Someone should be ready to stick him once he is up. Do not make loud noises until after you stick him with the harpoon. Then you can make all the noise you want to.

You can process your gator yourself depending on what all you want to do with the gator. If you are going to have a taxidermist do anything with it I would check to see how he would like it cut up. He may even skin it for you. Skinning a gator will take longer than you think. Most all of the hide will have to be cut from the meat. You will also want to be very carefull on cutting thru the hide. If you are going to send you hide off to be tanned then you will have to have it salted. I get mixing salt from the local feed depot. If you let us know what you are wanting out of the gator we can offer more suggestions.

[hunter1370]

That's a great video! Thanks for the tips guys. As for gator processing, I just don't want to waste any of the meat to spoilage and it is gonna be HOT here Aug 13-29 when the season is open. This may sound crazy but I want the skull for display with my deer and turkey mounts. I love European style skull mounts. I will probably do that part myself but I dont want to just waste the hide when someone could make something useful out of it. I don't really have any plans for the hide. What do you guys normally do with your hides? I have cleaned enough deer and turkeys and even hogs that I know I can clean a gator but I wouldn't feel confident that I could do it on a big boy like 10+ feet in time to keep all the meat from spoiling. From some of the pics it looks like you would need a gigantic table and a tractor to get him on there! Guess we'll see. 10 days till gator season in Alabama!!!

[admin]

Put the gator in a big tarp and ice him down before you clean him. If you wrap the tarp around him it will hold the ice right up against him. That way the meat is cool when you start. A big gator takes a few guys to get up on a table. You can skin him out on the drive on a tarp. Thats how I used to do it. Hard on the back.

The skin can be salted or put in a brine solution for the short go while. There may be a local taxadermist that will trade the hide for some work.

I process a lot of skulls like you want to do. No short task. Gators are different than most other animals. There skulls can come out in many pieces. Some short tips. There are 80 teeth that will fall out or come close. The skull can come apart in more peices than you would think possible. I have found that if I cut the lower jaw from the upper jaw I can place both so the teeth fall back into the right holes. I then put them in a black garbage bag and let nature work for a while. It does smell. When it has been in there a while I pick the teeth out and keep them in order. Numbered little bathroom cups works well if you are only working on a skull or two.

[hunter1370]

I saw a slideshow on the Mississippi game and fish department's website on how to skin and clean a gator. Do you recommend leaving just 1 row of scutes on either side of the back, none on the tail, splitting the end of the tail (with cites tag intact) or skinning the whole thing? The back scutes and all? What do you use the hide for? Display as is? Wallet? Boots? Purse for your wife?? (So you can go hunting again) hehe

[admin]

That is how I would due it if you are going to try to have any products made out of it. The backs are a big plate of bones. If you are doing the skull you can try to get the scute bones looking good.

[jpatz18]

you can also use a compressor to separate the skin form the meat. Have you tried that? I think im going to do it this yr, Let me know if you've tried that.

[admin]

We have not tried that. I would think that you would need to have a tank with considerble volume to do that. The other thing to keep in mind is that you may need a drier to keep the moisture that acumilates in the tanks and any oil residue from getting on the meat.

[jpatz18]

Doesn't take much but i do have a 30 gallon compressor. I see if i can get a video, im trying it this year ill probably do it for my first gator ill let you know how it works.