I harpooned a very large gator...

[scgatorhunting]

Guys,
I have been out hunting a few times but don't have all the experience in the world. I have a question for some folks out there. I harpooned a very large gator the other night and was in the weeds on the river. It took off and went down to the bottom but I had the line with my float. I tried to get him to surface to harpoon him again to secure him but he was not budging. I didn't know what to do so we tried to back him out with the boat and yet again he would not budge... I waited for a bit hoping he would surface but I think we may have been inpatient. We tried pulling again with the boat and the harpoon came out. What do you do in that case to land that big monster??? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated... Thanks-

[jpatz18]

You can use a big hook or a 14/0 snatch hook and lower it down there. You should be able to force him up if not just wait him out he will have to breath. If you can keep him moving around, He uses a lot of energy swimming around.

On a side note that why I dont use the darts that turn inside the hide, i only use muzzy for that reason.

[admin]

The main thing is to take your time don't rush to get the gator up because eventually it will need to come up for air. But if you can keep the gator moving you will get him to come up sooner. You always want to get a second line on him before exerting too much pressure on a single line, either with a hook or harpoon in your case a heavy weighted 14/0 on a rope would be a good choice. Also depending on depth of water and length of your harpoon pole you could harpoon it while it is laying on the bottom.

You have to always consider that the gator may have wedged itself under a log or something so you would have to waite for him to come up for air.

As for darts you did not mentioned which style you used but a minimal hit with any dart can pull out. But if a traditional dart is buried deep below the hide it will hold. We have never had one pull out and we have used the same two darts for several seasons in a row taking as many as thirty gators in a season with the same two darts. We have tried to forcefully pull them out once the gator was in the boat but ended up cutting them out. Muzzy darts go in easy and hold good too but have failed by breaking where the cable goes thru the dart or the hole where the driver inserts in the back of the Muzzy gets deformed or gets a tear in the side wall. So make sure you have an extra muzzy or two on hand.