Something to think about/NDR

[John Van Houten]

So, I spend alot of time on Lake Okeechobee in a gator trax boat with a mud motor. I was coming in from crappie fishing when I noticed a large dead gator floating in about a foot of water. As the weeks went on I saw that he bloated and deteriorated. I pulled up to the remains and there laid a perfect skeleton of the gator on the bottom.Of course I had the grandchildren with me, I thought it was an adventure for them. The 15 year old started gagging and the 4 year old told me "smells like poop". I reached down and picked up the head and brought it home, and here it is. I could see where a outboard hit the back of the head,which probably killed it. From the nose to the eyes is 13.5 inches which I heard is how you determine the length. Morale of the story don't put your dog in the water on Lake Okeechobee.View attachment 20200429_141131.jpgView attachment 20200208_073007.jpg

 

[greg setter]

When I lived in Lauderdale in the early 80's I used to go to a place called Uncle Joe's Fish Camp on Lake Okeechobee. I would rent a boat and motor down the rim canal and turn in at a spot they had told me about and hunt ringnecks. I also used to do the same thing at Loxahatchee NWR. And if I had a dog then, I wouldn't hunt them in either place with all of the gators I saw!

 

[Carl]

That's a big gator!

We ran over one with a 16x56 GD boat with a 35 hp longtail.
It was early winter and it was laid up in the mud in about 6" of water.
We didnt see him until he was under the bow, pretty much perpendicular to the boat. There was a lot of gator on either side as we went over him, so he had to be at least 9-10'.
I dont think we hurt him but neither of us were very happy about the event!

 

[Dani]

That's a monster!

My only really scary gator contact was actually dogless, in a lake that is part sinkhole that opens up from time to time and drains. I can tell you that the big gators dislike mightily being paddled over in the middle of the night. I felt what I thought was a log under me because the water was so low. And then the log exploded in a huge fury and all I could think of was don't fall out of the canoe. Early foggy morning didn't make the scariness any better...

 

[Lou Tisch]

When I was down in Texas, did a bunch of hunting and guiding with my buddy's guide service.
We hunted Choke Canyon, 28,000 acre reservoir. Huge.
I asked Fred why he wasn't taking the dog. He merely stated....Catfish.
Turns out that we found a lot of 6' skeletons of Alligator Gar.
I also, while scouting, found a hanging Catfish skeleton. Somebody had done a fish cook out. It was picked clean.
I brought it back to where we were hunting to show Fred and my oldest son, Brian.
From corner of the jaw to the other corner of the jaw was 24" across.
Fred stated..."hmmm, that's not really a big one". Yike.
Lou