Hunting dinosaurs

[NDNRoger]

I see lots of pictures this year of people hunting gators. Saw on the news about a 5 year old that killed a huge gator with a rifle in east Texas. Buff and Chunky show of course gets huge ratings. Congratulations to Mark for a nice big gator.

I bought the alligator hunt with Larry Janik at the banquet this year. First time for me to attempt gator hunting. Larry is a great guy and has been at this for many years. He has many an alligator story to tell. We were hunting on Lake Texana.

The weekend before I was to hunt Larry and his son killed a couple 13 footers. But the day we were to begin baiting the lines, a cold front blew in and it was raining all day. Larry was concerned that we would not see much and the gators would shut down. Larry is genuine and wants you to get a big gator. So we baited in the rain.

The best part about gator hunting? Great hours! I met Larry at his place at 8 AM the next morning and we headed for the lake. Our first two spots had nothing and I could tell Larry was really concerened, but I told him I felt good wbout this hunt and we would be fine. I was really only thinking about a 9 or 10 footer. The second spot had a gator on! We wrestled him out of the weeds and I stuck an arrow in him. That was when I realized I had not practiced shooting my bow at point blank range. The arrow did not paralyze him as it should have as I missed the mark. Another arrow did the trick and we got him in the boat. The next 2 spots also had gators on the line and we dispatched those as well. We ended the morning with an 8, 7 and 5 foot gators, then baited an area where the lake authorities had been seeing a huge gator hanging around.

The sun came out for an hour or so in the early afternoon but then it began clouding up again. We killed another 8 footer and then took the air boat over to the spot we had baited that morning. The bait was down and we knew we had a gator on. We were both hoping it was the big one seen there. The water was only 2 feet deep and weedy as we eased up in there. I started to grab the line but could not find it. Larry then tells me he tied it to the T post low and under water and not to reach for it or I might get bit!! I looked around in hopes I could see where the gator might be laid up and watching us. I could not believe my eyes when I did see him about 15 yards off to the right. What a monster!

As Larry was trying to get ahold of the line, I snapped a quick picture and readied my bow. The first arrow pissed him off! As he was rolling I nocked another arrow and waited. When he seemed to settle down, I hit him again and this time the arrow found its mark! We let him bleed out for awhile and celebrated! Larry was as happy about killing this gator as I was!

Unfortunately for us, the winch in the boat was not working! We had to tie him up to the side of the boat and drag him to the boat dock! Getting him in the back of the truck was another challenge but we managed by dragging him to a pier and backing the truck up to that, then dragging the gator into the truck. Luckily the water was really low or no telling how we were getting that thing home!

11' 5" long
49" around
380 lbs

[NDNRoger]

*crickets chirping*

[BOBSTER]

Roger, great recap of your gator hunt. Congrats on a awesome gator. Larry is a great guy and does take many big gators each year. Bob

[Hot4huntin]

Man, oh, man! What a hoss of a gator, Roger! Great recap of the events! A gator hunt is something every bowhunter should experience.

Congrats on a successful hunt!

[BOBSTER]

Roger, I forgot to add, by the looks of your pics, your gator still has all of its parts. It is nice to have a gator that has lived that long (over 80 years) and still has all of it legs and tail. There are a lot of gators that will be missing some or most of its tail, and a leg or two. They are a tough critter. I have seen many of arrows bounce off of gators this year. Even a small gators head will deflect an arrow. Even had one hunter run out of arrows. If you ever plan on going gator hunting, take a lot of arrows. Like Roger mentioned. Most people do not practice to take a close shot. Bob

[NDNRoger]

He tasted good too! Lots of meat in my freezer!

You know Bobby, the first gator we pulled out was missing his front right leg. It was a very old and healed up wound. They are amazing creatures to survive a missing limb like that.

[Ronny]

Great job Roger and nice recap. I'll bet that was a blast.

[NDNRoger]

Thanks Ronnie! Yes it was a blast! I kept telling myself not to fall out of the boat!

[Chunky]

Roger, CONGRATS!!! on a fantastic trophy. Way to go my friend. That was a very good write up as well.

I am going to cook some up tomorrow....how did you fix yours?

[Ronny]

I kept telling myself not to fall out of the boat![/quote]


That would be my worst FEAR

[NDNRoger]

Mark,

You got yourself a dandy too!

Larry tells me the secret to good gator meat is to make sure all the fat is cut away. Then he runs the cutlets through the tenderizer twice. He also does some that goes through only once and mixes fajita seasoning with it.

I took out about 5 lbs of the fajita meat. We cut half into small strips and chicken fried it while I grilled the other half. We prefer the chicken fried as the grilled had a fishy taste. I think its because the grill will not cook out the juices completely. Maybe if you had a very hot fire? Anyway, find your best chicken fried recipe and use that. Larry says you can cut his cutlets with a fork.

Ronnie,

I loved the no feeding the alligators sign! You could not pay me to swim in that lake!

[DoubleJ]

Great job Roger!! Good write up too. I hope we see these gator success stories in the magazine. It's good to show the diversity of bowhunting. I guess I'm gonna have to give it a try next year.

[biggen]

Congrats Roger looked like a blast!! Especially since it is bigger than Marks!

[Chunky]

Brad, what makes you think it is bigger than mine? I think are gators are almost exactly the same size....which is pretty cool by the way.

I don't remember.....do you have one?

[biggen]

sniff,sniff,ouch!!