Dot Head

[hm2 clark]

My Highschool aged daughter helped me post these photos.
Grendle dotted forehead. Between 11-12ft.


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[LRRPF52]

What is it about Alligators that makes me admire them so much? Awesome pics. Am I to understand that you whacked him with a Grendel? More details please.

[CPT.CRAZY]

Nice gator! More details please. Did the bullet exit?

[hm2 clark]

2 month old photos. Land owner/friend was hosting a wedding. Cracker style. 300 baked armidillos, gator tail, swamp cabbage and wild pig. He mentioned that he was running short of time to get the Alligator-and he had the tags . I casuallly said I would be glad to help him harvest a few from his land if he wanted. He said "come on over" and told me which ponds to look in. Since he had the permits, I cut otta work after 3. Was using a 6.5 Grendel 115gr AA "cheap" loading berger hollow points. CZ 527, Burris 4x12 scope,18" barrel-shoots 3/4". I parked and walked a couple hunderd yards around the pond and saw a few turtles. Looked down the ditch feeding the pond with my Nikon Superior "E" 10x40 glasses and saw this lizard at maybe 300 yards. He was on the bank. So I snunk up to about 150 yards when he went into the water; he was watching me and I could get no closer the 80 yards before he submerged- but he kept facing me. So I put my back to a tree and wraped the sling around my left arm. I used the 527s set trigger (If you never used a single set trigger you owe it to yourself to try one). Hit him between the eyes and he rolled right overwith his rigth fron and rear legs in the air. Then he sank. In the old day I would have gone in and pulled him out....but insead I got a rod (60 lb test of braided line) and a trebble hook and slowly pulled him out. Needed some help to get him back to the cooler. I did not clean him. I did not cook him. I did eat him. Even my wife ( and she is a yankee) liked the wedding feast!

[LRRPF52]

That is an awesome story daddy! Makes me hungry, and missing the South a bit now, especially around Thanksgiving. I'll take a five-tooth (amongst the lot) redneck Thanksgiving deep-fried turkey over the formal Yankee-style dinners I was raised with, especially if we throw on some cheesecake pumpkin pies afterward.

I can't say I've had gator before. I hit a 13ft-long gator or croc in the head with a coconut in Panama, but that doesn't count. I would really like to make some gator holsters and mag pouches some time for my CC blasters.

[hm2 clark]

No, no exit wound . You can see in the first picture that the entrence wound was huge. I think that was because of the very shallow angle I was shooting at. Big pink mist when I hit him, then he rolled over in what has to be the decorticat posture in a gator; so I knew it was a brain shot. And no bullet recovered. Now that I can maybe (after 5 or 6 years on this site) learn how to post pictures, I'll post some picture of recoverd bullets from animals. Maybe post some hog hunts too.

[bwaites]

Sweet!! I love gator! Tastes like chicken!!! Just kidding!

Very mild, sweet meat.

[RStewart]

I can't say I've had gator before.

It is awesome fried.

[usmc1371]

nice shot hm2clark.

[txgunner00]

Nice. Thanks for sharing.

[QuadCam]

I thought you aren't allowed to shoot gator in Florida? I thought I heard that recently.

[hm2 clark]

There was a time when gators were "endangered" and no hunting was allowed. Now gators, like deer are alowed to be hunted. Almost all public hunts are primitive. But large landowners with problem gators can apply for and are granted special "deprepation permits". Kinda like they are allowed to take limited number of deer out of season if the deer are too numerous and bothering crops. Most ranchers manage their wildlife better then the goverment manages public land.

[Variable]

Congrats on a great gator!

[LightningII]

I thought you aren't allowed to shoot gator in Florida? I thought I heard that recently.

I would bet that most of the Gulf states have some sort of gator tag.
You can see gators in downtown Houston from the windows of tall buildings. They live in the drainage areas ( bayous ). Lots of overpasses in west Houston have creeks under them; you will often see signs warning about swimming or fishing, as there are gators present. This is in an area like Cinco Ranch, where the houses are quite large and pricey, at least by my standards.

[ss355]

Outstanding, clark! Any estimation how much that beast weighed? It sure does look big. Awesome animal, and awesome shot.

I didn't take the gator, but while on a hunt a few years ago some fellow hunters brought a 6 or so footer back to camp. I did get the "honor" of cleaning the tail as I had the best knife. That was the weirdest task. Even a couple hours into the cleaning operation, when I'd put my knife to the meat to cut it, the muscle would contract in my hands. Freaky. They certainly do eat well, and that tail easily fed about 15 hungry guys fried gator for one meal and gator gumbo for another.