OK soon I'm way behind on the power curve on the gator hunting thing. I about choked on my cereal this morning when the wife said she wanted to go gator hunting, not with a paid guide either. Never thought I'd hear that from her. Soo what is the initial cost, what do I have to do to get tags for us?
Thanks,
:rockon :army
$272 for Resident Alligator Trapping License (includes 2 CITES tags),
$1,022 for Non-Resident Alligator Trapping License (includes 2 CITES tags),
$62 for 2 CITES tags only (must have Alligator Trapping License that is valid through 11/01/12)
Then you need all the equipment such as spot lights and a boat and of course the essentials to capture and kill the alligator. There is a course held in different parts of Florida I would highly recommend anyone new to the hunts to go check out. It is plenty expensive and plenty of fun so I guess it balances out.
If you do not have a bang stick and bow or crossbow or harpoon you will be spending quite a bit on those. Also practice with the items before going out. Hope this helps.
Then you need all the equipment such as spot lights and a boat and of course the essentials to capture and kill the alligator.
Nope, depends entirely in where you're at. We got 2 gators from shore with a fishing pole, and hand held flashlights...
If you do not have a bang stick and bow or crossbow or harpoon you will be spending quite a bit on those. Hope this helps.
Again, nope. We made a harpoon from an 8' wooden dowel rod and some scrap metal. We dispatched both of our gators with a knife.
We got an 8 and an 11 last season.
I'm not trying to argue, just saying there are different ways to do everything, and the expensive way isn't always the best.
excuse my ignorance if this is a stupid question but why risk getting close enough to use a knife and chance losing a hand/arm from the teeth, or getting a broken arm/leg from the tail? why not stand back at a safer distance and shoot it with say a 22 mag in the head, which would probably leave less of a hole in the hide than a knife?
Not a stupid question if you are trying to learn something...
You can't "shoot" it in Florida.
Even putting a handgun up to the kill spot when you have the gator landed us against the law.
Bang stick will give you more distance to be sure but if you miss the brain/spine you've got a pissed off gator and you have to hit it again.
We used a knife because we wanted the skulls as trophies and didn't want to blow a hole through it.
