Alligators in North Alabama

Eric Patterson

Eric Patterson

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Staff member
They've been here for at least 40 years. In the 1970s the feds released a population on Wheeler Wildlife Refuge for beaver control. When the public learned this there was an outcry and the feds gathered them up. Problem was they could only find a few and the rest started breeding. Thomas just called from the hunting property near the Flint River where he saw this 5' fella. I sure hope he's passing through but kind of doubt it.


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Thats just a baby, saw one on the way to work this morning in the 10-11' range!
 
Eric,
What does Alabama say about "population control" concerning alligators? Might make a unique combo mount ,,,,,,,, a duck launching himself up and away, just out of reach of the open jaws of the gator.
 
I think it's pretty cool. Duck season, that gator shouldn't be a problem. Gets too chilly up there for you to worry about gators eating dogs.
 
Huntindave McCann said:
Eric,
What does Alabama say about "population control" concerning alligators? Might make a unique combo mount ,,,,,,,, a duck launching himself up and away, just out of reach of the open jaws of the gator.
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We have a short hunting season by tag draw. I don't think Madison County is included. Mostly it is in Carl's end of the state where they are quite common.
 
Dani said:
I think it's pretty cool. Duck season, that gator shouldn't be a problem. Gets too chilly up there for you to worry about gators eating dogs.
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My fear is I'd step on or trip over it in the dark while wading to my spot through the beaver pond. He is kind of cute but probably no so much if he were bigger.
 
They're more afraid of you than you are of them...........or so they say. [cool]

We had a couple "cajun retrievers" trying to get our teal last weekend in S. Louisiana.........we won. ;)
 
Those friggin' beavers are vicious. I'd take the gators.

A number of us used to fish a local trout river here that was wadable, but only if you knew the river well. There were only two spots to get out of the river on the west shore. One was 1/3 mile upstream of the best spot for late evening fishing, and it was along slog in knee to waist deep water against a stiff current. The other was right next to the pool, and took you out right on top of a large beaver lodge, from which there was a nice trail back to the parking lot.

The river had a great after-dark caddis hatch in late June, and it was common for 5 or 6 of us to be there after dark on any given night during prime time. One by one, we'd leave the river, step out on the bank near the beaver lodge, and risk attack from a beaver that, in the dark, was the size of a large Labrador, except with bigger teeth and a much nastier disposition.

Nobody that we know of was ever injured or killed, but we heard a lot of screams from surprised anglers who ran into the big bastard, and more than one of us jumped back over the bank into the river to get away from it.
 
Years ago I was at a hunting retriever test when the southern judge set up an interesting test.
Simple single plopped into a pond. You sent the dog and halfway there the judge said? Gator, recall your dog.? It was a good test of obedience. A lot of the handlers were angry with the test.
Dana, the judge was from Florida. I guess he thought it was important.
,
 
bob Petritsch said:
Years ago I was at a hunting retriever test when the southern judge set up an interesting test.
Simple single plopped into a pond. You sent the dog and halfway there the judge said? Gator, recall your dog.? It was a good test of obedience. A lot of the handlers were angry with the test.
Dana, the judge was from Florida. I guess he thought it was important.
,
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Down around here, recall like that could be very important.
 
Jeff I think I may have greeted that beaver with a 22 round upon exiting the run. Might not kill him but may serve to educate! Have you ever heard of beaver being a threat to a retriever? With those teeth I would think they could mess up a curious retriever real quick. I,ve got a huge lodge directly behind as in almost touching my big blinds boat hide. Every morning we,ll have beaver swimming in decoys and sometimes under blind as they,re returning to lodge. My dogs just set and watch them swim by sometimes as close as 3' from their noses but have always been aware that an encounter with some of the adults might not come out good for dog. By shooting time they,ve all bunkered up in lodge but who knows one might not have their time down pat!
 
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Roy, that would have been night hunting, and taking a beaver with a firearm (illegal here), and probably out of season, and since this section of river is close to "downtown" of a small town, I think it's also a "shot guns only" zone by local ordinance. Our parking spot for the fishing is the local kids favorite "remote" parking lot for flirting, drinking beer, and smoking dope. So the chance of an encounter with the local constabulary was always high.

All of that said, we did think of ways to eliminate the beaver, and more than a few of us suggested to trapping friends that they make the attempt. Most of our fantasies involved large artillery, launched from the opposite shore in enough volume to ensure we got him. (It was always him, though none of us ever checked.) LOL.
 
Illinois animal control just fished a caiman out of southern Lake Michigan off Chicago. A kayaker/salmon fisherman paddled up to it, thinking it was a salmon....oops!
 
RLLigman said:
Illinois animal control just fished a caiman out of southern Lake Michigan off Chicago. A kayaker/salmon fisherman paddled up to it, thinking it was a salmon....oops!
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Seen the news blurp about that gator and news said its mouth was taped shut. I,m assumeing they meant taped shut when found and not taped shut after capture. Sounds like a pet dump to me.
 
Roy, yes, possession of a dangerous animal-broad wording of legislation- by an individual in Illinois has been illegal for nearly a decade. A four foot caiman is not older than that, so the owner likely decided the best way out of his or her dilemma would be to tape the snout and release it to die, rather than attempt to turn it in to a zoo or animal park or preserve-left brain logic.
 
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