# Zone 1 DIY 12 footer



## DSGB (Oct 6, 2014)

After many long nights, passing up smaller gators, and getting outsmarted by a few bigger ones, I was able to put my tag on a 12'3" gator out of the Chattahoochee near River Bend Park. 

I took off work Thursday and Friday knowing we were running out of time and a cold front would be coming through this weekend. We had seen a big one last Friday in the same area were we saw a couple more that were decent size, so the plan was to concentrate our efforts there. When we launched my Papa's Carolina Skiff Thursday morning, there was a chill in the air and the water temperature was down nearly 10° from what it had been. We hoped it would get the gators up on the banks in the sun. 

We searched the area without seeing the first gator, but figured it may just be too early, so we just cruised around checking places I knew they liked to stay. After spotting a couple and having them pull a Houdini on us, we headed back to our main area. Not far down river, I spotted one up on a sand bar right in the mouth of an inlet - and it was a good one! He spotted us about the same time and went into the water. We cut the engine and trolled over to try and get in good position to cast a hook. As we got closer, he began to submerge, so I let my hook fly, only to have the bail close from casting too hard. My buddy came up just short and we both reeled in and cast again, but came up empty. We sat there for a while and waited, but he never showed up. We wondered if he had gone into the inlet that was on the Alabama side and off limits, thinking, "What a bunch of rookies we are!" We waited a while more and decided to continue on down and come back later if we couldn't find any more. 

We went all the way back to our main area and only managed to see one smaller gator, so we checked a few more spots before heading back to where we saw the big one. As we approached, I cut the engine and we just sat there for a while scanning the area. I thought I saw one near the opposite bank and asked my buddy to take a look with his binos. He said it was just a stick. We trolled up the side we had last seen him without any luck, but something was telling me to check the other side, so I headed that way. As we got closer, I noticed that "stick" was a little further down from where it had last been, so I asked him to take another look. It was him! My buddy admitted that before he had been looking in the wrong spot. We trolled up parallel to him, trying not to get too close, and let the hooks fly. My cast was a little forward, but my buddy's went right over him. As he started to reel, his bail didn't flip, so it was just spinning without doing anything. Once he got it engaged, he reeled and came up empty. Rookies, indeed! 

We cast unsuccessfully a few more times and decided to just drop anchor and wait. Half an hour later, he popped up 20 yards downstream, so we pulled anchor and headed to him. Once again, our attempts to get a hook in him failed, so we dropped anchor again. Twenty minutes later, I spotted him a little further down near the bank. We pulled anchor and began trolling to him. My cast missed the mark, but my buddy's looked good. I'll never forget seeing that line go tight and start screaming off the reel! The gator headed towards the middle of the channel and went down to the bottom. Once we got over top of him, I tossed a hand line down and tried to get a bigger hook in him. He didn't like that too much and snatched the line (taking some skin off my hands) and broke my buddy's rod in half! Once I regained a grip on the line he came off. Thinking we lost him, my buddy started pulling on the fishing line (100 lb braid) by hand, only to find out he was still on there! He managed to get the line reeled up with the 2-3 ft. of pole he had left and we got over top of him again. I threw the hook and this time got it set for good. He took off towards the other side, where we had originally found him, and settled in about 35 ft. of water. After several attempts, my buddy was able to get a second hand line in him and we started pulling him up, only to find out we had his back end. All we could see was his tail and back legs. I held him up while my buddy stuck him with the harpoon. It had a crab float attached and we figured if our lines came off we could track him down. Once that was done, I held both hand lines while he lowered another hook down to his front end. When we pulled him up he wasn't very happy! I got the snare around his snout and held on while my buddy put two rounds in him with his 9mm. After a few seconds, he expelled all his air and the high fives began! 

We decided to just tow him over to the nearest bank and figure out how to get him in the boat. As I was pulling him with the snare my buddy got him turned right side up and he was still blinking! So we put a few more rounds in him! It had been a little over an hour from the time we got the first hook in him. 

It took us 45 minutes to get him in the boat - head first - after taping his mouth, of course. Once his front legs were in we both stood in the water and lifted his back legs and tail.

A couple of first time gator hunters and we managed to kill a 12 footer all on our own! It was an experience like no other and neither of us will ever forget! 

We ended up leaving him in the cooler overnight at a local processor and began skinning and processing the next day. We finished putting meat in the freezer and cleaning up about dark. Worked on scraping the hide while listening to the Dawgs on the radio Saturday and then fried some gator nuggets. They were great! Yesterday afternoon, we finally got it all scraped and salted. We plan on having it tanned and who knows what we'll make out of it, but we have several ideas for wallets, belts, purse for the wife, etc.


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## ghost8026 (Oct 6, 2014)

Congrats to you on one heck of a fine gator


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## GAGE (Oct 6, 2014)

What a beast, congrats!


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## Wild Turkey (Oct 6, 2014)

Great gator.
Why didnt you just roll it into the boat with one hand like Troy Landry from swamp people.


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## DSGB (Oct 6, 2014)

Wild Turkey said:


> Great gator.
> Why didnt you just roll it into the boat with one hand like Troy Landry from swamp people.



The man has my respect! As does Elizabeth and that other gal (Christy?). 

Thanks fellas!


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## Michael (Oct 6, 2014)

Congrats!


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## oops1 (Oct 6, 2014)

Awesome job.. Congrats


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## mattech (Oct 6, 2014)

Awesome congrats.


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## sea trout (Oct 6, 2014)

That's a lotta lizard!!!!!!!!! Congrats!!!!!!!


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## tkyklr1 (Oct 7, 2014)

Congrats on a great gator!


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## Wild Turkey (Oct 7, 2014)

That Christy girl is Hawt. Something about a cowgirl who also gator hunts.


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## Sterling (Oct 7, 2014)

That is an awesome gator and to DIY makes it that much better. Congrats!


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## shakey gizzard (Oct 7, 2014)

Wow! congrats !


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## fish hawk (Oct 8, 2014)

Congrats!!!That's a beast.Theres some big ones roaming that area.Maybe next year I will finally get a tag,I have 5 priority points now.


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## DSGB (Oct 8, 2014)

Thanks! It was definitely an experience. 

fish hawk, I used 5 points to get selected. It was taking at least 4, but last year I only put in for a point because I didn't have the time or money to get everything I needed.


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## frydaddy40 (Oct 8, 2014)

Great job guy's.  Nothing else like gator hunting.  
  In deer hunting terms that's  a   180.   50 plus year old gator.


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## ldhfff (Oct 8, 2014)

Great to see your success on such a fine gator!  WAHOO!


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## bigelow (Oct 8, 2014)

Wow. Nice work.


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## DSGB (Oct 9, 2014)

I appreciate it fellas! Don't know if I'll ever be fortunate enough to get one that big again. A lot of work went into it and I'm not sure if fighting the gator was the hardest part. I'm thankful for the opportunity and feel blessed to have harvested such a fine beast.


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## Workin2Hunt (Oct 9, 2014)

Congrats. Great story and gator.


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## DSGB (Oct 10, 2014)

Took the hide over to the regional game office in Ft. Valley and got the CITES tag, then dropped it off at American Tannery in Griffin. Also, went and got a 20 gal trash can and an aquarium heater to macerate the skull. It barely fit in there!


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## DSGB (Oct 21, 2014)

The skull is coming along. I took it out the other day and sprayed some of the loose meat off and pulled any loose teeth before filling it back up. Shouldn't be long and I can start to degrease.


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## RUGERWARRIOR (Oct 22, 2014)

Awesome


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## John2 (Oct 22, 2014)

What are you doing to get the skin and flesh off the skull?


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## DSGB (Oct 22, 2014)

John2 said:


> What are you doing to get the skin and flesh off the skull?



It's called maceration. It's the same technique museums use, as well as some taxidermists. Plain ol' water and an aquarium heater. The natural bacteria breaks down the tissue. It had been in there about two weeks.


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## DSGB (Nov 13, 2014)

Bones are pretty clean. Some have separated, but that was expected. They're back in the water with some Dawn for degreasing.


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## shakey gizzard (Nov 20, 2014)

Looking good! You gunna put her all back together?


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## DSGB (Nov 21, 2014)

shakey gizzard said:


> Looking good! You gunna put her all back together?



Yes. I expected them to come apart. The teeth will be the hardest part. I tried keeping them separate in egg cartons, but a bunch of them fell out in the water.


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## groundhawg (Nov 21, 2014)

DSGB said:


> Yes. I expected them to come apart. The teeth will be the hardest part. I tried keeping them separate in egg cartons, but a bunch of them fell out in the water.



Yep, you gonna need lots of superglue.


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## brownceluse (Sep 15, 2015)

Bump for a beast!!!


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## biker13 (Sep 15, 2015)

Great gator and wonderful story.Nothing like gator huntin.


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## DSGB (Dec 8, 2015)

Finally getting around to finishing up this skull. It's very clean and I didn't even have to use peroxide. Got the bones all glued back together, now gotta start on the teeth.


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## westcobbdog (Dec 10, 2015)

Great story to follow and congrats on the big Gator.


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