# Gator concerns?



## ucfireman (Apr 14, 2020)

Any of y'all that use dogs to retrieve worry about a gator getting your dog during a retrieve? 
Just a thought as sometimes its can be warm during the season. 
Or other concerns about "unknown" hazards?


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## flatsmaster (Apr 14, 2020)

Alligators are a big concern ... I live in central Florida and mine only hunts here on a couple of small private ponds early season and when it’s cold if we’re lucky enough for it to get cold enough and in Mississippi in late Dec and Jan ... if we draw a hunt in a impoundment that’s sheet water where she can run thru to retrieve I’d consider but deep water swimming it’s not gonna happen ...


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## mattuga (Apr 14, 2020)

Not really.  Gators won't eat below 60 degrees because they can't digest and would rot from the inside.  I did some research on it and came to that end.

That said, if an area is covered in Gators the temp wouldn't matter as much, I'd leave the dog behind.  A reactive gator bite will kill a dog even if the gator doesn't plan to eat.  I took my dog to Butler once and probably wouldn't do that again unless it was downright cold for S GA like sub 40s.


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## twoheartedale (Apr 14, 2020)

mattuga said:


> Not really.  Gators won't eat below 60 degrees because they can't digest and would rot from the inside.  I did some research on it and came to that end.
> 
> That said, if an area is covered in Gators the temp wouldn't matter as much, I'd leave the dog behind.  A reactive gator bite will kill a dog even if the gator doesn't plan to eat.  I took my dog to Butler once and probably wouldn't do that again unless it was downright cold for S GA like sub 40s.



You are correct about biting and I can assure you sir they will attempt to bite you if you step on one..........regardless of the temperature!  Several years ago on Jan. 1 the temp was 32 and we were walking out a few hours later and it was 39.  A gator had just his head poking out of a hole.  My buddy stepped right on his head and the gator was not happy.  The gator jumped up with jaws wide open and while trying to bite him.  He was very lucky and I was there to help out and witness the entire incident.  

They will in fact try and bite you when it is cold out!  This is in SEGA.   The gator was relocated.

On another note I've been duck hunting and had them bumped my leg why they swam by.  This was late November.


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## ucfireman (Apr 14, 2020)

I don't know if I would be comfortable taking a dog much below Macon, I would be too scared he would get got. 
I do not have a dog at this time but am looking and will probably have one before too long. It just dawned on me the other day while watching a video about the "unknown dangers" a dog (or hunter for that matter) could face.


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## chrisn1818 (Apr 16, 2020)

I saw a dog bit in half on the Pearl River in early teal season. Wasn’t my dog. I wasn’t even hunting. I was fishing. It was horrible!! This was on Ross Barnett Reservoir just North of Jackson MS. The guy started hollering I motored over but the dog was gone.


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## flatsmaster (Apr 16, 2020)

Everybody is different in there decision on what’s safe for there dog ... my dog will always go if I send her so it’s on me to control my ego if the situation tells me her life could be in danger weather it’s gators or hypothermia ... that said there’s nothing like watching your dog dig out a tough retrieve !!!


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## Nicodemus (Apr 16, 2020)

I know that gators won`t eat when the water temps are below 60 degrees, but I wouldn`t tempt fate. In the first pic it was 45 degrees. Second pic it was about 27 degrees that morning and had warmed up to about 50 when this old bull came up to sun. He`s an honest 14 footer. I still see him on occasion.


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## ucfireman (Apr 16, 2020)

I know what it feels like to lose a dog to natural death or have to put one down. I could not imagine losing a young dog (or mature) with lots of life doing what it loves to something like that. 
I know what you mean flat about your dog doing what you ask. Its the unknown. A pond or creek you never hunted and didn't think a gator would be that far north. Heck there was a big one a few years ago in Peachtree city, just south of Atlanta.
 I'm  sure anyone that has had that happen must feel terrible. 
I appreciate everyone's  input, as said above will probably just stay"north" of gators to be safe.


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## GLS (May 23, 2020)

Years ago a friend's cousin was duck hunting the Savannah River below Augusta and let his dog out while putting his boat in the river.  He couldn't find his dog and shined his Q-Beam in the water and saw a gator moving away with  his dog between his jaws.
I second what is said about the behavior of gators.  I wouldn't want my dog and I to appear in Ripley's Believe it or Not about losing a dog to a wintertime gator.  Gil


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## king killer delete (May 25, 2020)

I don’t hunt with a dog for this reason. When I’m in salt water it’s sharks and oyster beds.


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## Juan De (May 30, 2020)

I don’t use one, 2 afraid of what could happen.


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## cracker4112 (Jun 11, 2020)

I will give a different viewpoint.  I hunt ducks in central and south Florida.  I have always had a retriever.  It really depends on the situation. Most of the places I hunt the gators are real skittish since they are hunted for a couple months before duck season but I will not take my dog if it is deep, and I mean over knee deep or so.  Gators big and brave enough to take a dog almost always have deep water nearby, and I won't hunt a dog in that situation, any temperature.  Areas with large expanses of shallow water are best, and the dog must mind and be able to be called back at any time.  IMO


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## king killer delete (Jun 11, 2020)

cracker4112 said:


> I will give a different viewpoint.  I hunt ducks in central and south Florida.  I have always had a retriever.  It really depends on the situation. Most of the places I hunt the gators are real skittish since they are hunted for a couple months before duck season but I will not take my dog if it is deep, and I mean over knee deep or so.  Gators big and brave enough to take a dog almost always have deep water nearby, and I won't hunt a dog in that situation, any temperature.  Areas with large expanses of shallow water are best, and the dog must mind and be able to be called back at any time.  IMO


Up here near Hilton Head gator took a woman walking her dog a couple of years ago.


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## devolve (Jun 11, 2020)

Shirt pocket full of steel 2 3/4” #7s keeps them at bay.


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## Nicodemus (Jun 11, 2020)

devolve said:


> Shirt pocket full of steel 2 3/4” #7s keeps them at bay.




It`ll happen so fast you won`t have time to hardly react before it`s too late.


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## king killer delete (Jun 11, 2020)

Here in Savannah we had an 80 year old woman killed while walking her dog several years ago. Even Disney World had a gator attack on a young child that resulted in the child’s death. I’m not afraid of gators but my dog doesn’t understand the threat , I do.


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## king killer delete (Jun 11, 2020)

The 80 year old was on a street in a residential neighborhood.


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## king killer delete (Jun 11, 2020)

GLS said:


> Years ago a friend's cousin was duck hunting the Savannah River below Augusta and let his dog out while putting his boat in the river.  He couldn't find his dog and shined his Q-Beam in the water and saw a gator moving away with  his dog between his jaws.
> I second what is said about the behavior of gators.  I wouldn't want my dog and I to appear in Ripley's Believe it or Not about losing a dog to a wintertime gator.  Gil


Gil you and I hunted allot of the same areas in the past you and I know it gets worse every year.


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## devolve (Jun 11, 2020)

Nicodemus said:


> It`ll happen so fast you won`t have time to hardly react before it`s too late.


I hunted the central FL section of the St Johns River for 2 decades. I know all about that. I stopped hunting a dog on that water loooong before I moved out of there. Scary how quick they come out of nowhere. I’ve stepped on them wading in twice in that time. The #7’s will keep them from your dead ducks before you get to them. ??


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## cracker4112 (Jun 11, 2020)

I will add that gator attacks happen way more regularly when a gator gets used to humans and begins to not be scared.  Down here the attacks generally occur near where yankees are feeding them because they like to see them.  A fed gator is extremely dangerous to people and pets alike.


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## GLS (Jun 11, 2020)

Not too long ago a visiting golfer at Hilton Head reached in to pick up a ball at waters edge. A gator grabbed his arm and began the death roll which "luckily" popped the golfer's arm off.  He lost an arm, but lived.  Gil


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## GRT24 (Jul 5, 2020)

king killer delete said:


> Up here near Hilton Head gator took a woman walking her dog a couple of years ago.


We were actually in Hilton ahead when it happened. It happened up in Sea Pines. I accidentally caught one the day before on a jig flipping under a bridge in one of the canals.


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## king killer delete (Jul 6, 2020)

devolve said:


> I hunted the central FL section of the St Johns River for 2 decades. I know all about that. I stopped hunting a dog on that water loooong before I moved out of there. Scary how quick they come out of nowhere. I’ve stepped on them wading in twice in that time. The #7’s will keep them from your dead ducks before you get to them. ??


Woman attacked in SouthCarolina this past week end


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