# Alligator size? how to judge them at night.



## GT Whitetail (Aug 24, 2015)

Hunting zone 8 and saw plenty of gators opening wknd but just couldn't connect. Hunting at nite but had a really difficult time trying to judge the size so basically set up on each one only to find out most were under 5'. Any pointers for judging the size of a gator while hitting it with a spotlight from a distance? Not asking for any honey holes but won't turn anything dwn if you wanna PM me. Thanks


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## mattech (Aug 24, 2015)

If you can make out the snout, the inches from the eyes is equal to feet. 10"=10'. also, if they face you, the bigger the gator the farther apart the eyes will be. When you have a big one facing you, there won't be any doubt its big. Don't let the brightness of the eyes fool you, a baby gator eyes will glow just as bright as a larger gator.


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## hortonhunter22 (Aug 24, 2015)

^ this if you can distinguish 2 separate eyes from a distance check it out if it looks like a bright spot prolly smaller...its a numbers game though in the dark...the smaller ones are just as good of practice to get ready for the real moment...so approach any you check as if its a 12 fter so ya don't have the whole sticker shock when ya actually see a biggun


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## XJfire75 (Aug 24, 2015)

I'm having the same issues. Saw several that looked like could've been anywhere between 8-12" from snout to eyes. Especially the ones that didn't let me get closer than 20 yards.


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## frydaddy40 (Aug 24, 2015)

*Very good.*



mattech said:


> If you can make out the snout, the inches from the eyes is equal to feet. 10"=10'. also, if they face you, the bigger the gator the farther apart the eyes will be. When you have a big one facing you, there won't be any doubt its big. Don't let the brightness of the eyes fool you, a baby gator eyes will glow just as bright as a larger gator.



   Very good advice,


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## GT Whitetail (Aug 24, 2015)

Yeah same here. Planning on heading down that way this weekend to give it another go. I think I let a couple shooters go last time. Looked like they had long snouts, but their heads looked kinda skinny. Might try some daylight hunting too. Probably my last ditch effort so my slot limit is probably gonna suffer a little. 

Thanks for all the responses.


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## yankeeredneck2015 (Aug 26, 2015)

GT Whitetail said:


> Yeah same here. Planning on heading down that way this weekend to give it another go. I think I let a couple shooters go last time. Looked like they had long snouts, but their heads looked kinda skinny. Might try some daylight hunting too. Probably my last ditch effort so my slot limit is probably gonna suffer a little.
> 
> Thanks for all the responses.




Or hire a guide


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## olcop (Aug 27, 2015)

All the above is excellent advice;
but the easiest way is to get him to be still while you measure him with a tape measure.
olcop


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## Luckybuck (Aug 27, 2015)

What Mattech said, I grew up in SE Louisiana and the rule that we followed when lighting up the eyeballs was the distance between the eyes.   Not exact but better guide than no guide.


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## Burton (Aug 27, 2015)

Sometimes you can be right on top of them and not know how big it is.  We passed on this one to come back the next weekend and take one that was 8 ft.  I'm not sure it was worth it.


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## GT Whitetail (Aug 28, 2015)

Awesome video.. had the exact same thing happen to me and it was about that same size too. Maybe one of the experts will chime in and guess how long that one in your video is. I'm heading dwn this afternoon, but with the weather forecast I might have to take first available legal sized one. Thanks for all the comments.


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## Burton (Aug 28, 2015)

Hope you get a good one.  We've got two tags in SC this year, so I've got to wait 2 more weeks.  Good luck.


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## buddy48 (Aug 28, 2015)

The one I got last weekend was 9'-6" long and it was 11" from the eyes to the tip of the nose. Hunted and harvested mine in the daylight. It was much easier than I expected it to be.


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