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Alligator Hunting
Researchers conducting North Atlantic right whale work spotted a 5-foot alligator March 9 about 20 miles offshore from the mouth of the Altamaha River. At first, whale observers thought the animal was debris. After getting closer, they realized the gator was very much alive. The researchers snapped a few photos and moved on because they…
The alligator has roamed this planet for millions of years. It has gone from predator to prey and survived near eradication from the continent in the 1950s. These beasts have been around since the time of the dinosaurs; they are the true Jurassic Park of our time. After three years of waiting for a tag…
Shane Wilson of Cataula had never been drawn for a gator tag before. Neither had two of the other three hunters who launched two boats from the Camper’s Haven boat ramp on Lake Blackshear Sept. 12. It’s a good thing at least one of the four, Randy Pounds of Butler, had some experience gator hunting,…
An elderly Canadian woman was attacked and killed by an 8-foot alligator on Skidaway Island Friday, Oct. 5, the first documented fatality by a gator in Georgia. The body of Gwen Williams, 83, was found the following day in a lagoon at The Landings, a gated community on Skidaway, east of Savannah. Williams was house-sitting…
The population rebound of the American alligator is one of the great wildlife stories of my lifetime. I have been applying for a permit since Georgia’s first alligator season and was finally selected for the 2006 season. As I reflect on that awesome hunt I had last year, my excitement level builds in anticipation of…
Perhaps only if you’ve been there can you appreciate the dank, damp darkness of a river swamp in the first gray mists of morning. On the banks of the Ogeechee River near Savannah, all is black, or nearly so, with indistinct shapes melding into a swirling gloom. The only sounds are the lapping waves of…
Alligator pictures continued to pour into the GON office last month as hunters with coveted gator tags continued to try and fill their one-tag limit during the Sept. 9 to Oct. 1, 2006 alligator hunting season. Lake Seminole continues its reputation of being one of the very best places in this state to kill a gator —…
Fifty-five minutes after the 2006 alligator season began, Peter Martin of Decatur harpooned one of the largest gators the state has heard about since the state opened a gator season in 2003. At 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, September 9, 2006, Peter pushed off the bank of Lake Seminole. Hunting with Peter were Kevin Winchester,…
Last summer when a gator permit arrived in the mailbox, a great, grand adventure was hatched. An endless night doing battle with a 10-foot beast fully capable of causing significant damage… and we’re now wise enough to understand that alligator hunting should not be a casual endeavor. If you’d like to read about that adventure,…
Folks who had been on an alligator hunt said it would be intense, unlike anything we had ever experienced. This time, folks were right. Releasing an arrow at a gator 10 feet from the jonboat at 1 a.m. was an adrenaline rush, to say the least. But that was only the beginning of an adventure…