Hunt swap

Ron Bendele

Ron Bendele

Well-Known Member
On another thread we were talking about gut hooks and I shared some experiences about alligator skinning. It got me to thinking about maybe swapping a hunt with someone - alligator for ?? We use a bow and arrows and/or a harpoon for the gators. What and how does everyone else hunt? If we trade hunts and 'test' out our knives, that's a business deduction right? :D
 
Sounds like a business deduction if you are field testing knives. :D

The hunt swap would be a fun idea but I don't have much to offer other than whitetail and everyone has those I believe. Hunting those around here isnt what it used to be since we got hit hard with that EHD Blue tongue stuff on that real dry year a couple years ago.

I don't have hogs on the farms I hunt but I know some guys that I can hunt them with. One of them has several of my knives and wanting me to make him a different one for killing hogs now. We're still working out the details of the design. They run them down and kill them with the knives. I haven't gotten into that myself, I'm afraid with the back troubles I've had I'd wind up crippled for sure running through the woods like Rambo.
 
I have stabbed probably 100 hogs, but we hunt them with dogs. While the dogs are fighting the hog, we sneak in, grab the hind legs, and then stick him. I too have a bad back now so I make sure that I hunt with young, strong guys. ;) It makes it easier to carry out as well.

What is the EHD Blue Tongue?
 
The EHD is what we had a couple years back, many people confuse it with blue tongue. It's Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease, very dry conditions provide the right conditions for little gnats that carry the disease. The gnats are around the still stagnant water and bite the animals when they come to drink. They quit eating and drinking and die. It's supposedly a common thing in Whitetail deer but I only remember of it ever happening a couple times in my life and this last time was the only bad one. It was so bad the smell of dead deer along the creeks was bad. The vultures couldn't keep up. If they are infected they die within a couple weeks or so. The disease isn't transferred from one animal to the other so as soon as the first frost takes care of the gnats it's over.
 
Well I could have offered black bear, but the short season was for Ky residents only.:( I would like to hunt some gators.
 
How difficult is it for someone from out of state to get a tag for alligator?? I had never even considered it because I just assumed it would either be cost prohibitive or too hard to get a tag.

SDS
 
To get a tag as an agent of a trapper is $50. To get a trapper license is $250 for a FL resident and $1,000 for a non-resident. The tag authorizes a trapper to take two alligators taken during a specific time period. A trapper can have as many agents as they want. The agent can capture and kill the alligator, the trapper just has to be nearby (same boat).

It is not that hard to get a trapper license. I don't know what if any percentage of non-residents are allowed. They issue about 1,500 permits a year. It is a lottery system that now seems to work pretty fairly. The first years they tried it, it wasn't very fair. Out of the last six years I got a permit 5 of them. You can go to http://myfwc.com and look for the alligator links.

I have hunted for lots of animals in North America and there is nothing like hunting alligators with a bow and harpoon at night in Florida during the summer.
 
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So what would someone from out of state typically expect to pay for a decent chance at an alligator??? If you haven't figured it out you have my curiousity piqued.

SDS
 
I have my own boat, am a FL resident and hunt in my assigned area, so for me it costs a little over $250. Anyone that hunts with me has to pay $50 each person. We can take 2 gators from approximately 2' to as big as you dare.

I searched the Internet for guided hunts and they range from $2,000 to $7,000 depending on the size of the gator and other things.
 
Mike, where's your sense of adventure?! I'm not getting any younger and this is the kind of stuff I want to do before I'm stumbling around in a walker.

Ron, I couldn't swing anything like a $7,000 hunt but this may be something I will have to put back on the radar and do some more research on. Thanks for the information. I may get with you if I come up with any more questions on this.

SDS

edited to add: Ron, I got to looking and the license fees are pretty reasonable.......very reasonable actually. I guess that's what I get for assuming. We do a bit of hog hunting up here but it sounds like you have your fill of that. Your hogs may be a bit bigger than ours too. I'm definitely going to be mulling this over and doing some "figgerin" between now and next September when the alligator season starts in Florida.

Thanks again for the information.
Shawn
 
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Great Shawn. Let me know if you need information or any help. Here is a link to the training & orientation manual http://www.myfwc.com/docs/WildlifeHabitats/Alligator_TO_manual_2009.pdf. As you said, you have 5 or 6 months before you need to do anything. I agree with you, I want to be able to tell my great-grandchildren that I did something, not that I might, or could have done something.

I was stationed in Lawton, OK from 76 - 78. Don't you folks have elk out there?
 
Ron, thanks for the link. I'll be doing some reading on this one.

We do have elk but the hunts are pretty tough to get. The drawn hunts are a once in a lifetime hunt.....literally. If you get drawn for an elk hunt you can never put in for another one. Enough elk have wandered off of the refuge to allow hunting on private property with written landowner permission. Unfortunately the landowners have figured out that they can make a fair bit of money for allowing hunting on their land. For what they charge I'll keep going to Colorado.

I do plan to hunt elk in CO next fall. Probably with black powder but possibly archery. We haven't finalized our plans on this yet.

I have a good friend who died from Cystic Fibrosis a few weeks ago and she made a statement once that has always bothered me. My family and I had just come back from Hawaii (a really big trip for us) and she commented that "she had always dreamed of going to Hawaii". She knew that her time was limited yet she did not do the things she "dreamed" of. I don't want to be in that position.

Thanks for the information.
Shawn
 
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