Gator tail is mighty tasty. I have taken them for years down by Alachua Sink, or Lake Lochaloosa, with a stout stick, rigged with a stainless steel wire, and T handle. The wire is run down the stock, held by brads, and a loop on the end is set. The wood has a spike embedded in the tip, where the loop is.
What'cha do, is sneak up on a sunning gator, that parts easy. Slip the noose over it's neck, and suddenly lean on the stick, driving the spike into the gator's neck. At the same time, you PULL hard on the t handle. The wire noose strangles the gator, the spike helps hold him in (relatively) one position. Depending on the gator, asphyxiation takes about 10 min. Gators cannot expand their lungs on land, like they can in the water, so their lungs are not as full of O2.
This method worked well back in the days when you could not just shoot them. I tried to find a lil one, less than 4 feet overall. You have to watch out for that tail, even a small gator can really thrash you with it's tail.
Back in the old days though, I would just shoot them swimming with a slug from my Stevens single barrel 20ga.
I think most hunters that know what they are doing, use a bang stick these days.