Caught this guy yesterday morning, just me and the misses. He was 13' 4", as measured by Tony's Taxedermy who is now the proud owner of it. He wanted it to mount and sell......and to tell you the truth I was glad not to have to clean that beast. Moving them about when they are that big while cleaning them is a BIG job, heck just getting them out of the boat safely is a pain.
I would say he was something in the 650# range. Not all that fat but healthy still.
We'd of made more $ taking him to the market ( We own a seafood market and clean gators, both our own and for other hunters, during the season.) and cleaning him but as he was big enough to sell to a taxedermist, they usually want them over 13', it seemed like a good plan.
The taxedermist will mount him and sell him to a Gander Mt. or someplace.
If you look close you can see the wife is soaked to her neck.
Once we managed to get that thing whipped and dead, no small feat, we had not a chance in hell of getting it in the boat, even with the big block & tackle we carry for such purposes. Still tried for a while before accepting facts and tieing him to the boat.
Started to IDLE back from the SOUTH end of Lake George ( About a mile south of the old Navy Dock! ) towards Porkey's. The whole time hoping some crabber or fisherman would come along that we could rope into helping us.
Now it's well over 15 miles from where we were to the ramp so this was going to be one long trip.
Got up near the Navy Dock and the wife gets this great idea about using the block & tackle to hoist the gator up as far out of the water as possible and then use the boat motor to force the boat up under him. Actually sounded like a good idea to me so we idled over there to try it.
While we are trying to figure out how to attach the block & tackle to the dock we see this OLD commercial bait fisherman coming up the lake. He looks to be in worse shape than my skinny self but he's all we had, and he was willing to help.
So he and I have the head of the gator and the wife is in the front of the boat hauling on the block & tackle line. Darn thing still will not lift far enough out to pivit over on the stern.
All of a sudden the wife says she has a idea and jumps in the lake. It's over 4 feet deep so shes at her neck. She shoves the boat up against the dock, while me and the old guy stand there in shock, and tells us that we are going to pull like heck on the gator while she lifts and pushes the back end.
We were so confused that we just followed instructions. He's back there pulling on the head, I'm on the block & tackle hauling as hard as I can and that crazy woman is up under that gator yelling at us to pull harder.
Now to tell you the truth I think the gator, even though he was dead, was as confused and scared of her as we were because it seemed that he was helping us get him in the boat. Can't blame him. The way she was acting I would not have wanted to be in the water with her either.
Finally got him in the boat and off we went to the ramp, now finally able to get on a plane.
I would say he was something in the 650# range. Not all that fat but healthy still.
We'd of made more $ taking him to the market ( We own a seafood market and clean gators, both our own and for other hunters, during the season.) and cleaning him but as he was big enough to sell to a taxedermist, they usually want them over 13', it seemed like a good plan.
The taxedermist will mount him and sell him to a Gander Mt. or someplace.
If you look close you can see the wife is soaked to her neck.
Once we managed to get that thing whipped and dead, no small feat, we had not a chance in hell of getting it in the boat, even with the big block & tackle we carry for such purposes. Still tried for a while before accepting facts and tieing him to the boat.
Started to IDLE back from the SOUTH end of Lake George ( About a mile south of the old Navy Dock! ) towards Porkey's. The whole time hoping some crabber or fisherman would come along that we could rope into helping us.
Now it's well over 15 miles from where we were to the ramp so this was going to be one long trip.
Got up near the Navy Dock and the wife gets this great idea about using the block & tackle to hoist the gator up as far out of the water as possible and then use the boat motor to force the boat up under him. Actually sounded like a good idea to me so we idled over there to try it.
While we are trying to figure out how to attach the block & tackle to the dock we see this OLD commercial bait fisherman coming up the lake. He looks to be in worse shape than my skinny self but he's all we had, and he was willing to help.
So he and I have the head of the gator and the wife is in the front of the boat hauling on the block & tackle line. Darn thing still will not lift far enough out to pivit over on the stern.
All of a sudden the wife says she has a idea and jumps in the lake. It's over 4 feet deep so shes at her neck. She shoves the boat up against the dock, while me and the old guy stand there in shock, and tells us that we are going to pull like heck on the gator while she lifts and pushes the back end.
We were so confused that we just followed instructions. He's back there pulling on the head, I'm on the block & tackle hauling as hard as I can and that crazy woman is up under that gator yelling at us to pull harder.
Now to tell you the truth I think the gator, even though he was dead, was as confused and scared of her as we were because it seemed that he was helping us get him in the boat. Can't blame him. The way she was acting I would not have wanted to be in the water with her either.
Finally got him in the boat and off we went to the ramp, now finally able to get on a plane.
