What caliber for alligators/crocodiles (Florida)

[Gixerman1000]

how do I know if it's a croc or a 'gator?

The nose of a croc comes to more of a rounded point, the gator has more of a squared off boxy snout.

 

[SASS#23149]

But don't take too long deciding which one is about to take your leg off!!
And don't try to outrun one.
Well,you can try I guess...they like a little exercise with their meal.

 

[Gator]

Anything that will penetrate. Previous posts about the necessity of a brain shot are correct, but a gators brain is only about the size of a plum, so AIM CAREFULLY! The American Croc is very rare, so I doubt you would ever run into one, but the same rules apply. Actually a stout stick, five feet or so long like a nice walking staff, provides excellent protection. Gators don't like to be poked in the face with a stick....I know!

 

[jlwatts3]

What about 10mm. Say the glock 20 or 29, they're concealable and should have enough power/penetration.

 

[Bear Gulch]

Top one, croc

bottom, gator

 

[Otisimo]

A guy I know shot a gator with an ak down past Krome in Miami, (southwest dade) out at one of the lakes back in the woods past the burnt out insurance job cars. (locals get this one)

Gator wasn't in battle mode and settled down pretty quickly. I would not lay bets on any blaster with a pissed off gator though.

I'm told there are crocs down here but have never seen one. The only time I've ever seen a pants ????ting big gator was in Lake County FL.

I am pretty sure legit hunters use bang sticks or handguns close up, .357 and .44 mag I would imagine.

 

[djf]

I know a guy who killed a gator legally hunting it.

He used a .30-06 rifle from a boat. It was a head shot. The top of the head looked like it got caved in by a sledgehammer. That gator went DRT.

His son in law shot another one, that one wasn't DRT, to bad they didn't find out until it tried to eat them when they got it into the boat.

 

[Bear Gulch]

I seem to remember reading that the FAL was a popular croc rifle in Africa.

 

[countertop]

There is a legal gator season in Georgia and I also believe one in Florida. Might also have one in South Carolina.

Folks hunting them generally use a bang stick - its a long speer/pole that has either a 12 gauge slug or a .45 ACp on it. You sneak up on the gator in your boat, place it at the base of their skull and go BANG.

Kills em pretty quick, but its not too easy to get that close to them. As other have pointed out, like most reptiles, they don't have a very developed central nervous system, so shots to the brain stem via the base of the skull are really the only way to take them down consistently.

 

[benEzra]

I have a newspaper article around here somewhere from the Pensacola News-Journal discussing a 13.5-foot, 850-pound alligator some professional gator hunters pulled out of Perdido Bay. He had lost his fear of people and had started nosing around where he could easily have eaten a child (or at 850 pounds, an adult!). As I recall, the gator hunters were working out of a 13' Boston Whaler and the gator took them on a Nantucket sleighride before they were done.

I once had a beaver scare the @$%&! out of me while walking near a Florida pond after dark. When beavers are alarmed, they slip into the water, then slap their tail and surface-dive, and the sound they make sounds like a 500-pound alligator just jumped in the water. I had my flashlight off, it was VERY dark, and I was about 10 feet from the water's edge. I apparently startled the beaver, who then REALLY startled me with the gator impression...

Oh, our local convenience store in Florida sold, among other things, alligator jerky. I fed some to our miniature poodle so I could tell everybody that our dog ate an alligator...

 

[Preacherman]

I seem to remember reading that the FAL was a popular croc rifle in Africa.

The FAL is a popular anything rifle in Africa!

 

[brian roberts]

gator....

hmmm....Perdido bay....my airbase was on the Perdido, i swam in that water; never knew there were 'gators in there though.
anyway, if you can find an old S&W 624, get it ported, & load it w/some 250gr Keiths. no real sense in using a mag., too much torque in a 4" bbl. lotsa recoil. if you want something really light, you can get one of the Scandium S&Ws; they make a 4" 329, i believe it is, goes about 27ozs. needless to say, you DEFINITELY want THAT one ported, then you'll have to develop a load that uses souped-up .44 Special ballistics w/Pachmayr full-frame grips. this does require some practice, but you should be able to handle it. the Marlin .44 lever will do a good job; the .357 carbine will work well, too, you just have to remember that w/the extra velocity generated in the longer bbl., don't use a bullet LIGHTER than 158-160gr., as the lighter bullets will fragment. HTH .

 

[Bear Gulch]

Brian or you ran the risk of sharks out at Ft Pickens. We swam there as kids about 100yards from the pier. One day while swimming, we watched a fellow pull out a 7 foot hammerhead from the water near us. As a 12 years old, I was pretty durned impressed.

 

[Talon]

Here's a couple shots I took while in FL.. almost wished I'd had my firearm instead of my camara.


http://www.talonphoto.4t.com/images/gator1.jpg
http://www.talonphoto.4t.com/images/gator2.jpg

 

[Bear Gulch]

nice pics!

 

[Whatsit]

Arnie used his trusty Desert Eagle in Eraser to cap gators!