Post by x101airborne on Sept 19, 2021 23:20:19 GMT -5
Since 2021 is turning out to be the same turd show as 2020, I decided to change up my habits a bit concerning Gator Season. I have had a FA 454 Casull for near a year now and have not taken one head of game with it till last Friday morning. Normally I use a Marlin 357 Magnum carbine to shoot my gators, but I wanted to take one with my 454. I know, "gross over application of energy"; but we get CITES tags (lines must be attached to the land the person owns), so it is hook and line mainly pulled in from the bank. Those fellas on the TV have the added protection of a boat as a barrier. We do not. That gator can come for us as it sees fit. Also you see the gators on TV thrashing and making a commotion; ours do not. We pull them in slow and calm and normally I am pulling the line while another of my family comes in from behind to put a bullet behind their skull. It didn't work out that way this weekend.
Friday morning, I noticed one of our baited lines down. I went to check and it was wrapped under the bank (undercut from barge traffic erosion) and I couldn't tell how big it was. I went back to get my Mother to help me and strapped on my 454 FA. We had to use a boat and a gaff to dislodge the line. We finally got it to the boat and it was a small 8 foot something so my Mother held the boat relatively steady while I pulled it up. I noticed we had quite an audience of boats around us while we were working on this; they were all ready for a show. When that gator came up, I drew the FA, aimed and fired. At the shot all the boats around us lit out like spooked Impala. One boat got up on plane so fast I swear all 4 occupants had to get out and push to make that boat go so fast. My Mother and I were laughing so hard it was difficult to haul the gator in. In all, a small one but it filled a tag.
Today, I woke up late. I mean around 0900 late. Very uncommon for me. Someone in my family said "Well, we dont have a gator." and I couldn't help but sigh a little relief. We did the typical Sunday morning routine, had coffee, told jokes and went to work. Dad wanted my Son and I to drive the boat the 5 miles to the boat launch to trailer it. We got on the boat but the tide was running so strong I had to back out the slip and make a wide circle to get the boat pointed correctly. I looked up and our last gator bait was down and the line was tight under the bank. Back to the slip.
We were already there and I wanted to see what or if we actually had a gator. The line was tight and wrapped up but whatever we had was hung up on the bottom and not wanting to come up. My Father was constantly wanting to help me pull the rope and I was getting rather frustrated with him because he doesn't do uneven ground well at all. I was trying to keep my 10 year old and my Father safe while dealing with this dangerous beast. I pulled very slowly on the rope and kept it coming in inch by inch. All I had was my SP101 with OLD Remington 357 loadings with 125 grain soft points. He still had his snout under the bank, but his neck came out of the water and I shot him with what I had. He shuddered a little and went limp. I pulled him about a third up onto the bank and electric taped his mouth shut. I then tied off a rope loop around the base of his tail to make sure he couldn't find his feet and run off. I shot him again right behind the skull. No effect; no twitching, no nothing.
After a minute, my son says "Daddy, you might as well shoot him again.". I said "Not a bad idea Son." and fired another shot right center behind the skull into the neck. The gator puffed up and went limp again. We got him picked up with a tractor and on the skinning table he measured 11 foot 3 inches. Dad guessed he was 600 pounds, I guessed 700 pounds. We split the difference and settled on 650 pounds. NONE of the 125 grain soft points made it all the way through the neck vertebrae! One of the three did hit true and was found in the middle of the gator's neck bones, but the others were not to be found. I cannot believe that those bullets did not exit!
Anyhow, it took me 4 hours of back breaking work and 7 ice chests (mostly 58 or 60 something quart) to get him processed out and chilled. Thank God for heavy metal music and lots of coffee!
I have pictures if anyone here is so inclined to post them for me.
Friday morning, I noticed one of our baited lines down. I went to check and it was wrapped under the bank (undercut from barge traffic erosion) and I couldn't tell how big it was. I went back to get my Mother to help me and strapped on my 454 FA. We had to use a boat and a gaff to dislodge the line. We finally got it to the boat and it was a small 8 foot something so my Mother held the boat relatively steady while I pulled it up. I noticed we had quite an audience of boats around us while we were working on this; they were all ready for a show. When that gator came up, I drew the FA, aimed and fired. At the shot all the boats around us lit out like spooked Impala. One boat got up on plane so fast I swear all 4 occupants had to get out and push to make that boat go so fast. My Mother and I were laughing so hard it was difficult to haul the gator in. In all, a small one but it filled a tag.
Today, I woke up late. I mean around 0900 late. Very uncommon for me. Someone in my family said "Well, we dont have a gator." and I couldn't help but sigh a little relief. We did the typical Sunday morning routine, had coffee, told jokes and went to work. Dad wanted my Son and I to drive the boat the 5 miles to the boat launch to trailer it. We got on the boat but the tide was running so strong I had to back out the slip and make a wide circle to get the boat pointed correctly. I looked up and our last gator bait was down and the line was tight under the bank. Back to the slip.
We were already there and I wanted to see what or if we actually had a gator. The line was tight and wrapped up but whatever we had was hung up on the bottom and not wanting to come up. My Father was constantly wanting to help me pull the rope and I was getting rather frustrated with him because he doesn't do uneven ground well at all. I was trying to keep my 10 year old and my Father safe while dealing with this dangerous beast. I pulled very slowly on the rope and kept it coming in inch by inch. All I had was my SP101 with OLD Remington 357 loadings with 125 grain soft points. He still had his snout under the bank, but his neck came out of the water and I shot him with what I had. He shuddered a little and went limp. I pulled him about a third up onto the bank and electric taped his mouth shut. I then tied off a rope loop around the base of his tail to make sure he couldn't find his feet and run off. I shot him again right behind the skull. No effect; no twitching, no nothing.
After a minute, my son says "Daddy, you might as well shoot him again.". I said "Not a bad idea Son." and fired another shot right center behind the skull into the neck. The gator puffed up and went limp again. We got him picked up with a tractor and on the skinning table he measured 11 foot 3 inches. Dad guessed he was 600 pounds, I guessed 700 pounds. We split the difference and settled on 650 pounds. NONE of the 125 grain soft points made it all the way through the neck vertebrae! One of the three did hit true and was found in the middle of the gator's neck bones, but the others were not to be found. I cannot believe that those bullets did not exit!
Anyhow, it took me 4 hours of back breaking work and 7 ice chests (mostly 58 or 60 something quart) to get him processed out and chilled. Thank God for heavy metal music and lots of coffee!
I have pictures if anyone here is so inclined to post them for me.
