2005 Gator harvest

[Valigator]

This years gator harvest was hard fought...normally I try and break last years record for me...but it wasnt happening this year...winds were high and they were layin low....couldnt get them to hold and the ones that did were small...small ones are nice to use as hornback hides...but not much of a hunt in my book...got what I think was a 10 footer last night but he ran into some nasty stuff and I was in no mood to dig him out, so we slowly backed out ...but he pulled the harpoon out about 20 minutes into that..I spent another twenty just cleaning the rope to the harpoon off...nasty...after about 4 more hours and not seeing too much finally landed a eight footer, perfect speciman and in clear water....he is great for product..but I was really dejected not being able to brag about a big one....this year was expensive with the gas prices...and the limits...I forgot the exact number, but I was told the state really screwed up with the tags this year...somewhere around 500 unsold permits...and not enough permits further north in the state...hey whatya gonna do? Plus the state wont let you purchase more than one...figure that crap out? So if the state of Florida knows whats good for it..they will keep the price per tag and increase the limit to 5 like they did a few years ago....otherwise the numbers just dont come out for most people.....

[Nulle]

It kind of makes you wonder who is managing our game in these states ? We have the same thing in SD with the deer as they are a real problem but try and draw a tag in certain areas and no deal and the price just keeps going up.
They complain on the numbers and instead of putting out a $10 doe tag to thin the herds they keep them at $30 + and wonder why they have some leftovers.

[Mil Dot]

So Val,
If I read the department of wildlife correctly a non resident will end up paying about $1000 for tags on 2 gators. There appears to be a bunch of excess animals up north of you. Which area do you hunt?

Mil Dot

[Valigator]

I always put in for the south side of Lake Okeechobee, out of Slim's and as an alternative the west side out of Moorehaven.

South is three hours round trip and west is four hours...its tiring when your lookin for a big boy and dont want to squander a tag.