Huge Gator Caught in Hancock
By Matthew Pleasant
The Ledger
WINTER HAVEN -- Bubbles have never been more ominous.
When seen on top of a lake, they're a sign of something lurking below. And in the case of many Florida lakes, they're probably coming from the snout of a large reptile.
With alligator hunting season under way, hunters are keeping their eyes peeled for the telltale bubbles, and gators of monstrous proportions are already being reported.
Jack Selet of Winter Haven has been hunting the gator-teeming waters of Lake Hancock since Aug. 15, when the hunting season officially began. With the limit set at two alligators per hunting permit, he's been waiting for the big one.
"We've caught eight-, nine-, 10foot ones, but they were too small so we let them go," he said.
The night of Aug. 19, Selet killed a gator he says measures 12 feet 6 inches long. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Web site, that's one inch longer than the largest alligator caught in Lake Hancock during last year's hunting season.
Gators from Lake Hancock have measured up to 13 feet 4 inches in past years. The record for the largest alligator in Florida was more than 14 feet, caught in Lake Monroe in Seminole County. The largest alligator caught in Polk County was 13 feet 111/4 inches, captured just outside Bartow in 2001. Louisiana claims the record for the largest alligator ever caught, measuring 19 feet 2 inches.
Still, the 12 1/2 footer is the largest Selet has ever caught. With the help of his 14-year-old grandson, Josh Raymond of Oviedo, and several other boys, the crew caught the alligator about 11:45 p.m.
"It isn't scary. You have to use sense," he said. "But if they ever get ahold of you you can kiss that limb goodbye."
His grandson said the hunters kept their cool as they pulled the gator from the water just enough to crack it on the head with a "boom stick" -- a rod with a .44-caliber Magnum bullet on the end.
"I do it for fun. It isn't something you are supposed to be afraid of," Raymond said.
Last year hunters killed 3,345 alligators. Since 2000, hunt participants have killed 16,377 of the reptiles.
This year FWC officials issued 4,406 permits on a first-come, first-served basis. Each person who gets a license for the hunt will be allowed to kill two alligators 18 inches or longer.
The permits are good for harvesting alligators in designated areas until Nov. 1.
The areas designated in Polk County are lakes Arbuckle, Hancock, Parker, Pierce and Walk-in-the-Water as well as Tenoroc Fish Management Area and the Peace River. Adjacent water bodies include lakes Kissimmee and Hatchineha and the Kissimmee River.
Contrary to recent news stories about dangerous alligators that killed three people earlier this year, Selet said they are one of the least aggressive animals he's hunted.
"I've stumbled across them while skin diving and they'll try to get away from you. They aren't like crocodiles -- those are maneaters," he said. "It's a lot of fun to get ahold of something that big. If you've ever done it you'll want to do it again."
Here's my 12'4"
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