Really BIG gator??

[MacD37]

Originally posted by skeet
Hey Val is this picture for real? Supposed to be a 23 footer killed by the Game Wardens in Lake Istapoka. Tell me it ain't for real!!

I don't know where Lake Istapoka is but this gator was killed by the Texas parks, and wildlife in the back yard of a residence near Houston, Texas! It was not 23' long, but was 13' long. The man you see in the picture is a TPW officer, and the machine is a Kabota backhoe! A 12, or 14" gator is not uncommon down there. Even as far north as Dallas/Fort Worth, the lakes are full of these old boys. Early this spring someon killed a 14 footer in White Rock Lake, north east of Dallas, and the game wardens are still looking for who ever did it! The fine for poaching a gator in Texas, is $5000, and/or prison time ! All the rivers, and lakes in the eastern 1/3 (about 200 miles accross, and 500 miles south to north) of Texas, and all along the Gulf coast, have gators, so it is quite common to see them here!

23 feet is big for a salt water Croc, and would be a record! The largest gator I've heard about was taken in the Achafalia Basin in lousianna, about ten years ago, and it was just under 16 feet!

The picture has been going around for some time, and has been said to have been taken everywhere, but the picture actually comes from the Texas, parks, and wildlife!