This kind of behavior hurts us all...........

[bswiv]

The pictures you are seeing are of a gator Louann and I ran up on a little while before sunrise on Saturday morning. As you can tell someone has cut its tail and head off leaving the balance to bloat and rot in the lake.

You can also see that it was FRESH, having been done during the previous evening.

Needless to say we called the FWC and reported it.

Beyond the wasting of a lot of meat the clown who did this left the remains out in the lake where every kayaker, canoe paddler, water skier, PWC rider......well just everyone had to see it.

Now it is potentially arguable that what he did was legal as he may have put his tag in the tail and then carried off the parts he wanted. And while I know he wasted a lot of good meat I can't say his decisions were illegal.

What I will say though is that we who hunt, whether it be gators or deer or whatever, need to be aware how what we do influences public perceptions of what we do.

We've just got to do a better job getting some folks in the fraternity to behave better because if we alinate enough folks the next generation may well end up not having the joy of hunting.

Rant over.............

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[stephen426]

Yum... Gator... The other white meat! Tastes like chicken! :p :D

[Doyle]

Yep, there are slobs everywhere. I see the same thing during deer seaon (only they take the antlers and leave the meat to rot).

[Art Eatman]

An amazing percentage of all people just don't seem to care about anything beyond their own narrow interests. I don't have any answer...

[myshoulderissore]

What a waste... That's frustrating.:mad:

[BIG P]

bswiv,I was on the other side of the state So. west corner & seen no less than 5 gators done the same way. Its a shame there are alot of people that would love the chance to hunt gator then see this kind of crap.I just hope that this sort of unsportsman like conduct does'nt ruin the sport for the rest of us.Its not that much more work to do it right.I dont know if its poching or just lazy either way its sad to see the waste.:mad::mad:

[FrankenMauser]

What a waste... That's frustrating.Very frustrating. When I was in Florida, I ran across more poached (headless) deer, than legally taken deer. And, for legally taken deer... I ran across more in-season headless bodies, than people actually hauling the carcass out.


It does feel good to see these guys get hauled in, though.
One example-
Just over 10 years ago (Utah), we saw a truck loaded up with a beautiful trophy-class 6x6 Bull Elk. The problem was, that we were in the middle of the Muzzleloader Deer hunt. We assumed the guy had an early season Elk tag for the area, and brushed it off.

But... As we headed out to the highway to get gas, we ran across his truck. The game wardens had the Elk in one of their trucks, the guy in handcuffs, his truck hooked up to a tow truck, and his rifle on the hood of their truck.
He didn't have that tag, after all.

And then you get the mixed emotions-
Gratitude, for the game cops getting these dirt bags.
And sadness, from these dirt bags ruining things for everyone else.
And regret, for having assumed the best when we saw him. He might have gotten away with it.

[oneounceload]

That hide he left was worth something as well.............

[cnimrod]

can give us all a bad rap. The "in your face" attitude some have is thoughtless. I regularly find deer carcasses dumped right by the parking lots in our state parks here and move them off into the woods. We're not the only segment of the populace that enjoys nature, let's keep them on our side or at least don't push them to the other.

[warrior poet]

Simple Rule: "Eat what you kill, and kill only what you eat." (BGs excepted ofcourse. ;) )

[shortwave]

Simply put:

a 'SLOB' hunter....

....of which we should have no use for.:mad:

[JACK308]

yeah thats a waste of MEAT.

[C0untZer0]

I thought a carcass would get eaten pretty quickly.

Where are the fish, turtles and other gators?

[C0untZer0]

Gator doesn't taste like chicken, it tastes like gator but probably the closest thing I would corelate it to - the white meat to me tastes like calamari or squid, the dark meat, to me tastes like farm raised catfish (don't care for the dark meat).

[M.O.A.]

im not understanding that because the skin is worth a little money there why would someone just leave 3-400 bucks just floating there :confused:

[Brian Pfleuger]

An amazing percentage of all people just don't seem to care about anything beyond their own narrow interests. I don't have any answer...

Yep. That's about all there is to say. All we can do is our best to make certain that others know that we find such behavior unacceptable so at least it won't happen around us.

[FrontSight]

Just shameful. I try to be an optimist, and think "Poor hunters, someone got back to the dock and discovered the rest of the body had fallen out of the boat."

But I'm just lying to myself :(

[Bernie Lomax]

Yum... Gator... The other white meat! Tastes like chicken! :p :D

LOFL! Poor Albert and Alberta. They must be devastated.

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/9821/albertandalberta.jpg

[rickyrick]

That is a shame, nobody should waste a native animal like that.

[C0untZer0]

And again I ask:

"Where were the turtles when all this was going on?"

Sleeping on the job when they should be out there cleaning up the lake!

Lazy turtles ! :mad:

[Daryl]

im not understanding that because the skin is worth a little money there why would someone just leave 3-400 bucks just floating there

Some folks are only in it for the kill, and maybe the trophy.

An (ex) hunting buddy of mine was very much that way. He loved to hunt, but had little interest in saving meat and such from what he killed.

He didn't even seem willing to learn what I tried to teach him about such things, and I dearly dislike hunting with someone I consider to be a slob.

Maybe I'm too picky, but here in Az it IS illegal to waste any edible portion of a game animal. In his defense, I'll say that he usually gave away what he managed to bring home. He was just far to willing to toss aside what he saw as unwanted weight to pack out, while making sure he had the cape, antlers, and any other trophy typs stuff..

Daryl

[PawPaw]

It's too easy to be ethical. I've got a brother-in-law who loves to hunt deer, but doesn't enjoy deer meat. When he shoots a deer, he asks if any of us want the meat. If not, he calls two or three other buddies to see if they want it. If not, he hauls it to the meat locker and tells the owner of the processing plant to give it to a poor family.

It's not hard to do the right thing.

[bigStag]

Why does everyone assume he's a hunter/outdoors man.

This is not hunting and has nothing to do with hunting. Its a person who killed an animal to eat the tail.

They should be arrested.......

[Brian Pfleuger]

Why does everyone assume he's a hunter/outdoors man.

This is not hunting and has nothing to do with hunting. Its a person who killed an animal to eat the tail.

They should be arrested.......


Seems pretty unlikely to be a lawyer from New York City. :rolleyes:

We might not want him to be considered a "hunter" or "outdoorsmen" but the odds are astronomical that he is. Maybe not "ethically" speaking but I'm sure he's an outdoorsy hunter/shooter type.

[chadstrickland]

I agree those turtles ain't worth squat.:mad:...


Spending alot of time on the river I have ate plenty of turtles..and living in alabama I have cough..stumbled across plenty of gators that have been for some odd reason freshly shot and felt it was my duty to take them home and fry them up.

Another thing is that alot of people believe that the tail is like where 90 percent of all the meat is at...I will say there is alot there but alot more in the rest of the body as well.

[Kreyzhorse]

Yep, there are slobs everywhere

+1.

I was hunting antelope on public land out in Wyoming and we came across a lot of antelope that had been shot and left to rot. As we talked to the locals, some of them mentioned that they thought one of the other local boys was to blame. Fast forward a few days and we got to see the local Game Warden arrest what I can only assume was the shooter. That was a nice sight to see.

[Discern]

Dad taught us the rule "If you kill it, you clean it, you eat it" - within reason. We did not eat gophers, raccoons, coyotes or foxes. All of these were hunted for population control. Even the fur bearing were hunted for population control. When their numbers were down, we would let them be - except for the coyotes.

[C0untZer0]

^ Raccoons are supposedly tasty and were a part of the American diet for decades and decades. It was even at one time a dish served at the Whitehouse.

Down South there is still a big raccoon BBQ that they do...

I've heard that squirell is not that much different from gophers.

Louisiana has such a problem with Nutria that they tried to convinve the Chiness to start eating them. The hope was to build an export market for the things - and people would hunt them for a bounty.

I guess it didn't work so well, Nutria are still destroying levys and undercutting roads.

Is the gator tail mostly white meat?

[Discern]

I do not eat rodents. If you want the gophers, I will mail them to you COD. :-)

We would hunt the raccoons if they started going after our garden or damaging the buildings. Raccoons can do a lot of damage to building and equipment. What I have hear about raccoon meat is it can be greasy.

With home grown beef and hunted venison no need for gophers or raccoon meat.

[youngunz4life]

http://www.nighthawkpublications.com/images/181-09.JPG

http://photocompetition.upclive.com/original/422947/nutria/nagetier_nutria_saale_zahne.jpg

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[od green]

According to our state regs, that would fall under wanton waste which that would make it illegal. Tho we don't have many gators here.

[Doyle]

According to our state regs, that would fall under wanton waste which that would make it illegal. Tho we don't have many gators here.

Yes, Fl (where the crime happened) also has a wanton waste statute. However, the gator poaching penalties are far stricter. Penalty for wanton waste will get you a slap on the wrist. Penalty for gator poaching will get you thrown under the jail.

[Daryl]

What I have hear about raccoon meat is it can be greasy.



This first time you skin and flesh a 'coon hide, you'll KNOW it's greasy.

[rickyrick]

I was imagining that raccoons tasted like corn, marshmallows with a hint of shredded V-max

[tahunua001]

when I was a young buck(only 5 years ago but still makes me feel learned) me and my best friend decided we were sick of hunting in our usual stomping grounds(plus he had shot the only buck in that place the week before) so we went to a farm he knew had lots of bucks. when we got there we saw a fence that was lined with 7 beautiful all non typical deer racks. when we asked the farmer if he had a problem with us hunting on his land he pointed at the fence and told us that he had recovered all of those racks in the 2 weeks since season started from bucks who were shot and left to rot on his place and now he wont let anyone hunt on his place ever again.

way to ruin it for the rest of us slobs

[LSnSC]

For most, gator hunting is a novelty. All they want is a trophy to say, "been there and done that." If they couldnt post pics or show off trophies, I wounder how many would actually hunt them?

[bswiv]

You'd be surprised at how many gators we clean ( We process them in the fish market during the season. ) for guys who are pumped about the meat.

Not saying that you are not mostly right but here in FL the meat is prized.

[youngunz4life]

from what I understand: absolutely none of a hunted gator is wasted(if you are hunting it for the correct reasons)

[Ambishot]

True hunters don't do this to an animal. I've never hunted down south but isn't there a FL equivalent to Operation Game Thief?

[Kimbertron]

It's too easy to be ethical. I've got a brother-in-law who loves to hunt deer, but doesn't enjoy deer meat. When he shoots a deer, he asks if any of us want the meat. If not, he calls two or three other buddies to see if they want it. If not, he hauls it to the meat locker and tells the owner of the processing plant to give it to a poor family.

It's not hard to do the right thing.

This is what annoys me the most, if you want to hunt only for the trophy at least make a phone call there are plenty of people willing to take meat off a hunters hands. I could be wrong in assuming this is also true in Florida but where i live its very easy to give away meat with very little work.

[Gunplummer]

This is how campfire rumors get started. Maybe it was just scavengers. That is what we call guys that find dead trophies and cut parts off them. When I drive down to West Virginia on Thanksgiving week it is not unusual to see a large bodied deer laying in the median of the interstate with the head gone and caped down to the shoulders. On the Monday after Thanksgiving Pa. rifle season opens. You can bet who ever took the head isn't going to tell people it was a road kill.