The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Hide > The Hunt

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old September 22, 2011, 06:59 PM   #1
bswiv
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 4, 2006
Location: NE FL.......
Posts: 1,081
Some days I truly dislike my friends.......

When Mike called early on Wednesday morning to say that we needed to run down the lake about 5 miles and help him get a "big" gator in his boat he let slip that while he had two harpoons in it he had not gotten it banged and taped yet.

Hearing this we decided that as we had nearly 1 1/2 hours of legal hunting time left......and no gator of our own!......we'd hunt a while and then go help him. Besides that he's old like we are and was hunting with a girl so what he was calling "big" most likely was just one that his old wore out butt could not haul into the boat.....not something that was truly "big".

About as soon as the decision had been made that we would hunt a while longer Yul spied the one you see in the first picture ( 10' 8" ). Took us about 45 minutes to get it banged, taped and into the boat.

Then it was time to go help Mike........ And truth be we figured that when we got to him we'd find that ours was bigger than his, giving us a good excuse to make fun of him.

When we finally got where we could see him he was just sitting in the boat with two harpoon lines trailing over the side. He said he'd banged it but had not taped it because he could not get its head far enough out of the water to do so.

That's when we knew he had us............

Took 3 of us to haul it up into the boat........12' 7"........BIG......Mike stands vindicated.......


bswiv is offline  
Old September 23, 2011, 10:19 PM   #2
Brian Pfleuger
Moderator Emeritus
 
Join Date: June 25, 2008
Location: Austin, CO
Posts: 19,578
Wow! What a beast!

They should make a tv show about gator hunting...
Brian Pfleuger is offline  
Old September 24, 2011, 08:27 AM   #3
BIGR
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 13, 2000
Location: Mountains
Posts: 1,385
Quote:
Wow! What a beast!

They should make a tv show about gator hunting...
They do, it is about some guys in the swamp, down south. Heck I can't think of the name of it, but I have watched it before. Swampmen maybe?
BIGR is offline  
Old September 24, 2011, 08:39 AM   #4
ice9_us
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 14, 2008
Posts: 101
great story.. :?)

that is funny.
ice9_us is offline  
Old September 24, 2011, 08:40 AM   #5
dahermit
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 28, 2006
Location: South Central Michigan...near
Posts: 6,501
Being a Michigander, we have few and only very small 'gators. Please explain just how 'gators are hunted. Are they shot at distance? Are they just harpooned? If shot, do they always float? Please explain the process.
dahermit is offline  
Old September 24, 2011, 08:50 AM   #6
Brian Pfleuger
Moderator Emeritus
 
Join Date: June 25, 2008
Location: Austin, CO
Posts: 19,578
Quote:
Originally Posted by BIGR View Post
They do, it is about some guys in the swamp, down south. Heck I can't think of the name of it, but I have watched it before. Swampmen maybe?
I should have put a in there or something.

You should be on SwampMen.... I wonder how you apply?
Brian Pfleuger is offline  
Old September 24, 2011, 09:04 AM   #7
Dave P
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 16, 1999
Location: North Florida
Posts: 1,346
Nice catch! Where?
__________________
I think this country is screwed.
Dave P is offline  
Old September 24, 2011, 11:44 AM   #8
hooligan1
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 18, 2010
Location: Independence Missouri
Posts: 4,585
You fellas be sure to keep those suckers out of Missouri please!!!
__________________
Keep your Axe sharp and your powder dry.
hooligan1 is offline  
Old September 24, 2011, 01:37 PM   #9
bswiv
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 4, 2006
Location: NE FL.......
Posts: 1,081
It's called "Swamp People".......and they should not be confused with.......well.......mom used to say "if you don't have anything nice to say......"

Let's just say that not much of what you see them doing is legal in Florida and that many of the behaviors they exibit are foreign to me, Louann and our friends.
bswiv is offline  
Old September 25, 2011, 08:23 AM   #10
jgcoastie
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 15, 2009
Location: Kodiak, Alaska
Posts: 2,118
Quote:
Originally Posted by bswiv
Let's just say that not much of what you see them doing is legal in Florida...
Good thing they're in Louisiana then.


Quote:
Originally Posted by bswiv
and that many of the behaviors they exibit are foreign to me, Louann and our friends.
They're from the swamps of Louisiana, pretty much everything about that region is foreign to just about everyone else...

Congrats to Mike. (And you too )
__________________
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." -Richard Henry Lee, Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress, initiator of the Declaration of Independence, and member of the first Senate, which passed the Bill of Rights.
jgcoastie is offline  
Old September 25, 2011, 10:27 AM   #11
BIGR
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 13, 2000
Location: Mountains
Posts: 1,385
Quote:
I should have put a in there or something.

You should be on SwampMen.... I wonder how you apply?
Nope I will stick to being a mountain man. I don't care about gators, snakes and hot weather. Where I live you have to be like a mountain goat to get around some of the most unforgiving terrain you could imagine.
BIGR is offline  
Old September 25, 2011, 05:45 PM   #12
Brian Pfleuger
Moderator Emeritus
 
Join Date: June 25, 2008
Location: Austin, CO
Posts: 19,578
Quote:
Originally Posted by bswiv View Post
It's called "Swamp People".......and they should not be confused with.......well.......mom used to say "if you don't have anything nice to say......"

Let's just say that not much of what you see them doing is legal in Florida and that many of the behaviors they exibit are foreign to me, Louann and our friends.
Really? What do they do wrong? I know nothing of the "right" or "wrong" methods, never having seen a gator, or even a real swamp for that matter.
Brian Pfleuger is offline  
Old September 25, 2011, 06:25 PM   #13
hogdogs
Staff In Memoriam
 
Join Date: October 31, 2007
Location: Western Florida panhandle
Posts: 11,069
peetza, I don't know the "right & wrong" in great detail but when you are ready to see a gator, a real swamp, wild hogs and mad southern beavers... You know yer invited!

BTW!!! You will see all of the above and more all at the same time as you wade nipples deep in the aforementioned "real swamp"

Don't worry about gettin' cold... Fear driven adrenaline is a better body warmer than liquor ever was...

Brent
hogdogs is offline  
Old September 25, 2011, 06:28 PM   #14
Brian Pfleuger
Moderator Emeritus
 
Join Date: June 25, 2008
Location: Austin, CO
Posts: 19,578
Thanks Brent... I'm going to take you up on that, one day.
Brian Pfleuger is offline  
Old September 25, 2011, 08:16 PM   #15
bswiv
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 4, 2006
Location: NE FL.......
Posts: 1,081
The short answer to the question of right or wrong ( and mind you I said "ILLEGAL" in my post ) comes down exactly to the illegal of it if we did it in FL.

What they do in LA is legal there........but not here.

We are not allowed to set free floating baits or to set hooks on lines attached to trees or whatever.

During the public hunts in Fl. if you use bait you must have the line the bait is on under your control at all times. And you can not use hooks in the bait.

I am not passing judgement on how they do it......having been a commercial fisherman I understand how hard what they are doing is, making a living off nature. So if it's legal they need to get at it as best they can.

None of that changes the fact that from what few minutes of the show I have been able to stomach.............well.........maybe I should let it drop as we are suposed to be discussing hunting.
bswiv is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:26 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.06006 seconds with 10 queries