Last Friday as I was looking through Facebook I noticed an old acquaintance was down from Wisconsin visiting Disney with his wife and kids. He's always been an avid hunter, so I shot him an invite to see if he could slip away from Mickey for an afternoon gator hunt. After a couple rounds of buzz light year and its a small world Bryan talked his wife into letting him take an afternoon rain check from the Disney scene and come hunt with us. I have not seen Bryan in a couple of years so our ride to the property consisted of reminiscing about old whitetail camp stories and playing catchup. This would be his first gator hunt and he wanted to know everything possible about what to expect.
Bryan is one of the most animated people I have ever met... always fun to be around. As we entered our property I could see the excitement in his grimace and knew that he was genuinely excited to be here. As our hunt progressed we informed Bryan how to judge the size of an alligator. Within an hour or two Bryan was accurately calling out gators... "that's a 10 foot gator... that's an 8 ft gator." We rounded a corner on a dike and saw a head pop up. I knew instantly that this was the gator we were after. Bryan's face immediately turned from a smile to a reassuring squint as he confidently shouldered the Thompson center 25-06. A gentle ease of the trigger finger sent the 117 grain super performance Hornady down range to what we thought was a dead gator! Excitement and high fives soon followed as the gator went to the bottom of a 4 foot pond. Casey pulled out the trusty ugly stick equipped with a Penn reel. On his first cast Casey hit pay dirt and snagged the gator. After a couple minutes of trying to horse the gator from the bottom with no avail, we realized that we were going to have to walk our hand line out to him. No sooner then that was decided Bryan had his shoes off and volunteered himself for the task. He made it within 10 feet of the gator, slung the hand line/treble hook, and with a confident yank the calm, shallow water pond turned into the Bering sea. To Bryan's surprise this prehistoric animal that he though had received a fatal shot came to life. No sooner then I yelled "he's alive,get out of the water" Brian had already hit the nitrous button, and kicked his Wisconsin feet into mach 2 gear! I cannot accurately recall what verbiage he used while making his way back to the bank, but I can assure you it was definitely "ear muff" worthy. Once on shore he passed the line to us and reached for the gun. It was at this time that we realized that the first shot only grazed the top of his head and momentarily knocked him unconscious. This dinosaur was now fully alert and Casey and I were playing hell fighting him with 2 lines. Though the 3 minute fight seemed to last an hour, we managed to make the monsters head surface long enough for Bryan to plant a Hornady in it. As soon as it started it was over. Finally the water calmed. A hand shake, a cold celebratory beverage, a couple pictures, a new change of underwater and Bryan was on his way back to Disney. But not before he ordered a custom set of gator boots to allow him to remember his once in a lifetime experience with us for a lifetime! If you want to head out with the gator hunting crew (don't worry you don't need to volunteer to go in the water like Bryan did), check here for alligator hunting Florida information. Or, please give us a call at (863) 243-4304 and we'll be happy to answer any questions for you. -The Gator Crew *We are not affiliated in any way with the Walt Disney Company or any of its subsidiaries.
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The Gator CrewSouth-Florida natives who know how to have a good time. Our Gator Tales blog is here to highlight some of our alligator hunts and tales along with the some of the antics of our great gator hunting guides. ArchivesCategories
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