Last year I was hunting with a friend along the Zambezi River, in the delta. On the menu for us was crocs and we were out with other hunters going after hippos.

Having never hunted hippos I was a bit surprised at shooting them in the moving water and waiting downstream for them to float. It seem the chance of losing one was quite high. Although the one I saw shot was delicious.

Also my friend shot a large croc that slid back into the water and no amount of badgering would get our PH or the trackers to go into the water. We could see eight sets of eyes watching us.

On the flight home, probably somewhere over the Sahara, it occurred to me the Zodiac boat we riding in had a sonar/fish finder unit. We could have used it to locate both after they had been shot. Upon getting home I did a search on the internet and found screen captures of crocs (In Australia) from sonar units so they do show up. I was at Cabalas' looking at sonar and the images they had as demo even tiny branches on submerged trees could be seen. A side looking unit costs about $1000 US but that would have been a small price to pay to recover my friends croc.

Has anyone done this?

Mark

I used up all the luck in my life, having recovered a croc from 20' water in the fast flowing Zambezi river. The short version is that the croc was lying next to the bait on a steep bank facing the water, despite a perfect brain shot the thrasing of its tail drove it into the water.

What we did not know at the time was that there was a steep 20'+ drop off right there. We recovered it 5 hours later by dredging the bottom with a thin grapling hook which is all we had in camp!!! The hook just caught on to the soft stomach skin and up came 12"+ of croc .

Arjun Reddy
www.huntersnetworks.com

I can't see why it wouldn't work. But, once found, who is going into the water after a wounded croc?

quote:

Originally posted by SBT:
I can't see why it wouldn't work. But, once found, who is going into the water after a wounded croc?

The grappling hook and chain.

If you know where it is there are many possibilities, as Reddy and Frost said a grappling hook will work or when we were there the local fishermen were dragging for a shot croc with their net, and successfully too. That one was in an inlet so they could get on both sides of the water to pull the net. My friend's was off a point of sand so that would not have been feasible.
If it is be located it could be watched for a long enough time to be sure it is dead/drowned before trying poke it and then drag it up. The Sonar will also locate other crocs in the area out to about 200 feet so those hanging over the edge of the boat could have warning of what is approaching.
The technology exists and is available we should use it. Now to get someone to give it a try.

Mark

We use big ass treble hooks here for gators hat sink. I dont see why a couple of decent grappling hooks and stout line wouldnt do just fine for croc or hippo for that matter.