This was a problem gator killed yesterday in a neighborhood on the beach. We are going to get a season this year. This gator is nine foot. I have seen some as big as 13ft in the canals on the farm.

OK Captain Purvis, I have a question. What would be the primary diet for a gator that size, or similar to that size?

I shot a large croc in RSA that had 1 or 2 goat heads in its stomach...

Just curious. Great pic!

Catfish, nutria, turtles, deer, raccoons and all types of shore birds.

Your pet dog if you're not careful.

Grizz

Dandy! Good for whoever killed it.
****OOps, wasn't killed, they turned it loose.**
Thanks for sharing with us.

George

I don't think the one that killed the kid at Disney World a year or so back was that big.

why this big rush to kill gators and such, just because the in the neighborhood. people see themselves as too valuable. Probably would not have bothered anyone if left alone.

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
I don't think the one that killed the kid at Disney World a year or so back was that big.

Nope. Not big at all. Less than 7 feet as I recall.

Parents had no clue about gator behavior as they were from Nebraska. The gators had been fed by a bunch of dumb asses who thought it was fun.

What the parents and the poor little boy did not realize is that they were just begging those gators to come and get that poor little boy.

That was a rough week around here. We had the gator incident , a young female singer was shot by one of her fans and the Pulse night club shooting all in the same week.

quote:

Originally posted by tysue:
why this big rush to kill gators and such, just because the in the neighborhood. people see themselves as too valuable. Probably would not have bothered anyone if left alone.

When I lived in Alabama, I had one charge out of the weeds next to a creek into my back yard when I was cutting the grass. It was only a 5 footer and I was not but 1 or 2 miles from the city of Opelika. Good enough reason to kill the aggressive ones in my book. If I wasn't paying attention or mowing with my back to him, he could have gotten a bite in.

quote:

Originally posted by tysue:
why this big rush to kill gators and such, just because the in the neighborhood. people see themselves as too valuable. Probably would not have bothered anyone if left alone.

Notice he said problem gator.

While I am certainly not in the "look, it's breathing, let's kill it" camp but a gator that size can certainly be a threat to pets and small (even not so small) children. Do you think he sits there snd sez oh, that's a kid, I won't hurt him but here comes a nice deer, he's fair game.

quote:

Originally posted by tysue:
why this big rush to kill gators and such, just because the in the neighborhood. people see themselves as too valuable. Probably would not have bothered anyone if left alone.

Because the population is booming they are long passed the endangered stage.

The very same reasons we hunt and or kill other animals.

quote:

why this big rush to kill gators and such, just because the in the neighborhood. people see themselves as too valuable. Probably would not have bothered anyone if left alone.

There are some situations where you cannot simply stand by and hope something won't happen.

quote:

Originally posted by tysue:
why this big rush to kill gators and such, just because the in the neighborhood. people see themselves as too valuable. Probably would not have bothered anyone if left alone.

Because they were eating the sea kittens.

quote:

Originally posted by Capt. Purvis:
Catfish, nutria, turtles, deer, raccoons and all types of shore birds.

I think a gator will eat just about anything it can catch and swallow.


I've seen gators camped out under an egret rookery and watched them pounce on unlucky immature birds that fell out of their nest.


One very hot September morning during Teal season, we had fairly big gator (about 9 to 10 footer) in the water just outside our sunken blind. For about an hour the gator never moved an inch, then a small snake (3 foot) cruised by about a foot in front of the gator. The big gator snapped it up, and had a snake breakfast. It was a very small snack for a big gator.

About a year later (during my college years) at that same sunken blind one morning before daylight while I was half asleep and fully hungover, I was jumped (in the dark) into the sunken blind right onto the back of 8 to 9 foot gator. I instantly became a world class high jumper. Lucky for me, the gator was sort of wedged in the bottom of the sunken fiberglass blind and couldn't really move at all. Later in the morning after our hunt, we pulled the gator out of the blind. The gator was exhausted, because we were able to pull him out by the tail.

Dad told me a few times about when he was stationed at Orlando. One of his guys was walking guard duty post late one night and had his leg bitten by one that lunged out of a swamp or pond nearby. Don't recall how bad he was hurt, only that it happened. Back around '41-42.

George

quote:

Originally posted by tysue:
why this big rush to kill gators and such, just because the in the neighborhood. people see themselves as too valuable. Probably would not have bothered anyone if left alone.

Hypocritical of me I'm sure since I certainly don't want to kill every bear in my neighborhood, but reptiles give me the willies! I'd think I'd want to kill every snake or alligator I could get in my rifle sights.

That is a real fat lizard. Just look how fat the base of his tail is. Obviously eating very well.

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:

quote:

Originally posted by tysue:
why this big rush to kill gators and such, just because the in the neighborhood. people see themselves as too valuable. Probably would not have bothered anyone if left alone.

Hypocritical of me I'm sure since I certainly don't want to kill every bear in my neighborhood, but reptiles give me the willies! I'd think I'd want to kill every snake or alligator I could get in my rifle sights.

One of the best reasons to live in AK none of those critters.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:

quote:

Originally posted by tysue:
why this big rush to kill gators and such, just because the in the neighborhood. people see themselves as too valuable. Probably would not have bothered anyone if left alone.

Hypocritical of me I'm sure since I certainly don't want to kill every bear in my neighborhood, but reptiles give me the willies! I'd think I'd want to kill every snake or alligator I could get in my rifle sights.

One of the best reasons to live in AK none of those critters.

Good Lord Man, no foolin'!

I kill every rattler I see if for no other reason that they cook up pretty tasty.

Read that a mother and two small kids were killed when they hit a gator on I95 in North Carolina. Not an attack, but a horrible way to go.

Somebody needs to calibrate their tape measure. That gator is quite a bit more than nine feet long. His head is three feet long from the end of his nose to the base of his skull, for crying out loud. he looks to me like he's crowding eleven feet, if not a touch more.

They killed one about ten miles from my house that went thirteen feet four inches about six months ago. A guy looked out his window and the gator was laying in his front yard. A shot to the head with a 30-30 did the trick--It made the local newspaper, pictures and all.

A gator that size in your yard or in your pasture around your livestock is definitely dangerous and needs to go.

I think camera angle is part of it. How wide is the bucket on the tractor?

quote:

Originally posted by tysue:
why this big rush to kill gators and such, just because the in the neighborhood. people see themselves as too valuable. Probably would not have bothered anyone if left alone.

..................

I can tell you do not live in a gator state! If you did you would not have asked that question!

.....................................................................Ask anyone who lives along rivers or lakes in the south USA.
...................................................................

It looks like a 7400 series tractor. I would guess a 7 or 8' bucket.

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
I kill every rattler I see if for no other reason that they cook up pretty tasty.

I'm with you. Last rattler I saw I mulched with the mower. He was less than three feet away when he coiled. I don't let my grass grow to a foot high anymore lol