I took the day away from the family's vacation earlier this year to spend the day with a Nuisance Alligator Trapper near Orlando, FL. I wanted to hunt a gator for a long time, but didn't want to get suckered into a canned type hunt, so I found something unique through http://www.lakesideadventures.net/

My son, Ewan, and I spent the day riding a long with a Nuisance Alligator Trapper responding to calls from people who had alligators in areas they are not suppose to be in.

Our first call was to a gated golf course community where a number of gators were in retaining ponds throughout the community. Using fishing poles with treble type hooks on the end, we anchored an 8 foot gator and fought him to the shore. Gators are STRONG! After getting him to the shore line, I used a "Bang Stick" to hit him with a .44 Mag bullet behind the head. Talk about FUN!!!!!

Here is the photo of the gator I got:



After getting that gator into the truck, we went to the other side of the community and found a true 10 foot gator in another pond. We got him on the lines and I fought him for 45 minutes while we tried to get him to the shore line. He broke the line unfortunately.

We responded to more calls, and ended up at a pond behind a truck stop that had 20 four foot gators that we needed to remove and relocate to another area (we can't kill gators under 4 feet because they are not a real threat to people or property.)

This is where my son, Ewan, had a blast! He wrestled his own gator (four of them actually) and helped the trappers tape their mouths closed. Talk about fun for an eight year old!

Here is Ewan with his gator:



He did this with a broken arm and everything!

Here is a video of him in action - pretty brave for a little guy!



It was a great day with my little man! The price was great $350 for me, $100 for Ewan, and tips to guides and I got to keep one gator, no matter what size it was - no hidden "trophy fees" for monster gators if you found one!

That sounds like a lot of fun!

Great fun !!

My 5 year old son would absolutely eat something like this up!

Good on you Dad
He may forget every school lesson from this year as soon as summer starts again, but he'll remember that trip for the rest of his life.

Way to go! Ain't it fun to do a bit of homework and find a hunt/adventure that is unusual and so out of the ordinary? I've had many fun hunts this way, often I'll call the chamber of commerce in some tiny western US town & ask about hunting guides, they usually know them personally. Many old-timers or low-tech guides don't bother with setting up websites or using booking agents.

What a cool thing to do with your kids!! Way better than Disneycrap!

quote:

Originally posted by sdirks:
What a cool thing to do with your kids!! Way better than Disneycrap!

That does sound like fun.

Great report!