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A friend of mine at Lake Talquin Lodge posted these pic on Facebook Sunday night. This gator was killed by a "Nuisance Gator Trapper" somewhere around the Rocky Creek area. They just happened to be down at the boat landing when the trapper pulled in with the gator. This gator is 14 ft long!!!
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Wow! That's a biggin!
What a monster!
If I am not mistaken, that is Rawhides buddy.
Norma Ann and I have seen a big one in Rocky Comfort several times...As have most of us that have fished that area...Just wonder if this is the same one!!:yikes
Dangit man! Another reason I don't wade fish! Chootm Lizbeth!!! Like to see those Swamp People hand line that one and roll him in the boat. That one has been around for many a moon to grow that big.
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We just thought it was stumps that we were losing all of our jigs on!!! That's a hammer right there!!!
Thats a fat one right there. Like too see the whole story behind it including what made the Nuisance claim.
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Originally Posted by huntinslabs
Hate to see the BIG ones killed but I know there are plenty more to take their place. There was one like that in the St. Johns just east of the 17-92 bridge. He had been there for years and was always a site to see when he would lay up on the bank. About 6 or 7 years ago when they opened the season he was the first to go. Big write up in the news about how big he was etc.
With predators like that swimming the waters, it's easy to understand how hard it is to catch a 3lb. plus crappie in Florida, what a beast!!
I remember that dude. When people came and wanted to see a gator he was usually on the bar puttin on a show for tourists. Knew he was gonna be had.Quote:
Originally Posted by Speckanator
Dont know the story. Dont know the trapper. But have heard some talk between so called nuisance trappers finding big gators in their area and having friends make bogus calls to get the paycheck. Was a while ago but I am sure it still happens.Quote:
Originally Posted by 65pontiac
I meant WEST of the bridge right after the first lefthand bend.Quote:
Originally Posted by Speckanator
I knew where ya meant. He was a landmark.
Another big paycheck for the trapper. What did this alligator do to get himself killed? I see people buy or rent a place on the lake and the first thing they do when they see and alligator, is to call in a nusiance complaint. They seem to forget they moved into the alligators territory, not the other way around. If he was not bothering anybody, then why? I saw him many times and admired him as well as the birs who are around the lake. Heck I have lost many fish to them while reeling one in.
That was a KILLER not a trapper. No telling how old or how many snakes and gar fish it ate in it's huge life time. Growing up in the everglades I've had thousands of encounters with gators some that big and bigger and I'am still here. I hope the #$%%^&**( that killed him enjoy's his bounty and may many snakes climb in his boat because their won't be one more snake eater alive to keep their numbers down.
The big ones in the Wekiva are gone now too..................
You don't go into my lake and kill my pets. Just leave them alone. What's next that start killing 70 to 80 yr. old snapping turtles big as a truck tire because they're scared. If you don't like what lives in the lake stay home....
A friend of mine used to work for FWC doing nuisance gator calls & they would get extra tags & could fill them whenever they wanted, in fact he took a country singer out one night for big money. To the trapper this is just another job & the state doesn't pay, the trapper has to make all his money off the kill. I like seeing the big ones around & enjoy all types of wildlife viewing but it's all these yanks building house on every lake, pond & drainage canal in the state that complain. They just don't care if the animal is a NATIVE & was here long before their new house, they just don't want to see it unless their at the zoo.Quote:
Originally Posted by huntinslabs
I sure hate to see that gator killed. Its been in Rocky Comfort as long as I can remember. No sport in that. He/she never bothered me.
Probably never bothered anyone. Just dollars in someones pocket.
:banghead Don't like to see any gator killed unless it has attacked a human...then it has to be destroyed. By the way, there are several gators that large or larger up near Pat Thomas Park and in the area by the dam known as "Soapstone". Never seen any of them bother anybody. If you get too close they'll usually submerge and swim away leaving an occasional spurt of bubbles coming to the surface that gives away the direction they are moving.
The largest 2 gators I have ever seen before were in the back of Soapstone. They were both on the bank and I gave them all the privacy they wanted. I was in a 15 ft fiberglass boat and I honestly believe that both of those gators were longer than my boat...When I see them that big, I just stay out of their way and find some place else to fish!!!!!
To bad we can't find out why this alligator was killed. I guess the trappers can do what they want and when. Sad, anybody got contacts with the FWC? I realize that the alligators are like deer, need to be thinned out so they do not become a danger or nusiance. I can't believe that gator was either, for the area he was taken from.
Takes aloooooooooooong time to grow anotha'n that big. But if he was a nuisance.....:rolleyes: Like some others...would love hearing all the story.
Article in the "outdoorsdownsouth" web site.
The Biggest Gator I’ve Ever Seen . . . No Kidding | Outdoors Down South
A few years back the largest gator trapped and moved to new hunting grounds was 14 and a half foot and weighed in well over a 1000 pounds. This happen in Florida.......You can't tell me they even looked for a new home for this wonderful creature.
Another notch in a bounty hunter's gun handle ......
HMMMM a Lobbyiest huh?? Go figure a politician in the makings. I really don't understand the whole nuisance trapping thing in every case. The Orlando airport had a deer problem a long while back and instead of making boundries a long way from terminals and strips and letting a select few in on a very strict bowhunt they paid a trapper to come in and destroy the animals. Several parks and natural areas have liscensed trappers going in with quotas of hogs they have to remove. Easily could open a short archery or youth hunt season to eliminate some as well. And don't get me started on the Mickey Mouse Bear operation thats going on. Thats almost as bad as canned hunts for the trappers. If there is obviously a population problem than let the hunters that are applying for quota permits every year and being denied over and over a few more places to hunt and more options. There is way to many people hunting out of state while land close to home is sitting idle with trappers removing nuisance animals. Don't take a million dollars worth of surveys and studies from independant companies to figure out how much revenue the state is loosing on liscense sales and taxes from sporting equipment sales. And to go way off the deep end how bout the red snapper and grouper pile of sheet noaa put out. Yea the recreational fishermen were causing the problem not all them longline boats at every port and country fishing the waters off our coast, BULLSHEET!!!. Our states fleet of sportfishers and charter boats has all but been put out of businesss from that pile of junk. Now the Mosquito Lagoon and banana River lagoon have a brown algae problem chasing off the fish and killing the sea grasss. Maybe a run off problem??? Stop diverting all the dern water when it rains. If ya built in a flood zone, guesss what?? Yer house floods ya moron?? Quit whining about the developer changing the flood zones. And if ya live on the beach side and a noreastern blows all the sand dunes away and ya loose yer pool, quit crying about how the state and county need to fix it. Your a millionaire buy some dang sand and put it back!!! Shouldn't tore all the dunes down and sea oats and built that close ya MORON!!:banghead:banghead:banghead:banghead:banghe ad:banghead
OK off my soapbox now and feel much better:biggrin
Look what you started TnT....got everybody wound up!:banghead HS take a breath and post something funny!:biggrin Anything more than two or three sentences make it hard for me to concentrate:Doh:
I typed it slow so you could keep up.
I would love to see a BULLDAWG with a gator in his mouth!:biggrin
I sure didn't mean to start all this, but it did give people something to talk about since they aint much fishin' goin' on. But I won't be posting no more pic of big fish over 2 lbs anymore...They might put me in the same category as that Trapper feller and hang me in November!!:yikesQuote:
Originally Posted by Speckanator
NOPE!!! If that gator had been caught by someone with drawn tags and hunted by state guidelines I would have no problem. A nuisance trapper going out when it is to his advantage just before the gator season, where someone probably has drawn a hunt and is scouting to get a trophy, and poaching him out from under another is where I have a problem. And as long as the fish are ones you caught and your not robbing Rawhides livewell like ya been doing all is good.
Ok don't want to start a battle with anyone but I have to stand up for the trapper because I am one. He has a job that pays only on kills & his family gets hungry too, & If I had the chance to tag that beast I'd choot it in a heartbeat - especially if I had the tags & was going to make some money on it. The reason places aren't opened up to the public instead of trappers is because of the idiots it would attract. We are licensed, insured, responsible trappers that have to follow guidelines & use specific equipment. All of this costs money so money is to be made, we are subject to inspection & can get the same fines if rules aren't followed properly as the public. There is no special treatment just access to places where animals are causing a problem. I have been an avid outdoorsman my whole life & respect it very much, I don't like to see animals eliminated for no reason especially when it is usually a humans fault. With the growth we have now animal control has to be done, overpopulation of humans decreases wildlife.
He is a lobbiest and I doubt his family relies on that for pay as they are usually very well funded people from the corporations and special interest groups they represent.
Yes you are right & I don't know this trapper personally so it's hard to say. I just wanted to defend trappers in general like me that do have families that depend on the extra income. Just my :twocents
I'll leave it like this (KILL THE DEVELOPERS AND LEAVE OUR GATORS ALONE)
Time for a TIME-OUT.
Closing before thread gets to heated.