pauln Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Picture taken from a TraumaHawk helecopter over Lake Worth, near West Palm Beach, FL Yeah, that's a full grown deer in his mouth. When he showed up in a neighborhood the Game and Parks guy put him down, then hung him up. This creature is 23 feet one inch long... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkp Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Look at the size of that thing's head!!! Incredible!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islander Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Wonder what age that venerable Floridian was? That's one senior gator! There was a video going around a while ago that showed a similarly large gator swimming with a deer in its mouth. I don't know if it was this one or another one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 that would make a great handbag! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Nope, they were taken in South Georgia: http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/gatordeer.asp#photo And it is closer to 14 feet long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arky Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Yeah, you gotta love snopes. Still one big sucker though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 That one's at least 20 years old. You should see the Lake (Lake Okeechobee) after a good cool night, round about 11:00 AM. Looks like telephone poles with them all lined up on the banks of the Kissimmee River outlet and around what we call "Hog Island" just takin in the sun.. At night when they are swimming around looking for food, and you shine a spotlight out on the lake, you can see hundreds of little yellow glowing eyeballs... Most adult gators average about 10-14' in the lake. Really big ones are rare, mostly due to environmental reasons and the fact that they were overhunted (as in poaching) in the 80's and 90's. Then the State & Feds clamped down and for about 15 years they were "endangered species". So what happened is now you have a "growth gap" where almost all gators are <14' and the few big ones are >19-20'. What put the "poachers" out of business are the gator farms. We have big one in Okeechobee County. These "farms" supply most of the handbag, cowboy boot, and belt demands. Poaching gators is still a big fine, seizure of your boat, weapons, etc.and jail time if a second offense. Because they really have no natural enemies (except airboaters and pick-up trucks loaded down with poachers, and the ocassional boat propeller...), they are also becoming a real nuisance (again). During the spring, 'round about April - May is mating season, and they crawl all over the place, across roads, front yards, etc looking for a new pond, mates, etc. Hitting a gator on the road is a sure fire way to buy a new front suspension... They are very dangerous during mating season if you "mess with them". Anyone see "Lake Placid", and the scenes when the water is vibrating. Think of a giant "Klipsch RW-24" underwater... It's their "I wanna get me some" mating ritual. And like any self respectin' good ole boy, when you interrupt the mating game, they get all perturbed and riled up.... They "thwack" their land based targets with their tails if they can't grab it by lunging, and knock it into the water. Once the animal is knocked in the water, they then grab it in their mouth, pull the target under, and roll over several times which drowns the prey. They then will drag it to their "hidey hole" and stash it until it's ripe... very ripe... Then enjoy a good meal... Their favorite food now is "poodles".... Biggest problem is non-native Floridians (as in just retired and moved down) like to feed them. Since their brain is the size of a walnut..., they then stop hunting and hang out near golf courses and housing development decorative ponds. As an example, big ole' "Jimbo the Gator", who has moved into the local upscale waterfront "golf community", gets hungry, and Mrs. Jones let's her dog, "Fluffy", out to take a leak. "Fluffy" heads to the pond, and to "Jimbo" it looks like what's for dinner!!! Convenient too, sorta' like a primeval drive-through... Once they get a taste for dogs, it gets outa' hand and small kids now look like tasty dogs to them.... We lost our first dog to a 16 footer about 14 years ago. The dog, also affectionately known as "Numnuts"... had this really bad habit of heading to the canal (we lived on what we refer to as "sewer front" property...) and barking at the alligators... Well one day, the biggest, meanest and fastest gator had enough, and "thwacked" him. I heard the commotion and ran out, but too late. Numnuts was dead, leg in the gator's mouth and he was headed to the hidey hole. Once that gator had a taste of dog..., he started going after the neighbor's dogs, and we had to get Game & Fish to come out, bait the banks with chickens (dead chickens, although live ones would have been hilarious), and catch the beast. Obviously, the dinosaur in this thread had turned into a major (and dangerous) pest. Of course, at that size he had no fear!!! Small ones will run or go under water if you get anywhere near them. The really big ones, however, just look at you like a wolf looks at a rabbit when you drive by in a boat.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSamuel Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Can we send over a few Myakka lake at the Myakka River State Park fishermen? We've done the airboat gator watch trips there several times and normally there's at least one fisherman wading the middle of the lake as it is very shallow... one of the boat captains said the fishermen where complaining that the gators were stealing their fish ... maybe even with a walnut sized brain the gators would rather have some nice tasty fish than a tough old fisherman wearing hip waders? Does the size of the brain really matter? I mean, fishing in the water where there are gators? Sounds like a Darwin award candidate to me. Don't think the Myakka gators get much more than 10 - 14 feet ... but still ... same boat captain says they've not lost a fisherman or even had one attacked ... that they're aware of I believe alligators are very fast in water and we look too much like food... call me a sissy but I'll keep a safe distance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islander Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Last night on the TV news was the unveiling of a plaque in a park in Port Alberni, in the west-central part of Vancouver Island. Bears are frequently seen on the far side of the creek and the plaque warns not to feed them. One Animal Control staffer commented, "A fed bear is a dead bear.", since once they come to depend on handouts or garbage, they soon become a pest and wind up getting shot. In Toronto, a similar situation arose when coyotes were noticed in High Park, a large park in the west end of the city. The coyotes were harmless until some fools fed them, then the coyotes developed a taste for small dogs. I don't know what the latest info on that situation is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Gator tail if cooked just right is darn tasty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSamuel Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Coyotes, wolves, and packs of dogs in Indiana often dine on sheep. Our youngest daughter likes a little gator every now and then. The few gator bits that I've tried were pretty good but a little tough and chewy? Maybe not prime from the tale or prepared properly? Deep fried if I recall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 monster! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 Coyotes, wolves, and packs of dogs in Indiana often dine on sheep. Our youngest daughter likes a little gator every now and then. The few gator bits that I've tried were pretty good but a little tough and chewy? Maybe not prime from the tale or prepared properly? Deep fried if I recall. If it's tough and chewy then it is probably overcooked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted January 25, 2008 Moderators Share Posted January 25, 2008 Gator tail if cooked just right is darn tasty. Had some a couple of weeks ago, it was farm raised and was very tasty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billybob Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 Definitely MONSTER size! Yes sir, good eating! Deep fried preferred! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islander Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 I believe alligators are very fast in water and we look too much like food... call me a sissy but I'll keep a safe distance. Having common sense doesn't make you a sissy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 Gee, that gator looks like some of my old girlfriends ............... Whoa !!!!!!!!! ... [:$] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSamuel Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 If it's tough and chewy then it is probably overcooked. Have to tell our youngest daughter that. She always orders gator if it's on the menu when we visit her grandfather in Florida. Mostly deep fried bits as an appetizer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSamuel Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 Having common sense doesn't make you a sissy! In any case, better to be a live sissy that can walk than a dead idiot. channelling Jeff Foxworthy ... If yor chilluns ask if you're going to take them gator ridin this weekend, y'all just might be a redneck. If you know people that lost their leg gator surfing, ya'll just might be a redneck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oscarsear Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 As much as gators are not rare it is too bad they had to kill this big boy. As survivors go he'd done a damn fine job staying under the radar for so long. He'd have been a real attraction at any zoo in the world. He would have been spectacular to see alive and in person at a safe distance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.