EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

It seems that better than half of the places that I hunt have gators, but I just wonder what the odds are of losing a dog to one.  I have heard of it a few times, but not from anyone that I hunt with.  I have had two small gators, maybe 6'. come from across a tank to visit with me, they got within about 15 feet and we just hung out watching each other for about 20 minutes.

Anybody from here lost a dog to a gator, and if so, was it while a hog was bayed in the water, or was it while the dog was drinking?

i lost two. both times they were crossing a marsh, chasing a hog. hipockets lost one a couple of years ago, while the dog was crossing a creek.

the dog had a tracking device on. he tracked the dog to the waters edge and ran a pole under the bank and pulled the dog out. the dogs head had been crushed. all you heard when the dog was struck was a whimper and a yelp.

Known of a few that lost dogs to gators but your only really going to run into them during the warmer months.

Capt Jack,

      I remember hearing about something similar to Lavon's deal a couple years ago, seems like they were able to at least recover the tracking collar, but that the dog was tucked back under the bank.

Russ,

     Do the gators actually hibernate, or do they just lay low when it is cold out?  I have heard that you don't have to worry about rattlesnakes in the winter too, but I have also killed a 5' rattler on cool new years eve in south Texas ;)  What are the chances of coming across a gator on a warm day in a cool month?

I have never lost one of my dogs to a gator but have seen two killed in person.  Have heard of many more being killed.  Most were stuffed under the bank or a log when recovered.

Our gators dont really hibernate, they just "lay low" while it is cold.

They are no joke, they will eat your dog in a minute. (at least around here)

Have also caught a 3 legged hog out in the marsh, likely a gator victim.

yea, lavon tracked the collar and it stopped at the bank. he fished under the bank and found the dog and collar.

i have found the gators to lay on the bottom in cold weather. i have stepped on them while duck hunting.

Make you think twice about swimming that creek!!!! :o

A gator who is hungry will eat whatever he can get his sorry mouth around. Just about every place i hunt in the summer months is ate up with gators. On a side note....sometimes they are fun to catch. Pico and I was hunting one night this summer and had two dogs swimming back to us across an old sand pit. They was about 80 yards out there comming straight to us, we was watching them with the spot light...when all the sudden a set of red eyes rise to the top of the water and straight to the dogs he went. He had a wake behind him he was moving so fast. And bam...he catches the dog and under they go....not a damn thing we could do about it.

My hate for gators started many years ago from duck hunting.  A gator will go out of its way to get a dog.  It almost seems they have a sweet tooth for dogs.  Old market hunters could call gators to them by hiding on the bank and barking like a dog.

If you run dogs in gator country during warm temps something bad is going to happen sooner or later.  Gators don't hibernate, they just slow down and so does there metabalism when it gets cold. If we catch a couple of warm sunny winters days they get a little more active and usually they are very hungry during these warms ups.  Once the water temps get cooled off good they are slowed down until the spring.

I've seen one swimming with a pig in its mouth one time when wading fishing by the aransas wildlife refuge.  I'd imagine that would take a stout break stick to get him off.  ;D

I'm waiting for that day to come... one of my places is full of gators. The county has the state come every year to survey... they usually end up removing 10 or so big ones.

i was talking to the cattle ranger from willis the other day, he told me he spent two weeks in chambers county, after the storm. he told of bodies being eaten by the gators.
one of the federal game wardens got into a fight with a gator over a body and lost.

i spoke to a justice of the peace from chambers county who told the same story. he said he was flying in the dps helicopter and seen gators eating the floating bodies. they tried to shoot the gators from the chopper to drive them off but it did no good. all they could do was take gps readings and send ground troops in to pick up what was left.

you did not see any of that on the news.