Alligators ?

[buddylee]

I have heard stories about peoples dogs being ate by alligators but never knew anyone personally that has had it happen to them. I gained access to a swamp that is absolutely full of them. How bad are they about grabbing dogs. Is it more or less the dogs runs up on the gator and it gets them or do they go after them if they see them ? If they do get a dog, is there any hope of saving your dog ?

                                                         Lee

[shawn]

All I know is I was told after wading thru sloughs for hrs last weekend is that they've seen a lot of gators there.... haha i wont be back at that place anytime soon. Hell I'm just as worried about ME as I am the dogs, lol

But all kidding aside I've heard some messed up stuff about them grabbing dogs.

[cward]

I hunt a lot around gators never lost a dog to one but seen gators swim to the dogs once the gators see human they will leave but about 3 months ago dogs were bayed about 3 hrs on the trinty river before we could get to them when we got there there was a big gator at the edge of the water he looked to be about 11 ft I through a clump of dirt at him just in case if the dogs were to hit the river he left but that gator looked like he would eat a dog

[cward]

  My wife used to gator hunt all the time we have caught several she still likes to feed them and take pictures she has ton of picture her closest picture was about 2 ft away her biggest gator caught was 11 ft 4 inch her and her mom caught it

[pig snatcher]

THEY WILL EAT YOUR DOG!  Seen it more than once.  One of the best dogs I have ever known is a gator turd.  Little pup got snagged in some standing water in a swamp last year wasnt but a foot or two deep.  One in a gum pond ate several dogs one deer season.

The funny thing is that the gators in different river systems here act differently.  In one river they arent likely to bother your dog while the next they will be on him like white on rice.  We also catch a 3 legged hog or two every year out in those bad places.

Had a swimmer lose an arm last year in the lake.

If he gets your dog, just hope he stuffes him under a stump so you can get your tracking collar back.

[Mike]

I hunt several properties near Houston, Bay City and Palacios that are loaded with gators. Luckily we've never lost a dog to one yet, but I know of several that have.

I don't think there's anything you can do to help your dog if one grabs it.

I did have a dog lay on a gator once. It was hot and we came up to creek to cool the dogs off, my dog ran into the water and plopped down on her belly. About that time, the water exploded underneath her... she went one way and the the gator went the other way.

[Circle C]

Never lost a dog to a gator either....

Last year I was near a small tank in a swampy area, spotted two gators across the tank.  They both swam from about 150 feet away, to within 20-30 feet and we just watched each other for a while. I don't think they were scared of me.   

[raider54]

I watched a Walker dog get pulled off a tree in South Georgia and the Gator swam away with him, it does happen!

[buddylee]

I have several dogs that like to swim to cool off and several that don't, my best strike dog likes to swim, quess i'll be taking the ones that don't.

[jhy]

My moms neighbor jumped in and got his lab back from a gator, but I dont know of any hog hunters that have gotten there dog back from one.  I have caught them in the past in my hunting areas and relocated them, but there are certain places that I will only hunt in the cold weather.

Joey

[c.miller]

Anyone who believes a gator will not eat a dog is crazy. Ive watched it happen to one of my own dogs. Not sure  what areas your hunting but you can bet if your in the southeast texas areas where Ike hit, what gators have lived through it are weak and looking for a easy meal.

[Dexter]

owwwwwwwwwwie cuzin
    what big eyes you have ... im glad theres no swamp lizards in west texas,
 FYI.. theres been gaters killed captured and released in the lampasas river above stillhouse lake,, i seen the tracks i seen pictures of one caught on rod and reel 3-4 footer and i know for fact that some of the law enforcement  guys have release several thats been caught around the county,, lasr year   bell county so killed one over 8 foot  between belton and academy,,a 4 footer was caught and released  north of troy  near big elm creek also last year  so just a lil heads up the swamp lizard are moving north
          Dexter

[Pecos21]

I have heard stories about peoples dogs being ate by alligators but never knew anyone personally that has had it happen to them. I gained access to a swamp that is absolutely full of them. How bad are they about grabbing dogs. Is it more or less the dogs runs up on the gator and it gets them or do they go after them if they see them ? If they do get a dog, is there any hope of saving your dog ?

                                                         Lee

I am from Polk County Florida originally. There are gators everywhere down there where we used to hunt at River Ranch and Avon Park Bombing Range....and other swamps we used to hunt. We have had a few dogs come up missing never to be seen again....and we just figured it was a gator.....those people that move down to Central Florida with their little lap dogs...they get eaten a lot at those canals that run through the retirement communities. Here is a story out of Santa Rosa County Florida (Crestview/Pensacola area). This is out of the Alabama Game and Fish Magazine. I remember reading this in the Tallahassee Newspaper in 1995.

Alligator Attacks!


One thing that alligators do quite often is kill dogs. Some breeds like Labrador retrievers love the water, and in fact, more Labs are killed by hungry gators than any other breed. However, no dog that goes near a big gator is safe.

All you have to do is consider the story of Flojo, a prized purebred Walker hunting dog belonging to Rufus Godwin of Chumuckla in Santa Rosa County. Godwin fox hunted with Flojo during the summer of 1995 in the Blackwater River State Forest. Flojo wore an electronic tracking collar, but one night the signal stopped and the dog seemed to vanish into thin air.

A few days later, Godwin returned to the same area and picked up the faint signal of Flojo's collar. He and a friend followed the signal down the side of a hill and through the underbrush to Coldwater Creek, then across to a small oxbow lake.

"When we walked up to the little lake and turned on the receiver, it went wild beeping. That's when I knew an alligator had her," he said.

The next day, Godwin, his son and two gator trappers went back and pulled an old bull gator from the lake. When the 10-foot, 11-inch gator was pulled from the water, they found it had not only eaten Godwin's dog, but the gator's stomach contained pieces and parts of six other dog collars, including one collar from a dog that had been missing for 14 years. An estimated 25 dogs had disappeared from that section of the forest over the years; most of them were thought to have been stolen.

One thing that sent a chill through everyone was the dog-eating gator lived its life only one-fourth mile down the creek from a popular swimming area. However, no one had ever reported seeing the gator. It apparently had remained hidden until barking dogs signaled feeding time

[Blake]

I have been fortunate not to have any of my dogs eaten but its always in the back of my mind and there has been more than once i thought it was going to happen. Like before They seem to act different in different places. I was in a hunting club where they lost 9 or 10 a year during deer season when the dogs ran through the lake swamp but these gators knew what was happening it was real dry and u could drive around the lake between the trees and the water but when dogs came close they would line the shore have a picture somewhere when i cut dogs there was 7 different gators that came up to see where the dogs were. Another time we were fishing waiting on dark ready to coon hunt i tied my dogs to the bumper and he was barking we swa the gator make a Bline 200 yards and up to shore within 25 feet of the dog before i got there to get him up lol they know what a dog is and some look for them apparently

[jdt]

good stories  ! my granddad was from dunnellen fla. as a boy he caught snakes and gators to sell to a reptile park during  the depression . once he caught 1 that had a gold watch in his craw .

[jml]

I know yall are going to think I'm full of it but my dogs bayed about a six footer one day in the marsh, boy were we surprised when we walked up to that bay.

[jdt]

I know yall are going to think I'm full of it but my dogs bayed about a six footer one day in the marsh, boy were we surprised when we walked up to that bay.
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