Things to worry about....

[crackerc]

I mean besides the heat, bad boar hogs, snakes, irate neighbors next to your hunting spots, highways.......we have these things to worry about here in Fla. You guys in TX ever have any conflicts with these overgrown lizards?
They give me the willies every time my dogs get in a river, creek or pond after a hog. I don't worry about them hurting me, but seems every year I hear of several dogs lost to the gators around here. Just curious if you guys in TX have them.


 

[matt_aggie04]

Oh yeah we gottem!!  All over SE Texas and even as far north as Texarkana.  I don't much care for them...
MG

[hogdoggintexas]

ya we have them some spots are have alot some dont have any

[Cutter Bay Kennels]

GO GATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Circle C]

You mean like this guy photographed here in Houston. Texas has gators in 120 of 254 counties. I would say all but 2 or 3 places I have hunted have populations of them.

[bghogdogtx]

Yea here in east texas  usually once a year you hear a story going around about one getting a dog around the rivers. dont think they get that big around hear though.  At least i have never seen one that big

[crackerc]

I know I don't like them. We have waayyy too many of them here in Fla to suit me. The FWC sells "permits" every year to hunt gators and they are making lots of money off those permits so they protect the gators everywhere. Kind of like the states "cash crop" if you ask me......

Instead of keeping the gators to reasonable level, they figure the more gators there are, the more permits they can sell. A non-resident pays about $1200 for a permit and they sell out every year. Figure that times the number of permits they sell each year and thats a lot of money.

From the FWC website. Note the ECONOMIC part..

Alligator management programs implemented by FWC emphasize
the conservation of alligator populations for their ecological, aesthetic, and economic values while providing for public use and safety.

[matt_aggie04]

How many permits a year would you guess they sell?
MG

[Wmwendler]

There are gators in the Brazos around here but very rare, never seen one my self.  I've seen some on a place we hunt in Grimes county but only small ones.

Waylon

[crackerc]

They issue literally 1,000 or more permits each year and that doesn't put a dent in the population. If you are intererested you can go to www.myfwc.com and look under alligators on the home page. The link will lead you to a sheet showing permits allowed for each individual body of water AND by county (additional permits).

In addition to gators we now have a resident breeding population of Burmese pythons here in Fla. This is from FWC's site today:

Armed with snake hooks and nets, a group of reptile experts selected by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to participate in the state's python permit program captured a 9-foot, 8-inch Burmese python.  The volunteer permit holders spotted the python in water underneath a boardwalk leading to a camp on a tree island. It was later euthanized.

 

[matt_aggie04]

If pythons make it to the lone star state I will leave  I hate snakes!! 

SSS-Shoot, shuvel, shut-up
MG

[uglydog]

Several places I have hunted we have seen Gators, the protocol is to contact Game warden to have them removed. Somehow the end up coming in from the rivers and water ways and end up in tanks and gravel pits.

A while back I hunted with ETHD crew and nearly every water puddle had a gator in it, that was near the coast.

We are located near the Colorado river and had a  good scare early part of this year as the dogs bayed up and broke across a water filled gravel pit to an island in the middle, We noticed two Gators in that water hole one was big enough to eat dogs & people the other was not as as scary. However where thee are two there could be many more not seen. Hereis a pic of that bay


The big property we hunt in Ft.Bend cnty. we had a scare one night as a hog and dogs broke from a milo feild, to the bike tank as we were on our way to the bay at the waters edge we noticed the red eyes coming across the water, the game warden removed him later and reported him to be over 11 ft.

[sfboarbuster]

I dont mind it when the dogs go swimmin, its just when i have to go swimmin that worries me.

[pig snatcher]

We have plenty of them here in SC.  Have had friends lose dogs to them before.  SC started drawing for gator tags last year.  I think they gave out around 1000.  Me and my crew put in for them this year. I didnt get drawn, keeping my fingers crossed one of my buddies will.

[Noah]

It's all about the money that the state can make in Florida... charge you to take a gator for your family, then give you a ticket if you kill one for eating your dog(more money).  Eventually enough tourists will get eaten and the "gimmick" will lose it's appeal...   

[hank]

I agree with you guys about the state just trying to make money off of it. I have got them the last few yrs. Its $270.00 for residents for 2 gators and $50 for anyone additional to accompany you. Last yr they had some computer glitches and suddenly decided to give out a bunch of extra permits because of it. This yr they didn't give out the extra permits. My feeling is that they should give out as many permits as possible and still maintain a healthy gator population. In my county they only give out one permit. You could give out 100 and it wouldn't touch the population.  Then they could charge less and it would be more affordable.

[BugBuster]

We got our share here in SC as well.  We have to be real careful this time of year.

[mutt hunter]

so what does the law say if you shoot a gator because its eating your dog? in tx

[mutt hunter]

depending on the dog and where im hunting, i might shoot it either way

[JJT]

got plenty of em here in georgia and wish they were all gone.everytime im havin to swim in the swamp to get to the bay im always lookin for them things and mocosins. dont like either one. sure glad we aint got them big smakes tho, ide carry a scatter gun for sure.