# Texas Gator, the back story



## sniper john (Jun 17, 2010)

This was to be a special hunt. Though I have been on over 20 public gator 
hunts if you include my son's youth hunts, this one was to be my wife's 
first. Also this was only Engeling's 5th alligator hunt. It is a creek and 
not the typical coastal marsh hunt. I was first bow hunting Gus Engeling WMA in Texas 
many years ago when they had September bow deer hunts. Hogs were relatively 
new to Texas and it was always exciting to see them on those hunts. There is 
even a brood alligator in one of the ponds on the area that I remember from 
back in the day and she is still kicking it. They say her DNA matches 
several of the younger gators on the area. I have wanted to gator hunt there 
for years. I tried for this hunt every time they offered it, even went for a 
standby try last time but lost out in the hat draw. This year, my family was 
finally drawn. We found someone to baby sit my Vizsla Blaze, but my young 
dog Dash Rip Rock got to go on this trip as well










Friday first hunt day after the orientation was miserable. Driving rain most of the day. 
We knew the creek would rise over the night, but we did not know how much so 
even with what limited scouting could be done, we chose to set the lines 
extra high in case the water in the creek came up. My wife who is not a 
hunter did great and stayed with us through the brush and briars. It was so 
wet we changed rain gear three times on Friday.










Saturday morning, nothing. The creek had come up at least a foot. We 
encountered some guys in hammocks in the woods and backed out. Later hearing 
rifle shots in their direction. Turned out the game warden was looking for 
them. One line we had set in an area that is popular for fishing and with 
that I realized there would be no old gators there. No way one would survive 
the years with easy access to poachers and idiots that would illegally shoot 
one.

Luckily the rain let up. We scouted down the creek deeper into the woods. We 
found a great spot where the creek changed from 4 feet wide and 3 inches 
deep, so over my head deep and several feet wide. What we were looking for 
had to be there. But before we got a line moved, my wife had an accident. 
She fell and cut the bridge of her nose bad enough and deep enough that she needed 
professional care or she would be left with a bad scar. So we dropped 
everything, found the son of one of the WMA employees that let me rob from his first 
aid kit, and headed for the emergency room in Palestine. My wife wanted us to 
drop her off and go back, but that was not happening.

I would never post a bloody picture of my wife online, but the expression on my son's face 
is too priceless not to share it. So I found a way. 










The trail where my wife fell, if you want to call it a trail. 










While she was waiting for her turn in emergency, I took my son across the street to 
Wal-Mart to get some food and a shirt for my wife as her shirt was covered 
in blood. In a hurry, I saw a Black Duck Dynasty T shirt with Uncle Si on 
the front for $7.50. It was folded up and said "They call me...". Looked 
good enough to get her through the rest of the hunt and back to the Hotel. 
In the truck my son opened it up and started laughing. "They call me Beaver 
Commander". I said "very funny, its duck commander". My son showed me
the shirt and OH MY, I told my son he could tell her he picked it out. 
My wife was a good sport about it, thought the story and shirt was funny,
and wore it the rest of the day. Fortunately they were able to super glue the 
wound rather than stitches. Hopefully it will not leave much of a scar if any.










With only two hours left in the day and our found honey hole almost three 
miles into the woods, we rushed in with two lines and doubled up on it. The 
third line was moved to a spot where I had seen smaller gators in the past 
while fishing. We got that last line up in the last minutes of the hunt for 
Saturday. It was a group effort, but my son was promised he would get to 
shoot and tag the biggest one.

Sunday was nice, though we did have to deal with a bad tire on the way. 
First line revealed a 4 foot 4 inch gator. It was like a rabid Chihuahua on 
a leash and ready to fight. It was taken out with my bayonet to the back of 
the skull. My wife who is not normally the hunter, was sad that we could not 
let it go.

Out he comes....










Look close you can see the gator's open mouth snapping at me through the brush. 



















Then the honey hole. We found one line still up, but a second line down and 
wrapped in some underwater logs. It felt like we had a small gator. The 
water hand risen maybe 2 feet, so I was also worried that we might have a 
gar or snapping turtle. After a lot of work to untangle the line.... WOW a 
head of a 13 footer came up and ready to fight. Worried that the leader may 
have been weakened from rubbing on the logs all night I chose to lasso the 
gator by the head with another rope. Good thing too as the hook did 
eventually straighten and pull out of his gut.

Dash had spent most of his time in a crate or back in the truck, but he was present for the final gator. 
Dash behaved himself till he saw the gator. He gave my wife a workout holding the leash. 
Especially when I ended up in the water with the gator. Dash was ready to save me. 










I had my son straddle some tree roots close to the water, handed him our 
gator gun. An Indian SMLE Enfield .410 musket. I worked to place the gator 
for a perfect easy shot. It did snap it's jaws with a loud "CLOMP!" and it 
did grab the end of the gun and try to pull it away from my son. Once shot, 
I rigged up a pulley system with carabineers to cut the load in half, but 
could not get it out of the water. First time in over 20 gator hunts, I had 
to call for help.


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## sniper john (Jun 17, 2010)

One of the biologists followed me in with an ATV and had to move a couple logs to blaze the 
trail back out. Even with the 4 wheeler, the gator would not make it up the 
steep bank. I tried getting under the gator while pulling from two 
points wiht the ATV, but it did not work. I ended up in the water with the gator, still 
moving, on top of me. 




























Eventually I had to swim the gator upstream to a better spot 
while the biologist Tucker opened up a way in with the 4 wheeler. I stopped at one point 
to tape the gator's mouth shut because it was moving around on me too much. The tape
would not stay on in the water. Oh well.... Finally he was able to drag it out with me guiding it.




























One thing we noticed with this gator was it had an unusually large head for an 11 footer. 
As if it had not been eating well and that may be normal for a small creek gator like that. 
It was very old for sure. The guys at the WMA let us leave the gator overnight in the walk 
in cooler so I could get better prepared to transport and skin it. I had no intention of 
getting one mounted, but with so much involved with this one and such an exciting hunt for 
my wife and son, I would be foolish not to have this one mounted for my son. Never realized 
just how much that would be so we are still working on that. Big thank you to The Engeling staff. 
There was some overtime put in to help us. I can't thank them enough.


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## tknafox2 (Apr 2, 2013)

Great read!!!
Thanks for sharing your story, Glad your wife is ok and not to much damage. Looks like your son was having a blast. 
Loved the facial expressions... on Dash too, to look at him one would really think he retrieved that monster!


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

Respect SJ ;D there's no way I'd have got in the water with that thing.


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

Holy Moley!! ;D


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

wow, amazing... courage, determination,... 8)


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Great story John. Your wife is a real trooper.
I bet she will never forget her first gator hunt, or first beaver shirt.


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

Great read and quite the adventure. A memory for the three of you for a lifetime. Something your son will tell his grandchildren one day.

You live the saying "Life isn't the breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away."

Huge respect.

RBD


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## sniper john (Jun 17, 2010)

Thank you RBD,

A favorite quote of mine and I know you can relate. 

"One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a
reluctant enthusiast....a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save
the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It
is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it.
While you can. While it's still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and
mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests,
climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet
sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious
stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep
your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body
active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet
victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their
hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators.
I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards."
Edward Abbey


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

I can relate John.

As Neil Young said in a song, "It's better to burn out than to fade away."

_My my, hey hey
Rock and roll is here to stay
It's better to burn out
Than to fade away
My my, hey hey._

Maybe Edward Abbery had it right. Maybe it is the burn of passion that keeps us fully alive.

Good read again SniperJohn. Always enjoy your posts.

RBD


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## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

I agree with Harrigab. ;D

Great description and awesome pics - thanks for posting!


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