Can you harvest gators down there like deer, or are they protected? Up in my area, over 10,000 deer licenses are sold. That same area maybe gets 200 bear tags per year. I would imagine our deer to bear ratio is about 3 to 1. In the two weeks I've run cams, I've got more bears than deer.
Public areas have very limited draw. Right next to me is a 29,000 acre lake, sloughs, swamps, and creeks. Not uncommon to be fishing at night in a 20 acre slough and see a dozen gators. Over that whole 29,000 acres, there is a drawing for three permits. Next to impossible to draw.
Then, there is a private land gator permit. In my four or five county area, there is a harvest quota of 71 private land gators for those five counties combined. Buy a $5 permit and you can hunt gators - two weekends in Sept - on private land. When the 71 gator harvest quota is met, the hunting is stopped. First night, you better be all in. The last couple years, the private land quota has been hit the third night.
I really like the private land quota - but it has its pluses and minuses. The public land drawings often have successful applicants from across the state. I have never been successful drawing a permit on the public lake that is 3/4 mile down the road from my house. The private land over the counter permit at least allows locals to hunt their own land or Other private land in the area with permission. It can be a short hunt, but better than no hunt.
The private land quota gator hunt, like our state’s private land quota bear hunt - gives many more folks an opportunity - and especially those who might have those animals actually living on their property. But, it is problematic in that you go all in, and the quota is hit three days in and season is over. Our bear hunters, in particular, may prebait for 30 days before season, and then quota may be hit in three days after season is open and all that hard work may be for naught.
The gator hunt doesnt have the prehunt effort like bear baiting - but, you have to decide that first night what you want. We have a minimum size on gators of four ft. If you pass a seven footer the first night, looking for a big one, quota may be gone in a day or two. I have access to a 15 acre lake that has at least two gators in it - a 6/7 ft and a 10 plus. I would like the big one, but would settle for the smaller one. Since it is very difficult to gator hunt by yourself, I will have a partner and the safest avenue is to kill the first one available and if that happens, move on to the next.
