He Went Overboard and Still Got the Gator

In short: Season opened at 8:14 and Bradley had one tag and one night on the Satilla River. My son Ethan, his friend Bradley and Justin hunted while I ran the camera. Early on, the motor hit a tree under the water and Bradley went off the bow into the river. Then came four hours of missing gator after gator above the ramp. We turned south past the landing into new water with about two hours left, and Bradley got one with a single shot right in the eye. Talking with Sam the game warden, I learned it was not the gator Tina and I scouted. We fried him up at home.

Season opens at 8:14 tonight

This one is opening night of the season on the Satilla River. The season opened at 8:14, and Bradley had one tag and one night to use it. Last weekend we scouted a gator, and tonight we went back after him.

Four of us were in the boat: my son Ethan, his friend Bradley, and Justin. I was the only one not hunting. I was there with the camera.

I have fished this river since I was a boy, and I had never hunted it. Four of us went up the river Friday evening. One came back wet and one came back with a gator, and it was the same man.

First big gator, nine to ten foot

We headed up the river to look about an hour before the season started. Bradley saw the first one, and he was a good one, probably nine to ten foot long. We spotted another one we called six foot at least, then two or three more before the light went.

Then it got dark and they started showing everywhere. You put a light on a blackwater river at night and it looks back at you. Two red coals sitting on top of the water, then another two, and then you just quit counting.

Bradley goes off the bow

There was a tree under the water and none of us knew it. The motor hit it and stopped the boat cold. Bradley did not stop. He went over the front of the bow into the river with a pole in his hand.

One second he was standing up there, and the next there was nothing on the bow but a light pointing at empty water. We got him to the bank, and the gator was still there. Well, this might make a good video after all.

Four hours of that

Then it got long. Multiple gators and multiple misses. Two or three different ones, two or three times apiece, and we never could get the hook across a single one of them. At one point Ethan was throwing at one that kept coming back up.

This is the part nobody puts in a video. You ease up, you throw, you miss, he goes down, and you do it again. After a while you stop talking to each other. It is not discouragement exactly. You just quit spending words on it and start spending them on where he might come up next. Four hours of easing up on something that does not want you there.

Turning south past the landing

Everything we had tried all night had been above the ramp, and none of it was working. At some point you have to quit repeating the same thing and make a different call. So we turned the boat around, went south past the landing and kept going down river into new water, with about two hours of the hunt left.

Down there we saw two big ones, one on the left and one on the right, about 200 yards up, maybe 300 to 400. Two of them at once is a decision, because you cannot run at both. We went for the left one and tried a couple of times. He had that light on him one too many times and he was gone. You can burn a whole night on an animal that has already decided he is done with you.

We got it

Then we got one. It was a hell of a throw by Bradley. One shot right in the eye with the pistol, and it was done quick as that. That is the whole point of the pistol.

Brought to you by nobody. We pulled him up on the deck so we would not get blood all over our stuff, and everybody took a guess at his length. The guesses ran 7 to 8, and we figured he was close to eight.

Sam the game warden

Headlights came down the ramp, and it was Sam the game warden. He checked everybody's license, congratulated Bradley, and stood around talking with us for a while. Bradley and the others loaded up and headed home, but I stayed another couple of hours talking with Sam about the river and the wildlife. Good man, doing good work protecting this place.

Somewhere in that conversation I learned something. Me and Tina had spent two nights looking up river for a gator worth coming back for. Bradley's was not up there. He was below the landing the whole time.

Bradley killed him, now we're eating him

Look what Bradley sent us home with: a gallon bag of freshly cubed gator meat. We fried him up at the house with a little salt, a little Lawry's seasoning and a little pepper, with home fries and sliced sweet potatoes on the side.

We said the blessing and sat down to eat. It was really good. It tastes like chicken, but you can definitely tell a difference between real alligator and what you get at a restaurant. A totally different taste.

Questions about this hunt

What happened when Bradley went overboard?

There was a tree under the water that none of us knew about. The motor hit it and stopped the boat cold, and Bradley went over the front of the bow into the river with a pole in his hand. We got him to the bank, and he still got his gator before the night was over.

How was the alligator killed once it was hooked?

One shot right in the eye with the pistol, and it was done quick. That is the whole point of the pistol. Then we pulled him up on the deck of the boat.

What does wild alligator taste like?

We fried the cubed meat with salt, Lawry's seasoning and pepper. It was really good and tastes like chicken, but you can definitely tell a difference between real alligator and what you get at a restaurant. It is a totally different taste.

More hunting: The Blackwater Deer Hunting Guide and every hunting film.