Wonder why there's no mention of how they caught it?
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014...captured-in-alabama/
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Straight out of the link
aturday, Aug 16, 2014: A monster alligator weighing 1011.5 pounds and measuring 15-feet long is pictured in Thomaston, Ala. The alligator was caught in the Alabama River near Camden, Ala., by Mandy Stokes at right, along with her husband John Stokes, at her right, and her brother-in-law Kevin Jenkins, left, and his two teenage children, Savannah Jenkins, 16, and Parker Jenkins, 14, all of Thomaston, Ala. (AP/Al.com, Sharon Steinmann)
they caught it sh....ing in their back yard
I know this one was in South Alabama, but I was told, and this could be very wrong information, that the gators in this area are protected and it's illegal to kill them. Years ago there was one killed in Decatur, they only found his head, and seems I do remember then that they were asking for information because it was illegal to kill them. There used to be two very scrawny ones in a creek in Madison, someone said they were young gators. I don't know what happened to them. Maybe they ended up as a gator burger, maybe they grew up and moved farther, maybe they're still there.
Originally Posted by Bestworking:
I know this one was in South Alabama, but I was told, and this could be very wrong information, that the gators in this area are protected and it's illegal to kill them. Years ago there was one killed in Decatur, they only found his head, and seems I do remember then that they were asking for information because it was illegal to kill them. There used to be two very scrawny ones in a creek in Madison, someone said they were young gators. I don't know what happened to them. Maybe they ended up as a gator burger, maybe they grew up and moved farther, maybe they're still there.
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Your instincts were correct. What you were told is in error. It is legal to hunt gators during very brief gator hunting seasons in Alabama.
http://www.montgomeryadvertise...-opens-june/9563523/
"A total of 240 Alligator Possession Tags will be issued for the hunts, which will be held Aug. 14-17 and Aug. 21-24 in southwest and west central Alabama, and Aug. 8-24 in southeast Alabama.
Fifty tags will be issued for the hunt zone in west central Alabama, which includes Wilcox and Dallas counties and part of Monroe County. Forty tags will be issued for the southeast Alabama zone, which includes Barbour, Coffee, Covington, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston and Russell counties. For the southwest Alabama zone, which includes all of Baldwin and Mobile counties and parts of Washington, Clarke and Monroe counties, 150 tags will be issued."
Camden is in Wilcox County, one of the counties where gator hunting is permitted during the designated periods.
There were several gators killed or captured near Decatur as a consequence of their release on the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge to control beavers that were wreaking havoc with the refuge's wildlife management operations. One of them--a 7-footer--got downstream as far as the Muscle Shoals TVA reservation and was trapped and moved by state wildlife agents. It had been hanging around in Pond Creek and eating ducks. Those gators came from the Lacassine Refuge in southwest Louisiana. Congressman Ronnie Flippo "had a cow" about this because no one told him about the gator release at the refuge and some of his constituents called his office about gators on the loose in his district. The refuge personnel tried to round them up, but largely failed.
Originally Posted by HIFLYER2:
Straight out of the link
aturday, Aug 16, 2014: A monster alligator weighing 1011.5 pounds and measuring 15-feet long is pictured in Thomaston, Ala. The alligator was caught in the Alabama River near Camden, Ala.,
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I read where. I was curious why no one said HOW it was caught. 
Anyone going swimming near Camden anytime soon!
Believe it was hooked then shot. Not sure if it swallowed the hook or was snagged, but pretty sure the cause of death was lead poisoning.
"The gator didn't go down without a fight. After the family got some large hooks into the gator, Mandy Stokes aimed her 20-gauge shotgun at the "sweet spot" behind the alligator's eyes. That's where she was told to aim during a mandatory training class for Alabama gator hunters."
Originally Posted by semiannualchick:
Originally Posted by HIFLYER2:
Straight out of the link
aturday, Aug 16, 2014: A monster alligator weighing 1011.5 pounds and measuring 15-feet long is pictured in Thomaston, Ala. The alligator was caught in the Alabama River near Camden, Ala.,
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I read where. I was curious why no one said HOW it was caught.
you got me guilty as charged !!! 
I would be mad if Wildlife officials introduced gators in for example Pickwick, Wilson Lake where in recent history they were not found. I used to live in central Florida and took safety precautions concerning gators and water activities, that I do not take in the local area of the Shoals.
While I was working on the rez in Muscle Shoals, they trapped a 6' gator back in the creek behind the plant, and I was told took it to someone's pond around Cherokee. Some people said that the one they caught was the small one in that creek.
The climate is changing, these things can possibility live aroud here now. Just sayin'
Originally Posted by seeweed:
While I was working on the rez in Muscle Shoals, they trapped a 6' gator back in the creek behind the plant, and I was told took it to someone's pond around Cherokee. Some people said that the one they caught was the small one in that creek.
The climate is changing, these things can possibility live aroud here now. Just sayin'
Thanks for looking out for Seeweed ! If they migrate up farther north I understand. I was referring to them being transplanted and introduced on purpose by Wildlife Management and kept secret.
I was once told (don't know first hand) , that they were introduced into Lake Grenada , to help control some vermin , I believe beavers. The idea was at the time, that they could not live in the colder climate that far north, and after they had had their fill of the beavers they would perish, but last I heard, gators were occasionally seen in Lake Grenada.
I don't know if they were introduced into any more of the "Great Lakes" , maybe Lake Enid but not sure.
Grew up in alligator gator country before protection status. Just another source for aquatic
meat to us ... no more than running trot lines. No telling how may pounds of gator tail were taken during frog leg harvest.
We hunted them at night with RAY-O-VAC aluminum flashlights taped to barrels of .22 rifles. They would follow up behind us in the rice canals to feed on frog remains we cast off from the legs. Come up within 10 feet before we popped them.
Not near the drama of "Choot 'em Liz'beth. CHOOT em!" and them haul em in a tricked out John boat. Just swing and shoot, straddle the gator, cut off his tail with a surplus USMC combat knife, tie him off and move on.
Gators were measured between the eyes and the snout. One inch = one foot.
Dem wuz gud dayz. Today, it's hard to find a decent frog to gig.
Today, I wade creeks of NA fishing for bass to run across Mr. Moccasin regularly, but sadly no Br'er Gator.
But if I did, I most likely thump him on the snout and tell him to "git along, beaux."
Originally Posted by HIFLYER2:
you got me guilty as charged !!!
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I'm giving you 30 days of hard labor! 
Originally Posted by budsfarm:
Not near the drama of "Choot 'em Liz'beth. CHOOT em!"
Dem wuz gud dayz.
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Does that show not come on anymore? I loved Troy!
Moccasin & Gator? 
Bud, I bet you lead an exciting (dangerous?) life!
Originally Posted by seeweed:
While I was working on the rez in Muscle Shoals, they trapped a 6' gator back in the creek behind the plant, and I was told took it to someone's pond around Cherokee. Some people said that the one they caught was the small one in that creek.
The climate is changing, these things can possibility live aroud here now. Just sayin'
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Minor point: That gator was 7 feet long, as measured by state wildlife people. I personally saw it and I can assure you it was more than feet long. I have professional experience in dealing with alligators. A useful concept in estimating the length of a gator is the fact that he length of a gator in feet is equal to the width between its eyes in inches. In the government agency where I worked, gator counts are made by night, and the gator census takers estimate the width between the gator's eyes (which show up very well with reflected light) and translate that to an estimate of length.
That gator from TVA was taken to some location in south central Alabama. It was released well beyond the limits of Congressman Flippo's district for reasons that you can discern from my earlier post.
Originally Posted by Contendah:
Originally Posted by seeweed:
While I was working on the rez in Muscle Shoals, they trapped a 6' gator back in the creek behind the plant, and I was told took it to someone's pond around Cherokee. Some people said that the one they caught was the small one in that creek.
The climate is changing, these things can possibility live aroud here now. Just sayin'
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Minor point: That gator was 7 feet long, as measured by state wildlife people. I personally saw it and I can assure you it was more than feet long. I have professional experience in dealing with alligators. A useful concept in estimating the length of a gator is the fact that he length of a gator in feet is equal to the width between its eyes in inches. In the government agency where I worked, gator counts are made by night, and the gator census takers estimate the width between the gator's eyes (which show up very well with reflected light) and translate that to an estimate of length.
That gator from TVA was taken to some location in south central Alabama. It was released well beyond the limits of Congressman Flippo's district for reasons that you can discern from my earlier post.
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Interesting. In SC, they measure the distance from eyes to nose. Distance in inches = length in feet. http://www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife...f/gatorhuntguide.pdf.
Gators were in this area long before the settlers arrived. They survived and thrived in the more shallow waters before the dams and loved the old cane breaks like McFarland Bottoms used to be.
Yikes! That thing could swallow a human whole. 
Originally Posted by semiannualchick:
Originally Posted by budsfarm:
Not near the drama of "Choot 'em Liz'beth. CHOOT em!"
Dem wuz gud dayz.
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Does that show not come on anymore? I loved Troy!
Moccasin & Gator? Bud, I bet you lead an exciting (dangerous?) life!
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And made a pretty good living at it, too.
Now I do it for S & G.
But remember the adage "if you're going to be stupid, you've got to be tough."
Works for me. 
Originally Posted by budsfarm:
But remember the adage "if you're going to be stupid, you've got to be tough."
Works for me.
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My guess would be that stupid, you are not!