8/8/2007

Gator Hunt Demonstration Brings Out Difficulties

HOPE - Any notions that hunting alligators is a walk in the park or a pleasant cruise on a lake were swept away on a dark and humid night on Boisd’ArcLake near Hope in southwest Arkansas.

A flotilla of boats with assorted media persons tagged along at a distance as wildlife biologists and technecians with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission pursued an alligators. They were using methods prescribed for the upcoming inaugural hunt in September but stopping short of “dispatching” the animal.

The hunt rules specify that a hunter must catch a gator with a snare or a harpoon then shoot it at close range while it is “restrained.” The hunting will be at night. Since the minimum length is four feet for an alligator to be legal for hunters, that means going against reptiles that are large enough to be dangerous.

In the demonstration, Mike Harris, a wildlife technician,  was the hunter, working in the front of the large flatbottom boat powered by a Go-Devil, a shallow water outboard motor. Brad Townsend, a wildlife biologists, was the helper in the middle, and Eley Talley, a wildlife biologists, drove the boat.

Boisd’ArcLake, an 800-acre AGFC facility, has a healthy population of alligators ranging from babies to big ‘uns. It took three hours and some misses by the hunters, but they finally captured a gator large enough and thrashing enough to be impressive in front of spotlights and television cameras.

A flotilla of 10 boats isn’t ideal for gator work, and the score came only after the AGFC team asked the media boats to hang back at a distance to reduce commotion.

Harris heads the AGFC’s nuisance alligator team in the southwest part of the state, and he is experienced with working a wire snare. It is a strong but light wire loop inside a long aluminum pole. The idea is to drop the loop over the gator’s head, pull it tight then work carefully to secure the jaws and the legs of the gator. On land, the tail is another element to be secured.

The gator that Harris finally got a snare on later was measured at 8 feet, 2 inches long. Its weight was estimated at 200 pounds. “This is an average fully grown alligator,” Harris said. “Just estimating, it probably is around 20 years old.”

With the snare pulled tight and bringing the alligator against the boat, GriffinPark, a wildlife biologist, worked a lighter wire over the animal’s mouth, held the jaws closed with one gloved hand and wrapped wide tape around the jaws with his other hand. This negated the main weapon of the gator. The alligator then was slowly towed to a landing and brought on to the concrete ramp, where its legs were lashed to its body. Then there was measuring, videoing and photographing.

In actual hunting in September, the Arkansas rules will follow those used in Louisiana, Texas and Florida, where alligators have been hunted for a number of years. In addition to a wire snare, hunters can use harpoons – spears with detachable barbed heads.

The AGFC wildlife workers displayed a combination harpoon and bang stick developed in the other states. The harpoon is on one end of a long aluminum tube, and the bang stick, a short gun using a 12-gauge shotgun shell, is on the other end. The rules call for the alligator to be “dispatched” with either a conventional shotgun or a bang stick.

Once the alligator is dead, it must be brought to a designated AGFC check station for tagging. Hunters may sell hides, meat and other parts of a gator under new regulations being adopted by the Game and Fish Commission.

Forty permits have been issued for the upcoming hunt, which is Sept. 21-23 and Sept. 28-30. One alligator is the season limit for a hunter. The permits specify an area hunters can work, and all the hunting will be in either southwest or southeast Arkansas, where the most alligators are found.

About 3,000 persons applied for the permits during June. The hunt is limited to Arkansas residents and the permits cost $35 each. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has authority over alligators across the nation, approved Arkansas’ request for a hunt for 2007. When data is collected and analyzed, the federal agency will consider approving future Arkansas alligator hunts.