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Alligator Hunting Season Starts in Ga.

Posted on: Wednesday, 7 July 2004, 06:00 CDT

ALBANY, Ga. - Art Ford's frightening experience during Georgia's first alligator hunting season last year whetted his appetite for more adrenaline-pumping adventures.

He hopes to be among the 300 picked for the 2004 season, which runs Sept. 11-26. Hunters have until July 31 to apply.

"You're hunting something that bites back," Ford said. "There was an element of danger. I think anything like that ups the adrenaline a little bit."

Last year, Georgia joined Florida, South Carolina, Texas and Louisiana in offering an alligator season.

Officials at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources hope the hunts will help reduce nuisance alligator complaints while also providing a unique hunting experience.

"The alligator is not an endangered animal and Georgia is fortunate to have a healthy population, as do many other states in the Southeast that already have established alligator hunting seasons," said Todd Holbrook, department game management chief.

Through state and federal conservation efforts, Georgia's alligator population has surged from near extinction in the 1960s to an estimated 200,000. The reptiles can grow to 10 feet and reach more than 800 pounds.

Licensed hunters pay $50 each for a permit. Anyone who wants accompany a permit holder also must pay $50 to the state.

Last year, 73 gators were bagged by 180 hunters in Georgia.

During that hunt, Ford, his 28-year-old son and a friend guided their motor boat down the Flint River from Bainbridge into southwest Georgia's alligator-infested Lake Seminole.

Several alligators dropped to the lake bottom before they could sink a harpoon into them. Then they snagged a 9-foot-2-inch gator that fought to escape and left tooth marks in a pole they lowered into the water.

Once they had its head secure in a wire snare and its body alongside the boat, they shot it in the head with a .357 magnum pistol, taped its mouth shut and hauled it into the stern of their boat.

They got a scare when Ford's son, Steven, tried to attach a mandatory tag to the tail.

"We were warned that shooting might only stun it. We taped his mouth and then Steven stuck a knife through the tail. The tail moved and he moved his leg, and we were about to leave the boat," said Ford, an economic development specialist with the Georgia Institute of Technology.

"When his tail was cut, his nerves flinched and all of us went to the front of the boat," said Gary Kelley, the friend who accompanied the Fords.

As they headed back up the Flint River, by now sure that their alligator was no longer a threat, they saw the glowing eyes of at least 150 other gators in the beam of their light, he said.

"It's amazing how many there are," Ford said.

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On the Net:

Georgia Department of Natural Resources: http://www.gohuntgeorgia.com

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