Duck hunting with a Dog and Gators

[SETX_Insanity]

Everywhere I hunt in SETX has gators.. best thing to do is collar condition your dog to the smell. Not the easiest thing to do, but I have a buddy that tagged a gator in a work pond and kept some of the hide so before I get my new pup out for big duck he'll be CC'd to that gator hide

[bradleymccaw]

Grew up in Florida, never heard of someone risking their dogs life for a hunt if gators were around. As much time and money into a dog not worth it.

[150class]

Appreciate the input guys.

I wont be hunting her in the pond this year but was curious on reply's. Seems like those who hunt in similar conditions have the 3-4 rules to follow and everything should be fine (like hunting in grizzly country).

[gander]

I won't hunt my dog in our reservoirs. I will hunt my buddies shallow marsh but it had to be cold conditions for quite sometime and even then, there are spots I won't hunt him. If I'm going to lose sight of him, I don't feel comfortable hunting them. And the rice fields are a safer bet, but not guaranteed. A couple years ago, my cousin was hunting a rice field during early teal in just over knee deep water and had about an 8 foot gator take a swipe at his dog as it ran by. It was sitting in one of the deeper tire ruts. I have known two different guys who have said they had their dogs killed by gators in the past.

[Aqckdude]

Absolutely no way I would let my dog hunt in waters where alligators are known to exist. Don’t care bout the water temp.

[Duckologist]

Absolutely no way I would let my dog hunt in waters where alligators are known to exist. Don’t care bout the water temp.

You'd be dogless down here then

[150class]

I won't hunt my dog in our reservoirs. I will hunt my buddies shallow marsh but it had to be cold conditions for quite sometime and even then, there are spots I won't hunt him. If I'm going to lose sight of him, I don't feel comfortable hunting them. And the rice fields are a safer bet, but not guaranteed. A couple years ago, my cousin was hunting a rice field during early teal in just over knee deep water and had about an 8 foot gator take a swipe at his dog as it ran by. It was sitting in one of the deeper tire ruts. I have known two different guys who have said they had their dogs killed by gators in the past.

Appreciate the input and was hoping you would reply to this thread. Were the 2 dogs that were killed in teal big duck season? So far I have only found a handful of incidents with a gator getting a dog but every one of them was during teal so curious if that trend continues or not.

You'd be dogless down here then

This is what I have found is the trend:

20% of those that respond to these type of threads that actually hunt in these conditions/situations throw out the common sense rules and Do's/Do Not's if using a dog is possible.

80% that reply to previous threads on multiple forums are not people that hunt in these situations and cant imagine using a dog and hunting in them. Which is completely understandable and I am not bashing by any means and as mentioned earlier is similar to those who do/don't chase elk in Grizzly country.

[tadmaryperry]

I hunted with my dog during teal, but where we hunt there are no gators. I would NOT hunt him where gators are known to live. I train on a pond where I once had a gator go after a bumper. I called the dog off of the retrieve and we were GONE! lol!

I'll add to this... We run HRC hunt tests. When we set up a test, if we see a gator in the water, we move the test. We will not run the test where there is known to be a gator. As said above, there is WAY too much time, money, and love in these dogs to risk losing them!

[cantexduck]

We have some family land in high population areas. None of m
Family members have lost a dog to gators. One did get hurt pretty bad when a nutria rat got Into the blind . Hunting mostly very shallow water . Be smart but know the risk.

[justletmein]

Where we hunt all the ponds have gators of various sizes. I stepped on one large enough that he took me off my feet when he took off and came up and hissed while I was getting up out of the water trying to make sense of what just happened. There was a dog lost out there probably 14 or so years ago now but we still bring ours out and lots of other people do too.

[Duckologist]

Appreciate the input and was hoping you would reply to this thread. Were the 2 dogs that were killed in teal big duck season? So far I have only found a handful of incidents with a gator getting a dog but every one of them was during teal so curious if that trend continues or not.

Pay close attention to what he said:

"I have known two different guys who have said they had their dogs killed by gators in the past."

I am 47 years old and have been hunting the marshes of SW Louisiana for 42 years. I only know of one dog fatality due to a gator. That was a friend who lives on the river. One summer day the kids were tossing tennis balls in the river for the dog to fetch when a gator got it. I know of not 1 dog down here that was killed during hunting season. Guys will hunt their dogs in the rice for teal season. Some do and some don't hunt the marsh with their dogs during teal season. They hunt all of big duck season though. Gators here are as much a part of life as skeeters are.

[lovemylegacy]

Boy have I got a gator/dog story

[ArcheryNerd]

er nope