Alligator hunt tips

[alien77721]

I live in a unique subdivision that issues gator tags. I actually got one, but I’ve never hunted a gator. This is for a small lake in my neighborhood. I’d greatly appreciate any tips or other information that you can provide! Thanks guys!

[SwampBuck]

Best I got is watch a few episodes of swamp people.

[Chase4556]

How large are the gators you are after?

I went a few times with buddies in Georgia, and drew my own tag once.

How we did it is I bought the weighted snagging hooks. Will link below.

1oz went on two inshore trout rods with 30lb braid. Can cast those a mile. Doesn’t hurt to have 2 available.

Little larger one went on a 6000 series Penn Slammer with 50lb braid.

Largest snagging hook I could find went on 550 paracord or Mule tape. Have two of these if it’s a big gator(8ft+).

Here is how we did it. Find the gator you want. Grab your trout rod and toss a snagging hook over him. Aim to drag it right over his neck. Snag that soft neck skin and just keep a little pressure on it. Those hooks won’t penetrate the skin, they just hook in there and usually they will roll a couple times which locks it in. That one is just so you know where the gator goes. Quickly try to get the bigger setup over him and also hooked. If it’s a 7ft or less Gator you may be able to muscle it in with that rig, but we mainly used it to put some extra pressure and know where the gator went. Ease up to them and start tossing that 550 paracord until you hook it with that. Now you are on the final stretch. Work that beast up to the boat, and hit it with a bang stick or other legal dispatch means.

You will loose a lot of snagging hooks.

My two buddies that went with me for mine. One of the smaller ones we caught/released that night.

https://allaboutthebait.com/collections/snagging-hook

Edit: If you have the means to make your own weighted snagging hook, you can use some real heavy duty hooks so you don’t bend them straight.

[alien77721]

That’s interesting. I think in our area though they want us to use set lines. Sounds like you had a lot of fun!

[Moose]

Use the wind, gators rely on smell to find your bait…


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[djc]

I've only been alligator hunting in Florida. It was with a crossbow with a big float on the line. Shoot them with the crossbow, fight them, pull them close to the boat and then shoot them behind the head with a gun to kill them.

[RedDogOutdoors]

Drew a tag with the state when I was younger. We set a whole chicken in a coffee can out to rot for a couple days before the hunt. Then got big ole shark fishing hooks and tied them to I believe some heavy duty trot line (I can't recall if we used a wire "leader" to prevent the gator from biting through. But I think you use trotline so the line typically falls between the teeth when they swallow it). Then we shoved a big cane pole into the bank and suspended the chicken over the water, can adjust the height over the water to the size gator you're looking to catch. Let 'em eat it, get that hook down in their belly, then start pulling them up in to the boat. .410 slug a lil back between the eyes and you got yourself a gator.

[knighttime]

T-Post, cord, and bamboo. Drive your tpost into the edge of the bank. Tie your rope/hook to the tpost, then jam your bamboo into the mud at an angle and clamp your line to the end of the bamboo. Depending on the size of gator you want to catch depends on how high off the water to set your chicken and hook. Smaller gator I would say 8 inches or so bigger gator go a foot or foot and a half. I forgot what size hook we used but it was a shark hook of some sort. Really there isn't much to the setup I'm sure you can find something on youtube. Set your line, come back the next morning and check to see if it's down, if it's down slowly pull the line up and when the gator surfaces pop him right behind the head (I would research the kill zone on a gator).

I left my chicken legs in a closed 5 gallon bucket outside in the heat for a week before we hunted them.

[Dusty8186]

Only tip I can offer, don't put your fingers near his mouth

[wilded]

[QUOTE=knighttime;16391666]T-Post, cord, and bamboo. Drive your tpost into the edge of the bank. Tie your rope/hook to the tpost, then jam your bamboo into the mud at an angle and clamp your line to the end of the bamboo. Depending on the size of gator you want to catch depends on how high off the water to set your chicken and hook. Smaller gator I would say 8 inches or so bigger gator go a foot or foot and a half. I forgot what size hook we used but it was a shark hook of some sort. Really there isn't much to the setup I'm sure you can find something on youtube. Set your line, come back the next morning and check to see if it's down, if it's down slowly pull the line up and when the gator surfaces pop him right behind the head (I would research the kill zone on a gator).

I used beef spleen and hung the baits about 30 inches off the water. If you hang it closer smaller gators will grab it before a big one gets there. My brother and I have caught 9 gators from 8-11 foot with this method through the years. The first trip we hung the baits about a foot off the water and just caught small ones. JMHO

[S-3 Ranch]

T-Post, cord, and bamboo. Drive your tpost into the edge of the bank. Tie your rope/hook to the tpost, then jam your bamboo into the mud at an angle and clamp your line to the end of the bamboo. Depending on the size of gator you want to catch depends on how high off the water to set your chicken and hook. Smaller gator I would say 8 inches or so bigger gator go a foot or foot and a half. I forgot what size hook we used but it was a shark hook of some sort. Really there isn't much to the setup I'm sure you can find something on youtube. Set your line, come back the next morning and check to see if it's down, if it's down slowly pull the line up and when the gator surfaces pop him right behind the head (I would research the kill zone on a gator).

I left my chicken legs in a closed 5 gallon bucket outside in the heat for a week before we hunted them.

This!

Buy some rubber gloves to handle the bait , 2-3 days old chicken 18-24 high
Gently reel it in , pop in head/neck to severe spinal cord,

[SaintBlaise]

Chicken leg quarters work good. Scout it and find out how big you target gator is. Hang your lines high, you don’t want to catch a 6 footer. If you have 8’ gators, hang it 2’, if you have gators 10’ or better, then 2.5-3’. Have a hook hole ready. Be careful and don’t take any chances kill him and roll him in the boat. One time we had a line down, when I pulled the line and there was nothing there. Then I looked down and he was under the boat (water was only a few feet deep)…scary. Shot him and loaded him.

[Spiderpig1776]

I think in Texas they only allow hunting them by baited lines

[1riot1ranger]

This!

Buy some rubber gloves to handle the bait , 2-3 days old chicken 18-24 high
Gently reel it in , pop in head/neck to severe spinal cord,

Protip: put the hook in the fresh chicken before putting it in the bucket. Tie a leader line tothe hook and let it hang outside the bucket. When time to attach the line you only handle the clean line and avoid the chicken (mostly )

[freezerfiller]

Last couple years I've made a bow out of tin foil and tied above bait to add movement in the wind. It seems to
attract their attention faster . Good luck.

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