09-18-2010, 05:25 PM
damn things are even in golf course water hazards! :bad tongue:
and canals. and back yards eating your poodles!
they have come out of canals and KILLED people.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Experienced hunter Maryellen Mara-Christian of Massachusetts says she was excited to get her first alligator on a hunt this week in South Carolina.
Hooking and killing the 1,025-pound, 131/2-foot gator has made her something of a celebrity.
The 48-year-old laid-off bank marketing officer from Fitchburg, Mass., was hunting Wednesday with her husband, Mark, who is a firefighter in Massachusetts and a part-time hunting guide in Maine, and Lake Moultrie guide Kevin Davis.
"I came down to South Carolina hoping for a 10-footer and I just lucked out to may have gotten one of the biggest ones people have ever seen," Mara-Christian said.
Alligator hunting is part hunting, part fishing. Hunters use a regular fishing pole with a heavy line and a large snatch hook. They try to get several hooks in the alligator to get him close to the boat so they can shoot or harpoon them. It is illegal in South Carolina for a hunter to shoot a free swimming alligator.
It took about two hours for Mara-Christian's party to secure the gator before they could shoot it. But the .22-caliber gun they had wasn't powerful enough to put the animal down so Mara-Christian used a knife to sever the animal's spinal cord at the base of its head.
click to appreciate size of this beast: