I've killed one gator down there so all i can give you is the rundown of how I got mine. Like you said in some areas there are tons of gators. Mine was taken on private land with wide irrigation ditches running between agricultural areas. We simoly stalked along the banks ubtil a good one was spotted and put a bullet to the back of the head. I used a Winchester 94 in .32 special and one shot was the end of it. He fairly quickly sank to the bottom and we used a heavy braided line with a huge treble hook on it to drag the bottom where he went down till he was hooked up and then drug him in.

If I remember right it was about 10 1/2 feet long. I didn't know where to sell the hide and the cost of tanning was too high so it went to waste but the meat was pretty  good, there's quite a bit of it in the tail. I did make a cool european mount out of the skull, it took a lot of work as it is very different than any thing else I've worked on but the procedure is the same and worth the effort.

Good luck on you draw and hope you get a good one.

Thanks man...

From what I've been reading your not aloud to shoot the gator with a gun or bangstick untill it's under controll of a rope, snare, gig, or fish arrow. So I can't really go that route(although it would be the easiest). I also read that you can't use a baited hook in FL also which really sucks. The route I'm thinking is using a snatch hook or gig with a break away point and rope...

The more I look into it the more of a PIA it seems. There's all kinds of papers to fill out when you kill one and you have to return the unused tags withing 14 days if you don't fill them or you won't get any next year.

It sounds like I got alot of homework to do if I get this permit.

Snatch hooking gators is a lot of fun and is the way we prefer to hunt them.  But you have to have them secured on a line before you use the bangstick.  We usually use a 12/0 weighted treble hook on a spinning rod with 60-80lb test line and work them upside the boat to hit 'em with a harpoon.  The harpoon point/dart has a short piece of cable with a 1/4" rope attached.   If its 10ft or bigger we will put two harpoon darts in it before we work it up to bangstick it.  The rules for Florida state wide and county hunts do not allow you to use a firearm so a bangstick is the next best thing. 

Check out http://alligator-hunting-equipment.com/  not only do they sell gear but they have a lot of information about equipment and techniques with forum dedicated to gator hunting as well as links to guides, processors, and other gator gear vendors.  You can also email questions to them at gatorslayer@alligator-hunting-equipment.com

Good luck on the Drawing, we should no what we got by the end of the next week.

Thanks for the help guys unfortunatly i didn't draw my permit this year. There is phase two but I doubt there is any left over permits in my area I wanted to hunt...

Untill next year...

Hey Man, I got my permit last year in the second phase, I checked the availability the day before and there was one permit for my area that did not get purchased.  So at start time for phase two I was sitting at my computer with fingers on the keys ready to submit my application and I ended up getting it.  Just check permit availability the night before or the morning of the second phase.

Or just go after a different area to get your first hunt in, get some experience on handling your gear and the gators and work out any problems.  So next year when you get the area you want, you will be ready. 

After all you don't want to miss out on a chance at one like my son and daughter got on their first trip(11.5 ft with chunk of tail missing):

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I'd love to alligator hunt in the state of Florida someday. 

I was just watching the television show Outdoor News last night that had a piece about the illegal taking of alligators in the state of Florida.  It seems that a lot of folks are taking more than their allowed two and using methods that are illegal.  One method that the television show described as illegal was using a baited hook with a float attached.  I don’t know the details but it is definitely good advice to check with the State of Florida game department and confirm that everything you plan to do is well within the letter of the law.  I wouldn’t mind trying alligator hunting someday.  If I did I would definitely make an effort to preserve the skull in a European mount style, and I might just opt to have the hide tanned (or try to do the taxidermy myself) if it was a big alligator (Ten plus feet).  That is generally what I do when I figure that I can’t afford a taxidermy bill – I just try it myself.  If the hide doesn’t turn out well then I have lost nothing but my time since it would have gone to waste anyway, but if it turns out well then I have taught myself a new skill and have a nice trophy to show for my efforts.  That seems like a pretty good deal to me.  At least worth rolling the dice and investing a few hours and pounds of salt, etcetera toward the taxidermy effort.  Whether you decide to attempt completing a taxidermy project yourself, or hire someone else to do it for you, or decide to fore go taxidermy all together – definitely take a LOT of photographs.  You can blow up a big ten by twelve photograph and have it matted, mounted, and framed a whole lot cheaper than any taxidermy project that you hire anyone else to do.  And if the taxidermy turns out great then you have a companion photograph to display right along side it showing what the animal looked like in the field too.  It’s a win : win on all fronts altogether.  So go ahead and take those pictures!

All hope is not lost. Today is the last day of pahse 1 and last day to pay for the permits. There are still 12 leftover for my area and I plan on entering the phase 2 draing on the 8th. They are first come first serve so I have a decent chance of getting one as long as I'm quik to put in my permit...

Wish me luck and I'll respond with how it went...