Nonetheless, the LDWF continues to look for more and more opportunities for the general public. In , the department made tags available on 45 public lakes and WMAs for hunters.
It was pretty much the same in Then in , that number grew to tags made available to recreational gator hunters. Louisiana alligator hunting regulations limit lottery hunters to just six lines for the three tags they are issued. However, she insisted on doing as much as her 5-foot, 2-inch, pound frame would allow. Lots of that included driving stobs in the marsh to secure lines, setting poles to suspend the hooks, stringing lines from stob to pole and finally baiting them.
All that happened before running the lines the following morning — and she would have to retrieve and dispatch the animals herself.
Just the habitat itself and navigating the waterways is difficult. That was about the only task I performed for Christine. The LDWF requires first-time alligator hunters to go through mandatory training, and obviously, using the correct line and hook is vitally important. Personally, I use 50 feet. There are baits galore that have been tried by both commercial and sport hunters over the years. But, perhaps nothing works better than chicken thighs with the drumstick still attached.
For the record, alligator hunters also have used nutria quarters, but they tend to dry out like jerky. Beef melt has been used, along with pogies and mullet. As the apex predator of fresh and brackish water marshes and swamps in the Deep South, nine states will hold some sort of commercial or recreational season in Approaching it slowly, we could see the bait was taken.
The line stretched from the stob on the bank out 50 feet into the deeper waters of Greg Pass, where we had placed the sets on the refuge. My wife lifted the line ever so gently, and feeling a couple of small jerks and a gentle tug, her eyes got big. Today hunters harvest wild alligators in September and take 34,, annually and they are worth over 13 million dollars for their meat and their skins.
Another change in Louisiana alligators is the alligator farms which began in alligator ranching program in response to the dwindling wild population.
However, in and there was increased competition coming from overseas and this caused gator sales to drop to an all-time low. Madere then killed the alligator, which was 4-feet-8 inches 1. The current world record alligator was taken by Mandy Stokes, of Thomaston, in August It measured 15 feet, 9 inches long and weighed 1, Troy and Jacob are fan favorites on the show, so it makes sense that they might be paid more money than others.
The season runs from September These are also the most common places to find alligators. In a following post, Cavalier claims that the network contacted her in an attempt to get her to remove her statements.
Even though they never gave any public explanation as to why so many of Swamp People 's stars were sacked, the network obviously did not want anyone else commenting on it either. A season of alligator hunting may be profitable, but it is rarely enough to live on for the rest of the year. The Molineres spend most of the year shrimping, trapping, and crabbing.
Some cast members have more common day jobs. The value of an alligator fluctuates wildly, so it is important that hunters have a second income to guarantee that they will get by. Getting an arm chewed off by a peckish gator makes for chilling imagery, but these creatures actually carry with them a more dangerous, albeit less obvious, threat. The mouth of an alligator contains the fecal bacteria of its prey and poses a high risk of causing dangerous infections.
Even the smallest of bites must be immediately treated with a mix of antibiotics. The hunters on Swamp People may know how to handle alligators, but that does not make them immune to infections.
If they get bitten, they must seek out urgent medical attention. Alligator harvesting is a hazardous occupation and hunters have to be informed of the risks they are exposed to. During the open season, hunters receive a set number of tags that are used to mark their catch. Each alligator is marked by a tag that is fastened to its tail.
Alligators have to be tagged on the spot when they are caught. If a hunter loses any tags, they must report it to wildlife regulators by the end of the season.
Lost tags will, however, not be restored. A lost tag equals a lost profit, which means that these straps of plastic are very valuable to the hunters. Working the swamps is not for the faint of heart-- nor is it for those of us who dread a little drizzle.
Throughout the seasons, the cast of Swamp People have had to work under challenging conditions. The devastation of Hurricane Harvey had left this local hunter in desperate need of help to fill his tags. Troy has also had to go out hunting in the middle of a tropical storm. He explained that he had so many tags left to fill that he could simply not take a day off, no matter the weather.
It seems like there might be more than one reason as to why these outdoorsmen always keep their wellingtons on.
Readers may start to wonder what makes these alligator tags so important that hunters will brave storms to fill them all up. An unused tag does not only correspond with the lost profits from one alligator, it may also affect the hunter's next season.
Hunters are rewarded tags based on how many alligators they caught the previous year and how much land they have access to. If a hunter does not fill all his tags during one season, he may receive less tags for the following year. Hunters looking to boost their profits and expand their business have to make sure they do not let any tags go to waste.
Hunters are not only restricted by the number of alligators they can harvest, they must also stick to designated areas. To receive tags for the season, hunters must either own their own land where they can hunt or receive permission from a landowner to hunt on their land.
They cannot, however, set out to hunt for nuisance alligators in their neighbors' backyards; hunting grounds must be classified as wetland habitats. Hunters looking to optimize the season can acquire land in both the eastern and western hunting zones.
The hunt in the east starts and finishes a week earlier, giving the professional hunters some extra days to fill their quota. The producers of Swamp People are not only searching for unique rural characters when they are looking to add to the cas they also want hunters who will bring in scores of gators. During a casting call , the show announced that they were only looking for hunters that had at least 50 tags for the season. Swamp People devotes most of its screen time to hauling in big alligators, so it makes sense that they would want to focus on well-established hunters.
Filming a rookie reeling in half a dozen baby alligators probably does not make for thrilling TV. They may ensnare them, " choot 'em, " and skin them - but the cast of Swamp People cannot keep an alligator as a pet. Production has no hand in this decision, as it has been established by Louisiana law. When you take into account how many amateurs that have tried to go out on their own to hunt an alligator after seeing the show, it is probably for the best that they are not inspired to keep one as a pet as well.
They may look harmless when they are young, but alligators grow up to become undiscerning predators. The tribe has been living off the land in the area for centuries, and was supposed to infuse the show with a bit of Southern authenticity. On the show, the duo has engaged in various spiritual rituals to help them succeed in their endeavors.
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