Gator Questions
 

Yeah, yeah. I'm the out of state guy asking the questions that I'm sure you see all the time, but hopefully someone will help me out. I have a relative that lives near Alexandria and I am trying to find information on gator hunting in the area. I have looked into a few guide services in the southern part of the state, but I thought if there was a spot close to Alexandria I might save myself a few bucks. I know that I have to buy a non-resident license and be accompanied by someone who has gator tags, but I was hoping someone here might be able to help me out with a little better info.

I've never really heard of a "gator hunting" guide service but I'm sure with swamp people on now, people could make a killing on out of staters. If I were you, I would go set some limb lines for catfish then pull up to it the next morning and shoot it. Same concept and you could save yourself some money. And if you wanna see alligators when you come down go to lacassine or Sabine

Grosse savanne in big lake did guide i dont know if they still do. there is an airboat tourguide in des almond ( not sure of spekking)at the base of the bridge that does guided gator huns as well

des allemands

People across the country are so gullible when they watch swamp people. I believe alexandria would be a little too far north to get good gator hunt. You would need to come down to the southern swamps. But really you are only talking an hour and a half drive. No biggie.

dude i've went to ruston, my buddy's friend bought pin oak mallard club...yeah used to be in the magazines field and stream etc...we were trying to catch an 11' gator in their swamp...they got'em cuz...bele dat....we went to the cleaners to drop off a small gator and he opend the freezer....holy moly they had a 13 in that summbuck that was huge!!!

Cotile lake has plenty of alligators jus outside A town. Those bastiges are all over da state not jus sout of da eye tan. Dey has a lottree fer pubic land gator tagz, check wit da fish peoples in baton rouge.

Gator hunting guides have been around for quite a while. Very expensive though.

I never knew that. I've never looked for them but I have never cam across an ad for a guided gator hunt either. I bet whoever does it could make some coin with the whole country watching swamp people now

I thought everyone in the whole state of louisiana was a alligator hunter. Never met one person that dont choot em.....:rolleyes:

At one time, out of state hunters could only shoot 3 gators.
And out of state hunters did not qualify for lottery tags either.
There are several guys who will take you out, the bigger the gator, the more money you pay. A trophy gator will cost around $1000 just to shoot. If you want to keep it, it will cost around $100/ft. or more on top of the $1000.

That is one website I looked at, and their price is reasonable. It is a hunt only and you have to pay out the big bucks to actually take the gator home.

That is the closest place I found while looking online, but they made it seem as if a non-resident wouldn't be able to go along with a guide on Cotile Lake.

I mostly want to go for the experience, I am not interested in a trophy. I'd rather take home the meat than I would the hide or head.

Thanks for all the responses. If you don't mind a northerner hanging around, I'm sure I'll enjoy all your fishing and hunting stories.

Pull up a chair... what kind of hunting do you do up in Indiana?

always nice to breakaway from the norm...welcome!!

Whitetails, turkeys and squirrels so far. I'm relatively new to the hunting world, as last year was my first year seriously hunting.

Fishing is mostly for largemouth bass, bluegill and crappie. There are a couple local lakes that have musky and trout, which I'm hoping to get into some of them this year. I also have a walleye tripped planned for a lake in Illinois later in the spring.

I will admit that my desire to go on a gator hunt is from watching Swamp People. I'm sure there are some folks in LA who don't care for the show, but I'd say anything that can get people interested in one's home state is a good thing.

It is a neat deal to experience no doubt...but don't be disappointed when the alligator doesn't go crazy, thrash water, bite the boat and just floats up and "pow" its done.... thats how it really works..lol

But fried alligator can be some good stuff!! Swamp People is a double edged sword its a bad rep for LA and also creates interest...prob alot from animal rights folks lol

Yep. They just playing with them on TV for the audience. If you are serious, come kill '1' and then go to local seafood/meat market and buy 2lb of tail meat to take home. It will be a great conversation piece and since you are a fishermen, I'm sure you can fib a little so tell it like they see it on swamp people. You'll be a legend up there.

There is a lot more drama on them shows than there is actually hunting gators.
I hunted them for almost 20 years, most of the time alone.
The small gators thrash around, them big uns don't, unless you make them.

Check your PM's/

GM, welcome to SC neg!!! U come down and we'll pass a good time.

Thanks again folks. I forgot to add one thing to my list of hunting, morels.

I think I can handle that. Anything to increased my legendary status.

How does it give LA a bad rep?

You guys are ruining my hopes and dreams telling me that the show isn't all it appears to be.

We just dont want you to come down here and spend a bunch of money and not enjoy it. Now if you come down here I guarantee you will have fun but gator hunting may not be as exciting as the cameras make it out to be

I got ya. I'm mostly looking forward to the fishing and the food.

well then you wont be dissapointed

Come on down. The fishing will AMAZE you.

Most gator hunters sell the gator whole. They get the same price for them.
Some who have their own state approved skinning shed will skin them.
There are only a few hide buyers, and all the skinning sheds buy for those few buyers.
The skinning shed owners get their profit from the meat and sell the hides to the buyers for what they bought them from you.
So, if you want the meat, it will cost you a buttloada money.

Your forgetting the worst part, how bout after you shoot da gator and when you put him in da boat you dont get the head over the side fast enough and you get the honor of seeing/smelling his lunch on the bottom of dat boat for the rest of the day! Dont see that on TV!

Not to mention the heat and it is what most would call work setting/baiting lines. But the beer helps!

Wait til u smell the chicken funk

3 day old rotten, ya know when the fat starts drippin and makes a sheen, ive seen a helpers breakfast due to it

Then you will be very happy. My father moved to Boston to join another law practice when I was young, he would fly back all of the time and all he would ever talk about was how much he missed the Louisiana culture and food. Find yourself a local restaurant and avoid the big chains and you will be really happy.

I moved to Houston 8 years or so ago and I spend every minute I can in Louisiana at our camp. I have traveled all over the country and I have never seen a place like Louisiana. If you watched swamp people last week you heard Liz talk about how Cajuns will do anything to help people and that is the culture. While the gator hunting might be a little overstated the people, passion and food are dead on.

There is no place in the world that I would rather be than south Louisiana.

Fixed it for you

GM, one other thing to note is that Gator season is Sept. 1st to 30th. Pretty much everything you heard here so far is true. We do eat good down and most men cook all the major meals around here. My wife cooks, but not for Holidays, thats the mans job.

Season opens on the wed after labor day

From my research it looked as if there are two zones, east and west, and the season is a little different in each zone.

No matter how long you leave the head over the side, it will vomit after you put it in the boat.
And the blood will clabber up under the deck. Nasty.

Yep decks come up after every season for a good cleaning

Mushrooms
 

We don't have morels but just about everything else. At least 5 species of chantrelles, lion's mane, hen of the woods, and at least 3 species of oyster mushrooms. Not many people to compete with. Your allowed a 5 gallon bucketful on the WMA's around here.

This one is protected by one of Louisiana's finest.

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Check your message box...

Guys I used to hunt with had a boat dat would follow us around da marsh. The meat boat. Throw all dead gators in dat. No decks and kept a couple inches of water in da boat to slosh around da blood, vomit, and poo. Dat way da blood didn't clabber up.

Sounds like a good beer drinkin job!

One of da dead alligators came back to life one day. Old boy jumps off the back seat, jumps over da wiggling gator and grabs his ice chest before da gator flicks all his beer out the boat. He never stopped until he got all da way on da front of da front deck. The other guy driving the boat had to root around for the hammer to finish the job. He wasn't worried bout gettin bit by no gator, but if he lost his beer, his day woulda been ruined!

Hunted the refuge last year for the first time and it's nothing like the tv show!! Lot's of hard work and lot's of BAD smells. Made even worse by being hung over every morning!!! But you do hang out with good people and have some fun too.

Lew Parks? I think that is his name. He is our age. One of my buddies from BR is friends with him and I went hunting up there before too. Fine place!!

Refuge?

Wildlife refuge, there is many across the state. Public access allowed.

The terms refuge,preserve,reserve are used interchangeably by many people in the area. They are reffering to a state wildlife management area or a national wildlife refuge. Both allow fishing and hunting to the public. There are also some state wildlife refuges that allow fishing but no hunting (rockafeller & marsh island).

Got ya. Thanks.

BTW, nice avatar. Where the gold at?