Having Fun With Alligators

[Swamp Critter]

Ok, this thread is starting to chase a really WEIRD rabbit right now.

[Cali2Calcasieu]

Thanks for the awesome video, and the great music! If this was in California(where the Fish and Game laws are just to generate revenue) this would be about a zillion dollar fine. Apparently, its OK to have laws there to fine the people for messing with wildlife, but there's no problem when some developer comes in and clear cuts the whole place, then builds a bunch of houses and names the development "Deer Run". Yeah pal, the deer ran away when you showed up with the bulldozers. I hope that never happens in Louisiana like it happened all over California...at least you can still hunt and fish here without having to drive for 4 hours or have everything posted as no trespassing.

[iron man]

Originally Posted by Cali2Calcasieu

Thanks for the awesome video, and the great music! If this was in California(where the Fish and Game laws are just to generate revenue) this would be about a zillion dollar fine. Apparently, its OK to have laws there to fine the people for messing with wildlife, but there's no problem when some developer comes in and clear cuts the whole place, then builds a bunch of houses and names the development "Deer Run". Yeah pal, the deer ran away when you showed up with the bulldozers. I hope that never happens in Louisiana like it happened all over California...at least you can still hunt and fish here without having to drive for 4 hours or have everything posted as no trespassing.

Its happening. Slowly but shirley. Seen a couple subdivisions buy out places that I hunted on. And then the damn things went under when they couldn't sell a house.

[Cali2Calcasieu]

Yeah that's great. The developers in California used to start a corporation and get the tax incentives to build, but if they don't sell the houses fast enough, their working capital runs out. Then the developer files bankruptcy for the corporation, he personally makes a ton of money from whatever he could squirrel away and lets the bank foreclose on the half finished project. Who do they think is going to move into the subdivision then, millionaires? Nobody's moving in when the project's in foreclosure, and the people who bought right away feel like they paid way too much and are way more likely to default when they borrowed $400,000 for a house valued at $270,000.

You'll never get the land back but you have a neat little run down subdivision where there used to be hunting/fishing/open space. But the municipalities green light every project as fast as they can so they can get the property tax income to help dig them out of their financial troubles....its a bad place to be if you like being outside at all.

[gckid]

You playing with those gators was cool but you just signed there death warrant. Now the next person crabbing there will have them coming up and eating there crab line. This is a NUISANCE gator now and will have to be removed before someone ends up hurt. If a game warden would have seen you you would gotten a expensive reminder to not mess with alligators. I'm a nuisance hunter and 3/4 of gators I removed all started as "oh look a gator. lets feed him"

[Swamp Critter]

Originally Posted by gckid

You playing with those gators was cool but you just signed there death warrant. Now the next person crabbing there will have them coming up and eating there crab line. This is a NUISANCE gator now and will have to be removed before someone ends up hurt. If a game warden would have seen you you would gotten a expensive reminder to not mess with alligators. I'm a nuisance hunter and 3/4 of gators I removed all started as "oh look a gator. lets feed him"

Alligators, especially young ones like these, have been grabbing bait lines at this spot for years. It's not like it's in a neighborhood subdivision where someone will report it as a nuisance gator. Nor is it in a state park where people go swimming, canoeing, water skiing, etc. It's well known that there's alligators there and I'm not the first one to do this, nor will I be the last. And look, I "get it" about feeding alligators. I know it's a bad idea and yes, some people actually do feed them there. That's not what we were doing. We were crabbing, and the gators were getting at our bait anyway, so we just had fun with it. And as far as game wardens and fines, yes, I could have been fined for handling a gator. But what was I supposed to do? Leave it tangled like it was? I only pulled it up there to free it from the bait lines, get some good video up close, and let it go unharmed. I can't see anything wrong with that.

[Swamp Critter]

Originally Posted by gckid

You playing with those gators was cool but you just signed there death warrant. Now the next person crabbing there will have them coming up and eating there crab line. This is a NUISANCE gator now and will have to be removed before someone ends up hurt. If a game warden would have seen you you would gotten a expensive reminder to not mess with alligators. I'm a nuisance hunter and 3/4 of gators I removed all started as "oh look a gator. lets feed him"

By the way, no disrespect to you. I realize what you're saying, and I get it. I'm just saying this isn't the same as around houses, camps, etc.

[huntin fool]

Originally Posted by Swamp Critter

Alligators, especially young ones like these, have been grabbing bait lines at this spot for years. It's not like it's in a neighborhood subdivision where someone will report it as a nuisance gator. Nor is it in a state park where people go swimming, canoeing, water skiing, etc. It's well known that there's alligators there and I'm not the first one to do this, nor will I be the last. And look, I "get it" about feeding alligators. I know it's a bad idea and yes, some people actually do feed them there. That's not what we were doing. We were crabbing, and the gators were getting at our bait anyway, so we just had fun with it. And as far as game wardens and fines, yes, I could have been fined for handling a gator. But what was I supposed to do? Leave it tangled like it was? I only pulled it up there to free it from the bait lines, get some good video up close, and let it go unharmed. I can't see anything wrong with that.

There isn't any harm in it. But it is the law. And the last thing I would have done is posted this on Youtube, and on a Outdoor Forum. I would have had my fun and just left it at that.

[gckid]

Originally Posted by Swamp Critter

By the way, no disrespect to you. I realize what you're saying, and I get it. I'm just saying this isn't the same as around houses, camps, etc.

Even away from camps and houses is bad. They get a mental imprint on being fed and anytime they see a human they go to them. I've caught farm raised gator that had been released for five years and still act like they were waiting to be fed. This is out in the marsh were very few people go. They will travel quite a distance if needed so they could possible end up near someones camp.

[elebouef]

Hey gckid, have you ever been called out to Lowery, to catch some nuisance gators at a landing down there?

[gckid]

nope

[Cali2Calcasieu]

Originally Posted by gckid

Even away from camps and houses is bad. They get a mental imprint on being fed and anytime they see a human they go to them. I've caught farm raised gator that had been released for five years and still act like they were waiting to be fed. This is out in the marsh were very few people go. They will travel quite a distance if needed so they could possible end up near someones camp.

Was out at Grosse Savanne pond and the fishing guide told me that they clean all the fish waaaay out at the back so its away from the lodge and wont attract other pests. The gators now listen for the rumble of a diesel engine and know they can get a free meal after dark. While he was talking about 12-15 gators swam up and were just sitting out in the pond watching us.....pretty awesome, until you realize they just are window shopping for dinner...

[Ray]

Once they are not afraid of humans, they will be killed.
Otherwise, they will attack sooner or later.

[Swamp Critter]

Originally Posted by Ray

Once they are not afraid of humans, they will be killed.
Otherwise, they will attack sooner or later.

Well, on the up side of this, I once talked to a guy who fishes from the same pier fairly often. He said that someone does hunt alligators there, on the Avery Island side, across the bayou from the pier. He'd seen them checking lines, shooting gators, and pulling them in the boat. Must be the McIlhennys hunting that piece, because I think they own all the property on Avery Island. Anyway, while most of the gators in that immediate area are small to medium size, it seems like an excellent place to fill some tags. They probably get much bigger ones on the south and east side of the island in the marsh, in the more remote spots.

[Ray]

You can only hunt during the Sept. season, unless you are a state approved nuicence hunter.

[Swamp Critter]

Originally Posted by Ray

You can only hunt during the Sept. season, unless you are a state approved nuicence hunter.

I'm not a gator hunter at all. That's not what we were doing there. We were crabbing there on the pier. Apparently someone else is hunting alligators in that area, during the season. Probably the McIlhennys, since this is at Avery Island.

[elebouef]

Well you can go and feed all the alligators you want. There is no state wide law against feeding alligators except in the parish of St. Tammany. Wildlife and Fisheries wanted a law passed a few years back but the tour boats got the legislators to beat it.

Now if one of your kids or your family members gets attacked by an alligator that you fed then you can tap yourself on the back and take the blame

[elebouef]

Originally Posted by elebouef

You might want to watch what you do with them. I was once told that it is against the law to antagonize a gator. He can mess with your line but you can't feed a gator or really mess with one. Do what you want but I would hate to see you get in trouble for just having fun.
Maybe remove the video for now, until you find out more. Just saying

I had gotten the wrong info about not feeding gators. You can feed all the gators you want anyhow it is not a good idea.

[Swamp Critter]

Originally Posted by elebouef

Well you can go and feed all the alligators you want...

Now if one of your kids or your family members gets attacked by an alligator that you fed then you can tap yourself on the back and take the blame

Man, what is it about my post that's so hard to understand? We were NOT feeding alligators. We were CRABBING. They were getting at our bait anyway so we had fun with it. We didn't FEED a single one. In fact, when we left, I got my bait out of the water. As I said, those gators have been grabbing crab lines there for years. I'm not the first one to have gators to pull at my crab lines, nor will I be the last. I mean, are we supposed to ban recreational crabbing? Besides, it's Avery Island. It's well known that there's LOTS of alligators there. Someone's hunting gators there too. I happen to be against feeding alligators myself. I don't mean to get all pissy about this, but your comment makes it look like I'm some sort of idiot about alligators and I'm not. I posted this just because I thought it was some cool video of us having a good time.

[Swamp Critter]

Originally Posted by elebouef

Well you can go and feed all the alligators you want...

...Now if one of your kids or your family members gets attacked by an alligator that you fed then you can tap yourself on the back and take the blame

Having not FED a single one of these alligators (they'd just bite, pull a little and let go), I don't see how I could be blamed for any potential future alligator attack any more than the hundreds, or thousands of people over the years who go crabbing there at that pier, put bait on lines in the water, and have had alligators try to take it. I mean, this HAPPENS. And not just there, this probably happens, some time or another, at pretty much every popular inshore crabbing spot in the marshes here in south Louisiana where there's alligators. We just got it on video. Yeah, we had fun with them pulling on our lines. It's NOT the same as feeding them.