Alligator Season - Running Out Of 'Monsters'

    The annual Florida Alligator Harvest continues until November 1, with hunters taking to the water for several weeks now in search of that prized ‘gator. But nearly a quarter of a century after the state alligator harvest was founded, it is getting harder and harder to find the types of huge alligators of years gone by.
    “We’re not running out of alligators, we’re running out of the monsters,” said Curtis Lucas of Astor this week. Lucas, who operates an alligator processing business that takes in around 100 gators per year, said he is seeing fewer and fewer gators in the 13-14 foot range.
    "There are still a few out there, but you're not going to easily see the 12-14 footers," said. "And the ones that are out there are there for a reason."
    Lucas said that over the years, alligators have learned to stay away from boats.
    “Twenty-five years ago, when the hunt started, they were dumb to hunting,” Lucas said. “You could float right up to them. Now, they know the game.”
    Long-lived gators, the ‘dinosaurs’, as Lucas calls them, have learned how to survive the hunt, much like a trophy deer in the woods.
    "You're not going to get them unless they make a mistake," Lucas said of the limited number of really big alligators that roam the state's waters.
    Today, an eleven-foot alligator is something to be proud of in hunting circles, and anything that bumps up against twelve feet is in bragging rights territory.
    Alligators are slow growers, with Lucas stating it can take 70-80 years to reach the thirteen-foot range.
    “They are dinosaurs,” Lucas says of the river monsters still out there. “If one is harvested, you won’t replace him in your lifetime.”
    The size of alligators being harvested has changed substantially in the last decade, as the years of the harvest added chances to cull the biggest gators from the water. The alligator harvest is a limited hunt, with participants purchasing tags that allow for the taking of a single alligator. If a smaller gator is on a hunter's line, they more often than not will be released to preserve the tag and the chance to get a bigger animal.
    “Ten years ago, there were more 12-13 foot alligators, Lucas said. “But those big gators, it takes so long for them to get big.”
    But while the huge gators aren’t coming in this year, there are plenty of alligators being harvested. Lucas said his operation, while not as big as some, is staying plenty busy processing meat and hides off harvested alligators.
    “It’s been an average year. Not our busiest, but not our slowest,” Lucas said, with his operation seeing many alligators in the 10-11 foot range.
    And while the alligators of 2021 may not be at record size across the board, boating even a ten-footer can be a challenge.
    Area resident Ray Powers, who along with Mike Ellis boated to eleven foot - plus alligators last Friday night, said wrestling a large gator into a boat that isn’t much larger than it is can be a challenge.
    “One, we fought for at least an hour,” Powers said this week. “When they are really big, it’s a challenge to get them in the boat.”
    In fact, Powers said he and Ellis' trip last Friday night, during which their alligators were harvested from both Lake George and the St. Johns River, didn't end until 5:30 in the morning.
    “It was a long night.”
    But that is the price a hunter pays when trying to find one of few 'monster' gators living in the area's waterways.