Gator season: Alligators fair game next month in Georgia
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The state?s fourth alligator-hunting season starts next month. Georgia wildlife officials authorized the state?s first season in 2003, following a strong recovery of the once-endangered reptile. Georgia?s alligator population is now estimated between 200,000 to 250,000.
More than 3,000 hunters from 29 states as far away as California, Montana and North Dakota applied for the 500 permits granted for this year?s season, which runs from Sept. 9 to Oct. 1.
An equal number of hunters last year bagged about 350 gators.
North America?s largest reptiles are usually hunted at night, when they come out to feed. Hunters travel into the darkness in boats and shine lights to spot the eery, red glow of the gators? eyes. Then they have to use a noose, a stick with a harpoon point, or a rod and reel to snag the gator and haul it to the boat, where it can be shot.
Although there have been no reported alligator attacks on humans in Georgia, three Florida women were killed in a single week in May, during an unprecedented string of gator attacks. Florida had recorded only 17 other fatal alligator attacks since 1948.
?Generally it?s perceived as a dangerous animal,? said John Bowers, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources? assistant chief of game management. ?This is a hands-on activity. You don?t just go out in a boat and shoot it. You have to capture the alligator first. It?s a primitive-type hunting experience.?
Alligator hunting licenses cost $50, and the state offers classes to prepare the hunters.
?We all want to come home with all our fingers and toes,? said Glenn Dowling, executive vice president of the 50,000-member Georgia Wildlife Federation.
Dowling said he applied, but was not one of the lucky ones this year. The state has simplified the process by allowing prospective hunters to apply online. Those who aren?t picked are awarded points, maintained in a database, that could improve their odds in future drawings.
?It can be dangerous,? Dowling said. ?You?re dealing with an animal that is at the top of the food chain. They?re like anything that doesn?t want to get caught and they have the means to fight back. Not only are they a challenge, they can also be a challenger.
?It?s got to be an adrenaline-pumping experience when you have several hundred pounds of cold-blooded, tooth-filled jaws attached to the end of your rope,? he said.
The meat-eating reptiles live in freshwater swamps, marshes, lakes and rivers throughout southern Georgia. They are also found in Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas.