BellR

I didnt get to go this year because of starting a new job, but next year I'm headed to CO unit 65 in first rifle for my second DIY public land hunt. Hoping to pull an either sex tag. Went two years ago and saw elk every day, just didn't get to seal the deal on one. Hopefully this year with some better local knowledge I'll get a shot!

So, results for phase 1 are in. I whiffed on the lotto but the wife pulled her first choice tags, so we are a go for gator hunting. Anyone else apply?

My wife got me one of these for my kayak fishing: http://www.amazon.com/FishHunter-Military-Grade-Portable-Finder/dp/B00HESVVQI/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1461072924&sr=8-11&keywords=kayak+fishfinder

I'm dealing with this myself now working on getting gear together for an elk hunt out west in the fall of 2017, its hard to pick the right gear. Usually I'm on the practical side of things... my stuff has worked fine for me and if I don't get a deer/turkey/squirrel/whatever I don't blame my gear, I blame my hunting. Getting stuff for out west is the same thing... there a lot of my "wants" and "needs" have a huge price difference. Instead of getting a $300-$400 frame pack in addition to a day pack I decided on going with a $80 pack that can do both jobs adequately because it was more practical. Now, if I decide to make this an annual or biannual trip my priorites may change and I may eventually get the more expensive stuff, but right now for my first trip I just cant justify it to myself. With that being said, if the right piece of gear makes that big of a difference I'll just buy it. I have heard only rave reviews about merino wool as a base layer, and while it would be cheaper to go with synthetics, I think I'm just going to get the good stuff the first time.

No, but I have hiked a good bit of the Northville-Lake Placid Trail. If you want to get away from people I would recommend that over the AT, I have heard there can be pretty good crowds on the AT while you will usually have the NLPT to yourself.

He did a nice job. The curved part right above the guard would look really nice with some file work on it

I thought he was trying to summon Cthulu before I Googled it, even then it took me a minute. Good one

So once figures are adjusted for inflation, most things are more or less the same price but a college education has gone up 2.5x. But yeah... those lazy college kids complaining about debt. What hooligans. They totally have the same shot that their parents did. Yeah.

If anyone draws tags for any of the STA's in time period 1 (during the end of August) and the wife and I don't, I may also be able to help fill them. More info for anyone interested in the hunts: http://myfwc.com/license/limited-entry-hunts/general-info/alligator-hunt-permit/ http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/managed/alligator/harvest/

Well, that depends on if you have it butchered or you do it yourself. A lot of the butchering places basically take your gator and give you approximately how much meat would come off of it, packaged up and ready to go. There are a few processors who will give you your meat back, but you have to look for them specifically. On the other hand, we butchered ours the next day in the garage. It took 4 of us about 2-3 hours to skin it and butcher it up, and if you didn't care about the hide it would go a lot faster. For a 6' gator we averaged around 40lbs of meat, for a 9' gator it was some where around 100lbs. This includes all of the scraps and misc cuts that we use for sausage as well as the ribs, jowls, backstrap (jelly roll), tail and legs. Another option some people take is to sell the meat. If you take your gator to a processor, many will skin it in return for the meat or vice versa. It all depends on what you want to get out of the hunt. As far as getting it back up, it depends on if you drive or fly. If you drive, just pack it into a cooler and head home. If you fly, it is possible to take coolers with dry ice onto planes. I cant remember if it has to be checked or carry on, but I know you can do it. We always drive though, so I've never looked into it much.

Haha, so I did a quick search and that buddy I was talking about... apparently he is interested: https://www.facebook.com/bodiedrakeproductions/ Bodie is a good guy and he has gotten some BIG gators. I'm sure that there are other good outfitters out there, but Bodie would be my personal recommendation just because I know him very well.

As far as guides go, I haven't had any experience on that side of things. I'm fairly cheap, so we decided to do our own hunts, butcher our own gators, tan our own hides and euro mount our own skull. If I was looking or a guide, I would post over at http://forums.floridasportsman.com/forumdisplay.php?33-General-Hunting and ask around there. There are a lot of people involved with gator hunting on there including at least two of the major gear vendors down that way and a few guys that work with FWC on the decision making so they should be able to recommend a good one. A big part of hunting gators down here is picking the right area. Some of the county wide tags that you can get it doesn't matter if you have a guide or not, the chances are you wont fill them. On the other side of things there are the Storm Water Treatment Areas (STA's), where you can easily fill two tags with 8' gators in one night without a guide. This year, the wife and I are only applying for the STA's since we will have a limited time to hunt. I might have a friend that would be willing to guide in the STA's, I'll have to ask and see what he says. For boots, you probably want a pair of gators that are very similar in size, probably the 6'-8' range.

Here is the European mount that we did of a gator we got our first year. This one was 6'3"

Hey All, Though I'd start a thread on Gator hunting in FL since I have some experience with it. Some basics of the FL Gator Hunt: 1) For non-resident, if you get drawn for tags it is $1022. 2) If you get drawn you get tags for 2 alligators. 3) Each pair of tags is for a certain time and area. 4) You cant sell tags once you are drawn. 5) As long as you are present, you can have as many hunters as you want helping you fill the tags. The other hunters must have a $52 trapping agent license. 6) There are currently no preference points at all, and out of state hunters have the same chance as the good ole' boys from the swap in the lottery. The application process for the lottery is coming up in the beginning of May, and if anyone is interested in applying you will have from May 6-16 to put in your application for Phase I. This year, the way its going to work this year is there are 4 phases. In the first 3 phases, if you are drawn your credit card is automatically charged. There is no returning tags, so be sure to apply for only the units/times that you can hunt. Since they changed it this year so that if you are drawn you automatically purchase the tags and cant return them, I don't expect many tags at all to go to Phase II. Basically, if you want to do the hunt you need to apply for Phase I. Phase I Application: May 6-16 Phase II Application: May 20-30 Phase III Application: June 3-13 Phase IV (First Come): June 17 So... if after reading through that anyone is interested in more information about anything to do with it feel free to ask. My wife and I will be applying this year since we will just barely sneak in as Residents before we move. In addition, I have a bunch of friends down here that will be applying, so hopefully we will draw some tags and I'll post some pics.

Nope, no preference points required. I'll post a thread in "Out of New York Hunting" to talk about gator tags so we don't clutter up this thread.

Speaking of which, gator season applications open in FL next month. Cant wait!

Hmm, lets see, for rifles I own my top three choices would have to be: .22, 7mm-08, .338 Win Mag

I have been looking into doing just what you are thinking about. What I did was go to the Colorado website and look up the statistics on hunt success in each unit and each hunt. Then I eliminated units/times that didn't have OTC licenses as well as units/times that didn't have significant public land to hunt. After I did it for the past 4 years (to take into account regional variations based on weather) I was left with a few top choices. I don't have the data with me... its packed SOMEWHERE in a box of all of our stuff for our upcoming move otherwise I'd share. It takes a lot of work, but you should be able to narrow it down by the stats to a few decent choices.

Yep. I have been there with the wife a few times (we currently live about 10 min north of there). Pretty sure the end of the boardwalk is up just around the corner from where the video was filmed and the cat didn't want to jump into the water... so it took the only easy way out. My favorite comment was one of my friends who said, "I would have puma'ed in my pants" Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEYx13G-YDI

Lets compare the three: Traditional: You draw back and must hold all of the weight. You shoot with your fingers. 150-200 fps Compound: You draw back and the weight drastically lets off so that you can hold drawn. You use a mechanical release. 300-350 fps Xbow: You draw back and all of the weight is let off. You use a mechanical release. 300-350 fps

Huh, that's odd. I've never seen a clown in the woods in all my years hunting with a gun. I've seen lots of people who were trying to get into the sport and didn't have anyone to teach them the proper way to do it. I guess when I choose to talk to them and try to help them learn they must decide to not break out the red nose or oversized shoes (I've also made some good friends that way). That, or I'm not quite as judgmental as some hunters and understand that not everyone has had the experience I have hunting and being in the woods in general. Definitely has to be one or the other. What I have seen a bunch of is arrogant compound bow hunters who think their choice of a compound bow somehow makes them superior to other hunters. Not all people who hunt with compounds are like that, but it seems like they are drawn to compounds. You know the type, the ones who tell other hunters that their choice of hunting implement is somehow sub par compared to their obviously more sporting compound bow. Generally the same types who will berate other hunters for taking anything other than a trophy buck and talk down to other hunters about how they tend to hunt in general. What is ironic is that when it comes to the bow hunters, the traditional guys tend to be far less full of themselves and actually more accepting of other hunters compared to the guys who choose to hunt with compounds. IF full inclusion happens, I'll probably hunt with my Xbow. Why? Because I already have one that I bought for gator hunting that I can use. If inclusion doesn't happen, I'll probably pick up a compound for the wife and I'll get my recurve strung back up. I might even pick up a compound for myself. But what I will never do is tell someone else that I want to hold back an expansion of hunting privileges. You want to hunt dove? I personally probably wont, but why would I fight against it if it expands hunting opportunities'. Want to hunt with an air rifle? If you have a compelling case that you can present to the DEC about the ability of an air rifle to cleanly make the kill that they will believe then have at it. Nobody is taking away hunting rights by having full inclusion. As far as I'm concerned, if compound hunters want to fight inclusion then they should switch to longbow or recurve and actually use the implement the season was originally intended for. Otherwise, you come off as kind of a hypocrite since a compound bow is closer to a crossbow than it is to a traditional bow.

Probably the only thread in the whole section that actually belongs on a hunting forum, since... you know... its about hunting.

I have the electric Master Built Sportsman Elite smoker. If you fill the chip holder until it is flush with the flat part (with dry chips), it will last about 45 min. What I do to extend the time is soak some chips, and then put in about 1/2 soaked chips first and then 1/2 dry chips. When you flip it over inside to dump the chips, the wet chips are on the top and the dry are on the bottom. This basically increases my smoke time to about 1:30 on a load of chips. I don't like using all soaked chips because you don't really get a good smoke going at first when you add them.

http://www.earthcam.com/usa/florida/sanibel/?cam=sanibel_hd http://www.earthcam.com/usa/florida/fortmyers/?cam=fort_myers_gullwing I check them to see what the waves are like before I get the boat all hooked up and ready to go.

That's a very reasonable answer to the question, which is surely why it wont happen...