Question about Gator Hunting

So it is possible to release them then? Thanks was wondering why on Swamp People they are ok with smaller gators in the beginning of the season.

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get a small gator

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Dime sized kill spot.

I always thought it was illegal to cut an alligator off the line if it was over the size minimum. I want to say it was like 4 foot. At one point, the wildlife and fisheries used to give out "Bonus" tags and you could only use them on 6 foot and under gators. I'm pretty sure this was to deter cutting the small gators off. Most likely the gators will die once the line is cut. That hook is all up in the are of their vital organs.

When I used to hunt them, I hardly ever caught any under say 5 foot but I used to try to hang my lines 1.5-2 foot above the water also. I'm not sure if that helped or not.

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If you get a small gator on your line, do you really have to waste a tag on it or can you release it?

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Ethically you should kill it and burn a tag. But i have seen people release them with a hook in their gut. As long as the gator didn't tear its stomach it should live as the old timers always told me that the gators stomach can dissolve the hook. That is one reason we never used stainless hooks

ETA: we used to fish 20 tags a year

Thats what I was thinking....if you catch it you have to tag it legally.

I always wondered why you don't see more of the gators die of internal bleeding before they got to them. Seems like that hook would ravage their insides with the way they pull.

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directly from the LDWLF alligator regulations quote:. No person shall release any alligator from any taking device for any purpose without first dispatching the alligator. Alligators shall not be cut loose from hooks and lines for the purpose of selecting larger alligators

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Did it say anything about a size minimum? I thought there was one but it's been a while since I read the regulations.

I've had some 2 and 3 footers on my line before but usually they are just chewing on the chicken with the hook in their mouth when you pull up and they take off. I guess they are too small to swallow the hook and eat slower than larger gators.

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I always wondered why you don't see more of the gators die of internal bleeding before they got to them. Seems like that hook would ravage their insides with the way they pull.

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I used to have them die before I got to them. If the hook gets ahold of one of their vitals and they pull hard enough it will kill them. you have to be careful when you have a dead alligator on the line. Sometimes the meat won't be anygood and if their skin is out of the water baking in the sun before you get to them it can also ruin the hide/skin. When that happened to me, I always cut them loose. It didn't happen often but it did happen a few times in my gator hunting career.