Florida & Georgia - Gator Tags

Has anyone on here applied for an Alligator hunt permit? Phase I applications start today and I was wondering if anyone has done it and where. It's pretty expensive too so I'm hesitant to take the leap. Any info would be appreciated.

Ive never applied but really thinking hard about it. My friends go every year and said if.you apply early you are pretty much gauranteed. I know last year I called dnr after the app period and they told me that they would have leftovers you could come pick up, first come first serve. The hardest part for me was having to take it to a processer and pay a boatload, most around here wouldnt even shave the cost if you gave them the hide.

what does the processor do? I have some friends that go a lot, they just cut the tail off with a reciprocating saw, put in bags and thats it.

I decided to apply as a buddy is going to split the cost with me. He also knows a processor.

Has anyone hired a guide for the first time or just go out on their own?

I hired a guide for the first time I went. Knew the water I got tags for real well, used his boat/gear, got a deal with the processor for me etc. etc. Much more convenient for learning and really enjoyed it.

I have been doing it from the early 90 when the gave you 15 tags per permint.. then it went to 5 and now 2..the sta are easy place to get a gator.. you also can start hunting at 5pm to 10am. before it was 1 hour before sunset and 1 hour after sun rise.. just do it its a blast.

We had a permit many years ago before they went to a pure tag program. When they had a lottery and you had to sign up and it was 50/50 if you got the permit but once you got the permit you kept it for as long as you kept paying the permit fee every year. We let ours go in 1998.

I am unsure of the regulations anymore but we had a ton of fun hunting them. We never used a processor, we skinnned them and harvested them ourselves. The fun was hunting and catching, the skinning and harvesting sucked but we had a plenty of meat. We would take up a whole gator to our property in River Ranch and have a huge party and serve up gator all weekend long.

Our permit allowed us to hunt Lake Trafford. We used an old 17' skiff with a spl 88 johnson on it. Man, did we have some close calls with some big ole boys but It was a blast.
I remember one night we were out on Lake Trafford and I am on the rod and see this good size head pop up about 20 yards in front of us. I cast out and slam the treble hook into him and it is on. This thing just came on in like a 500lb log till it got to the boat. It never stopped coming, it came straight out the water like a torpedo into the boat. I have yet to this day seen three white boys scurring for the highest point on the boat in record time. I ended up on the poling platform in about .00001 seconds. This 10' gator broke every thing on the boat from rods to steering column and slid right back in the water. Well now we were pissed and he only lived for another 5 minutes. He was the meanest we ever encountered. The 6 to 8' gators with the regulations that were in place, it was pretty easy to take one down. You snagged them with a treble hook, reeled him in slow and easy, get by the boat slowly, bury another treble hook into the opposite side the first hook was in, than bang stick to the head, done. Haul his ass into the boat and back to the dock.
I would highly recommend doing this at least once, it was some great times. I have thought about doing it again with my kids that are getting old enough now to be able to handle doing it.

Applied for 540 and 502... gonna hire a guide for the first trip. Can't wait.

Where do you register? Me and a buddy are VERY interested!!!

I did it in the mid 90's when it was a lottery system. Didn't cost you anything to enter and if you got a permit, then I think it was $500. The permit was for 5 gators and it was fun. There was an air boat guide on Lk Toho that would take us out. The deal was that we got to keep two gators (he wouldn't take anything less than 8') and he got the other three, he provided the boat, gear and gas. He had a couple of guys that came down from Canada and paid a couple thousand each to go gator hunting. When we got back to the dock, there was a processor that was paying by the foot for the gators. It was a great deal for everyone involved, we did it two years in a row.

Where do you register? Me and a buddy are VERY interested!!!


FWC website