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Beauford

Beach Lover
Jun 23, 2015
126
76
If you live in Freeport and hang around Basin Bayou, you’ve probably seen him. Local folks, especially fishermen, have been watching a giant gator in the small bayou all summer.

And on Friday night, there were at least five boats filled with gator hunters, all hoping to glimpse him again.

In the end, he was brought down by two men and a boy who hooked him and lost him and found him again. The gator, measuring 13 feet, 6 and 3/4 inches, is believed to weigh close to 1,000 pounds.

“We tried every way,” said Dalton Morrison, who was out there with his dad, Tilton, and a family friend, 11-year-old Cade Nick. “We couldn’t get him loaded in the boat.”

Finally, they tied him to the cleats of the boat and towed him to shore. It took seven grown men and Cade to tug him from the water into a freezer truck.

Dalton, who is a gator and hog hunting guide, said Bass Pro Shops has reached out to him about buying the gator’s skin for a display. The meat will be vacuum packed and eaten.

An officer from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission came out to see the gator and guessed its weight at between 900 and 1,000 pounds, Morrison said.

The animal put up quite a fight. He first showed himself around 1 a.m., but he got away after a 45-minute fight,

“We were all depressed and aggravated,” Morrison said. “There was a little bit of yelling going on. Finally Cade said, ‘Let’s go look for another one. I don’t even care if it’s a little one. I just want to get one.’”

They went over to the grassy shoreline and were shining lights down into the water when they spotted the gator in about 2 feet of water. After a couple of hours and a lot of rope burn, they subdued him.

“He drug us all over the bayou,” Morrison said. “We wore him down. (Wildlife officials) want to make sure you got the gator completely in your control. With a 14-foot creature, they’re never really in your control.”

PH-829009994.jpg

Gator caught in Freeport nearly bigger than boat - News - Northwest Florida Daily News - Fort Walton Beach, FL
 

Teresa

SoWal Guide
Staff member
Nov 15, 2004
30,249
9,279
South Walton, FL
sowal.com
Why? I don't know what to think. I'm fine with hunting for food.. I just know that it makes me so upset when neighbors in Point Washington either kill our biggest alligators or report them as nuisances to Florida Fish and Wildlife. They are in their home. I have watched them for over 20 years when I am lucky enough to spot them One I watched for a long time and it was huge. They stay in their place. I stay in mine.
 

Jim Tucker

Beach Fanatic
Jul 12, 2005
1,189
497
People have an urge to slay dragons. Even if the only thing threatened is their yappy toy dog.
 

jodiFL

Beach Fanatic
Jul 28, 2007
2,476
733
SOWAL,FL
Yall realize this was several years ago during a FWC program to "cull" in order to keep the population in check ?
 

jodiFL

Beach Fanatic
Jul 28, 2007
2,476
733
SOWAL,FL
Why? I don't know what to think. I'm fine with hunting for food.. I just know that it makes me so upset when neighbors in Point Washington either kill our biggest alligators or report them as nuisances to Florida Fish and Wildlife. They are in their home. I have watched them for over 20 years when I am lucky enough to spot them One I watched for a long time and it was huge. They stay in their place. I stay in mine.
I am all for leaving them alone as long as they are just hanging out and the only one I can remember getting reported and killed was one about that big that snatched a neighbors lab right in front of him. He/she had four different dog collars in it and solved several "missing pet" cases around here.
 

ShallowsNole

Beach Fanatic
Jun 22, 2005
4,292
849
Pt Washington
Also, this gator was in Basin Bayou. There is not much room to navigate in there. Not only a danger to dogs, but children as well.
As far as relocation...do you want to be the one to tape his snout closed? Or worse yet, the one to take the tape off? *Snap*
 

bob bob

Beach Fanatic
Mar 29, 2017
723
422
SRB
All the gators know me he would have gotten in my boat and let me take him somewhere else I like dogs also but they can be annoying they think they are better then reptiles stupid dogs. :lol:
 
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