My son was in Fla., for Christmas, with his girl friend and her parents. My son and her Dad, Mike, went gator hunting the day after Christmas, over around Lake Okeechobee. I haven't gotten all the details, but here is a couple of pics of their hunt. I know they weren't after huge gators, but more for the experience.











maddog

Thats neater than heck! My 5yo is really wanting to go on a hunt for one of those.

Choot! Choot!

Thats really cool! Ive always wanted to eat some gator meat!

Pretty neat, looks like those two have hit it off

Cool. I might be doing that next fall. The tail meat is pretty Damn tasty!

Out of curiosity, how do you fillet the skin off a gator? Knife? Wire cutters? Chain saw?? Very cool!

He'd better marry that gal. Her daddy lives right and likely raised her the same way.

Looks like fun!

Don't know for sure, but that might be in the works...
Her dad likes to do a lot of competition, varmint, and bird shooting. The girl can handle a handgun just fine, and supports my son's hunting adventures. She even likes taxidermy!


maddog

does she have a sister?

I would start with a Gene Ingram Boner . Good and sharp for tough hide. The ones pictured above are good eat's size fo sur.
The easiest part to take is obviously the tail. The bone structure in the tail is "similar" to a fish. Basically cut off the tail at the base, skin one side, cut the meat off that side, then flip over and do same. The best white meat comes off the top of the tail while the meat on the bottom is darker. What you wind up with is four pieces that look like a back strap. If its a larger gator there will be meat under the chin, on the back and legs but alot more work.

Thanks! I actually did a search on Youtube and there are some guys on there who blow up a gator from it's butt hole with an air compressor and then skin it - pretty cool video, but like 45 mins long!

Mike you gots to tell me how that meat tastes when you get some!

Ingwe, it'll be a while, but I will report back.


maddog

It tastes like whatever you cook it in or season it with. Actually pretty bland.

not that hard really....

here is how they looked at Gatorland in Orlando yesterday....








Have you every seen a white one?

kinda like a cross between manatee and bald eagle......

Looks like you had a hecl of a time

I gotta get down there and do that someday