We were back at Switchgrass Outfitters with our good friend Seth Whitaker for that time of year, gator hunting. We only had two tags, one for Kevin Knighton, co-host of Backwoods Life TV, and one for me. This time I had my dad tagging along with us for his first experience to see how it’s done. Unfortunately, with such a busy fall schedule of booked hunts, this was the only time of year we were able to squeeze in a trip. We weren’t able to take into consideration the full moon phase and the amount of activity on the St. Johns River in celebration of Labor Day weekend. But, we were going to make the best of it and have fun.
I was first up with a trigger finger ready to rock. We started hunting around 8:30 p.m. Saturday night, and as luck would have it, just about every big gator we spotted was quick to submerge themselves way before we could get in range for me to make a shot with my Elite Bow. The light of the full moon was allowing the gators to see us long before we put the spot light on them. I passed on a few six and seven footers throughout the night in high hopes of a muzzy moment on a Lochness monster. As we approached 4 am, I became anxious to fill my tag.
Twenty minutes later, which felt more like an eternity, we just happened to see a gator swiming accross the canal about 150 yards from us. Seth quickly positioned the airboat around the back side of the gator. As he started closing the distance, I attatched my Scott Archery release and drew back. We noticed as we started getting closer, the gator had a fish in his mouth causing him to stay a float. We were about 40 yards away and this was the first opportunity I had all night. I steadied my Spot Hogg pins down the center of his back and squeezed. Just as the Muzzy Gator Getter impaled his back, the boey with my arrow and string attatched came flying out of the buckett. Gator struck baby!
On a side note, after I harvested my gator, I put him on my shoulders to take a picture for our Facebook and Twitter friends. Now, if you have ever gator hunted before, you know what smell they produce, and its a strong one at that, and yes my clothes were full of gator stinch. As soon as I got home the next day, I put my Realtree AP camo in the wash with Lethal 4X Laundry Detergent. I thought to myself, this will be a good test. When I pulled it out of the washer, to my surprise, absolutely no smell at all. Bottom line,this stuff works! Be certain, Be Lethal! -Davie “Crockett” Ferraro
Gear List
Bow: Elite Archery “Pulse”
Sight: Spot Hogg
Release: Scott Archery
Broadhead: Muzzy Gator Getter
Rest: Quality Archery Design
Bow Accesssories: X Factor
Camo: Realtree AP
Bandit: Snikwah
Scent Elimination: Lethal