'Monster cattle-eating alligator' is shot in Florida

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**reds8n**

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-35974648

A hunter in the US has told the BBC how he shot an 800lb (360kg) alligator that was feasting on his farm's cattle.
Professional hunter Lee Lightsey said the 15 ft (4.5m) beast was one of the biggest he had come across in 18 years and required a tractor to move it.
Mr Lightsey and hunting guide Blake Godwin discovered the alligator in cattle ponds while supervising a guided hunt on Saturday.
When the creature surfaced about 20ft (6m) away from them, they shot it.
"Although this animal is huge I was not that surprised it existed," Mr Lightsey said. "We have come across lots over the last 20 years that have been only a little smaller.
"But what really drew our attention to this animal was the fact that it seems to have been feasting on the cattle on my farm, because mutilated body parts were found in the water. It was a monster which needed to be removed."

Mr Lightsey's company arranges hunts for alligators, wild boar and turkey on the farm he owns for hunting trips. The largest alligator previously killed was just over 13ft (4m) long.
He charges $10,000 (£7,060; €8,780) to kill an alligator larger than 13ft (4m) and $4,500 (£3,180; €3,955) to kill an alligator between 10ft and 12ft. The animals are mostly killed with a high-powered rifle.
"But always we kill them with the minimum of suffering without allowing them to be injured before they die," he said.
There are hundreds of alligators for hunters between 10ft and 13ft, he says, while animals longer than 13ft are only encountered about once a year.
Mr Lightsey has been commercially hunting alligators since he began "harvesting" them in 1988 and more than 5,000 alligators bigger than 1.5m have been killed since then.
American alligators inhabit the south-east of the US with Florida and Louisiana each reported to have a population of more than one million alligators each.
Southern Florida is reputed to be the only place in the world where both alligators and crocodiles live alongside each other in freshwater environments such as rivers, lakes and swamps.
Mr Lightsey says he plans to get the alligator stuffed while the meat will be donated to charity.

Things you don't want coming at you in the dark #236.

size of that bugger eh ?!

**KingCracker**

That's a lot of cowboy boots

**Frazzled**

Fifteen foot gator is titanic. I've not heard of any longer than fourteen, and fourteen itself is almost mythic.

**Hanskrampf**

Man, if we keep killing big lizards, how will we ever have dragons again?

**reds8n**

Has anyone eaten gator meat before ?

Assume it tastes like chicken

...

cook it like normal meat one right ?

**Joyboozer**

I prefer the headline "ex jockey wrestles alligator queen with tractor power suit".

**Frazzled**

reds8n wrote:
Has anyone eaten gator meat before ?

Assume it tastes like chicken ...

cook it like normal meat one right ?

Not quite like chicken, although boiled with spices it tastes like every other gumbo. Being only half Louisianan (yes it is an alien species) pretty much all gumbos taste the same to me.

Yes you cook it like normal meat.

I prefer the headline "ex jockey wrestles alligator queen with tractor power suit".

That post is glorious.

**Kanluwen**

And that is why I don't go to Florida.

**Jihadin**

reds8n wrote:
Has anyone eaten gator meat before ?

Assume it tastes like chicken ...

cook it like normal meat one right ?

Gator tail. Was like chicken nuggets. Soft, white, and good. Served in a restaurant

Open fired grill.........

is damn good. On training mission in FL back in my Darkside days

**Manchu**

reds8n wrote:
Has anyone eaten gator meat before ?

Assume it tastes like chicken

Yes and yes.

**Sinful Hero**

Good god that's a monster. A shame they didn't let him live a while longer. Would be interesting to see how big he could get.

reds8n wrote:
Has anyone eaten gator meat before ?

Assume it tastes like chicken ...

cook it like normal meat one right ?

I've had it fried, and maybe grilled/boiled but I forget. Was really good though. If you ever find yourself in Florida I'd recommend hunting some down.

**jreilly89**

Jihadin wrote:
reds8n wrote:
Has anyone eaten gator meat before ?

Assume it tastes like chicken ...

cook it like normal meat one right ?

Gator tail. Was like chicken nuggets. Soft, white, and good. Served in a restaurant

Open fired grill......... is damn good. On training mission in FL back in my Darkside days

Yep. There's a place in my home town that serves them (gator nuggets) and they are damn tasty.

**reds8n**

Sinful Hero wrote:

I've had it fried, and maybe grilled/boiled but I forget. Was really good though. If you ever find yourself in Florida I'd recommend hunting some down.

I'm not that keen on self service.

....oohhhh...

One day maybe.

**MasterSlowPoke**

I don't know why anyone would publish such an obviously misleading photo. That kid is nowhere near the gator. This is just a vanity piece that the trophy hunter conned for free advertisement.

Look at these kids ruining Italian architecture!

http://www.livingalongsidewildlife.com/2009/07/return-of-giant-killed-rattlesnake.html

**Sinful Hero**

MasterSlowPoke wrote:
I don't know why anyone would publish such an obviously misleading photo. That kid is nowhere near the gator. This is just a vanity piece that the trophy hunter conned for free advertisement.

Are you claiming the hunter did not kill a 15ft gator, or just that the picture is misleading?

**MasterSlowPoke**

Probably both. The Florida record for alligator length is 14' 3.5", so 15" is significantly larger. The gator probably never ate a cow, either.

http://myfwc.com/media/310260/Alligator_Record_Table.pdf

**Ratius**

Couldnt they have captured him and moved him to a reserve? Seems a pity to gun down such a cool beast :(

**Dreadwinter**

MasterSlowPoke wrote:
Probably both. The Florida record for alligator length is 14' 3.5", so 15" is significantly larger. The gator probably never ate a cow, either.

http://myfwc.com/media/310260/Alligator_Record_Table.pdf

I am really hoping this is sarcasm.

**MasterSlowPoke**

What do you mean?

**Dreadwinter**

MasterSlowPoke wrote:
What do you mean?

Well, you can see that the photo is not misleading because of all of the things we can look at to relate to the gators size directly in the photo. Linking the size chart directly after a kill was made and probably has not been altered yet really means nothing. Also, gators will eat whatever, including cattle. So not difficult to imagine it.

This looks legit. No conspiracy here. I am saying your argument is absurd.

**kronk**

reds8n wrote:
Has anyone eaten gator meat before ?

Assume it tastes like chicken ...

cook it like normal meat one right ?

Is meh. In jerky form, it is a little better.

I had it in gumbo and have had it fried.

**MasterSlowPoke**

Dreadwinter wrote:
MasterSlowPoke wrote:
What do you mean?

Well, you can see that the photo is not misleading because of all of the things we can look at to relate to the gators size directly in the photo. Linking the size chart directly after a kill was made and probably has not been altered yet really means nothing. Also, gators will eat whatever, including cattle. So not difficult to imagine it.

This looks legit. No conspiracy here. I am saying your argument is absurd.

Did you not look at the article I posted? The image is an obvious forced perspective to make the gator look bigger. Here's another photo of the same kid and that beast:

Obviously it's a big gator, but nowhere as big as the first image makes it seem.

The reason I linked that size chart is that it's very unlikely that a person who owns a trophy hunting farm finds a gator an order of magnitude larger than any found in Florida before. He probably purposefully mismeasured it (something wargamers should be familiar with), and butchered it before it could be independently verified.

**Dreadwinter**

MasterSlowPoke wrote:
Dreadwinter wrote:
MasterSlowPoke wrote:
What do you mean?

Well, you can see that the photo is not misleading because of all of the things we can look at to relate to the gators size directly in the photo. Linking the size chart directly after a kill was made and probably has not been altered yet really means nothing. Also, gators will eat whatever, including cattle. So not difficult to imagine it.

This looks legit. No conspiracy here. I am saying your argument is absurd.

Did you not look at the article I posted? The image is an obvious forced perspective to make the gator look bigger. Here's another photo of the same kid and that beast:

Obviously it's a big gator, but nowhere as big as the first image makes it seem.

The reason I linked that size chart is that it's very unlikely that a person who owns a trophy hunting farm finds a gator an order of magnitude larger than any found in Florida before. He probably purposefully mismeasured it (something wargamers should be familiar with), and butchered it before it could be independently verified.

Where did you get new photo?

**MasterSlowPoke**

A different article about this gator. There's also a different forced perspective with 3 adults and that backhoe.

**Dreadwinter**

MasterSlowPoke wrote:
A different article about this gator. There's also a different forced perspective with 3 adults and that backhoe.

Okay, so where?

**MasterSlowPoke**

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=15+foot+florida+alligator

CNN.

**Dreadwinter**

MasterSlowPoke wrote:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=15+foot+florida+alligator

CNN.

Yeah, not clicking on that. You want to provide me with a direct link to the source?

I know it is awful that I ask you to back up what you say.

**MasterSlowPoke**

In what universe would it make sense that I doctored that photo? Is off topic always like this?

**Dreadwinter**

MasterSlowPoke wrote:
In what universe would it make sense that I doctored that photo? Is off topic always like this?

Um, I didn't say you doctored that photo. I am asking for a source without a passive aggressive let me google that for you link.

All you have to do is provide a link directly to the material and I will look at it. That is all I am asking. I have not accused you of doctoring anything. If you think somebody asking for your sources in Off Topic is bad, you better avoid literally every other thread in here.

**djones520**

Christ on a pogo stick...

The damn picture can be found here.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/05/us/big-alligator-in-florida-irpt/