I drew an alligator tag this year and an out of state friend wanted to tag along with his son. So we set aside 3 days and they came down from Kentucky. We hunted hard the first two days and saw very few alligators. The third and last day the wind let up some and we stumbled across a nice one. As we go by we see him slide off the mud from his sunning spot and we set up on him. 10 minutes later he shows his head I cast and we are hooked up. We put a second rod in him and I drop my big ole treble down and snag him. Within 15 minutes we had him by the boat dead. It was all us two adults could do to load him in the boat. Needless to say my friends son made memories he’ll never forget. It was 11’ exactly.

Fast forward 9 days and I’ve been invited by a friend to hunt for bears on a private track that seems to be loaded with bears. I hunt yesterday nothing. Today I had one walk out at about 125 yards. Took the shot and now I have my first bear. I grew up in SC and I still fuss about the SC heat but we do have some unique opportunities. I mean how many people have killed and 11’ alligator and 9 days later legally harvest a bear. I just got through checking it in on the app. It’s not a huge one but I just harvested 1 of the 30 bears that will be killed this year.

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