Alligator Catching in Savannah

The big one

 I have been surrounded by animals as long as I can remember. I grew up with snakes sneaking out of their cages in my room, gators in the back yard, and birds of prey being nursed back to health by my parents. These exotic pets seemed to get along peacefully with all the wild animals that were just passing through the wilderness area that was our back yard. Some of my earliest memories are of these animals so it is pretty natural that I associate Savannah with animals and always hope to see as many as I can when I do make it back. This visit provided a ton of wild animals from sea turtles, to sharks, to a rarely seen triplefin fish, bottlenose dolphins, ospreys, an armadillo, and of course lots of alligators. In fact I was able to get the whole gang together with my dad for a night of alligator spotting.

Splitting up and setting out

   For many years my dad caught, tagged, and released alligators in the savannah and low country area. So after everyone filled up on grilled burgers and dogs we headed out in our canoes armed only with high powered head lights and paddles. We had three canoes in all. Two catch canoes with my dad, Ed, and Jamie in one, and myself, Izzy, and Dennis is the other. Jay and Sriravong followed in the support canoe.

Jay with the first catch of the night

Me and Jay with a 4 footer

    Typical Savannah summer evening weather greeted us. A thunderstorm had rolled through around 4pm and a light drizzle remained as we loaded up and set out in our canoes. A few red eyes reflected back from the water in front of us showing me just where our first catch attempts laid in wait. The reflective tissue in the eyes of alligators help them see better at night and underwater, but it also helps us spot them by shining a bright light and looking for those glowing red eyes. Often times I can tell how big a gator is going to be just by the eye shine but every once in a while I am surprised.

Photographer Extraordinaire Jamie

Alligator/Bee Catcher Ed

Master Paddler Dennis

   Me, Izzy, and Dennis where leading the charge and got close to a few small hand grabbers but not close enough to try as we started out. Jay and Sriravong were cheering us on. My dad, Jamie, and Ed brought up the rear and ended up with the first catch of the night. After a near miss along the shoreline, my dad's canoe came up with news of the first catch. It was a cute baby that Ed had hand grabbed. Now keep in mind if you are reading this that we have lots of training doing this, we've caught alligators of all sizes for research, for moving nuisance alligators, and for educational trips. But even with training the risk is still there. My dad almost lost his thumb midway through his alligator catching career and Ed had some nice teeth marks on his hand from this "massive" one foot alligator we were all looking at now. At this stage its kind of like a big lizard biting you, but a good lesson learned none-the-less.

Father Son Duo

Modern Day Dinosaur

  After an in-depth anatomy lesson compliments of my dad we let this baby gator go and headed off deeper into the pond. With the pressure of the first catch out of the way I figured that the adventure was a success already. As we headed across the pond I saw an eye shine from a small gator and got in position to grab it. Dennis was an expert at this point in handling the steering of our canoe so as I got in position he put me on line to the gator. As we closed the distance I realized the gator was bigger than I had first assumed. It looked to be about four feet. This is definitely the upper range of being able to grab it by hand but since I was in position I stayed the course. It stayed on the surface and began to slowly swim away from us. As I prepared to reach out for it it veered to the right directly in front of the canoe. I shot my hand in the water trying to grab it just behind the neck, thus avoiding all the sharp teeth and claws. I felt my hand clasp around the sweet spot but almost lost him when I underestimated that power that a four footer can generate. After a second to regroup I picked that alligator up and held it in the shotgun position keeping one hand on its neck and tucking the powerful tail under my other arm while grabbing it right behind the hind legs.

Sriravong snapping one for Emma

   We had some great photo opportunities (thanks to Jamie!) with these two beautiful reptiles. I always hope that these trips help people respect and enjoy the existence of these top of the food chain predators. Here around Savannah people often come into contact with alligators as we move farther into their habitats. So the more people who learn about them, hold them, and appreciate them, the fewer of those encounters end up with an alligator dying.

Isaac, a young naturalist in training?

Dennis's hard work paddling paying off

Look Ed, no teeth marks

   Photographs compliments of Jamie Derst.