I found this a couple of years ago wading in the Brazos river. It has been sitting in my closet since then, and I thought y'all might like to see it.

I do believe it is fossilized to some degree, but it is not rock hard. It is obvious that it had been buried for a very long time before the river washed it out. Hope I never see one this big alive! Measurement from the eyes to the nose is 15 inches. Though not a totally accurate way to measure length, that would put this gator somewhere close to 15 feet long.

Thats a one old lizard, that would put him over 50 years old atleast if i remember things right before he died. Cool find.

Neat find, what part of the Brazos??

that is too cool

Very cool find there!

Now that's a really cool find.

x2

Now that you know there are alligators cruising the water, will you be wading in it again?

Very neat!

It was close to College Station, where I typically go look for fossils. Any fossil hunters on here?

And yes, I still go wade around in the Brazos.

great find

That's a bigun! So have you given him a name?

Is that your best fossil find?

That is awesome!

Very cool.

Yes I hunt some ..Sulphur river and a few places in Ft Worth ,not as much as a used to. The kids grew up

Big old boy

Yes, I would say that's my best fossil find. I've read old newspaper articles from the area and seen pictures of mastodon skulls and tusks that were pulled from the river years ago. That's really my goal. The River is not very accessible by boat due to lack of boat ramps, but I get out there quite a bit on the kayak. Just takes a while to get where you are going!

any one seen the video of the gater caught bye the gater boys?

Where are you putting in at? We used to put a 14 foot jon boat in under 21 60 and 105, lots of work, but lots of fun. I always wondered if there were gators in there, looked like gator territory to me, but never saw evidence of any, tracks slides nests or anything like that.

sure wouldn't want to come across that feller alive! How did you see it? Water receded and you saw it or what?

could have been 15 ft long give or take a few inches nice find

I've put into the river on 105 before with the jon boat. That was back when I didn't have an all welded one that weighs twice as much. The lock and dam above 105 is pretty cool if you have never been. Every now and then they pour a new asphalt ramp down there when someone drowns. They usually don't last a year though.

Saw a guy lose his boat pulling it out at hwy 60. Rope broke. I've been thinking about building a cable system of some sort to lower my boat in. Right now I mainly put in on private property that I have access to.

Me and some buddies put in at hwy 21 several weeks ago and kayaked all the way to highway 60. It was a 17 mile trip with the wind in our face and very little current. Probably won't do that again unless the river is higher and we camp a night on the way.

As far as how I found it...I was wading in about a foot of water and looked down by my foot and saw it. Honestly, I thought it was still alive at first. That's probably the fastest I've ever jumped out of the water.

Wow. Bet he was one helluva tree shaker. Awesome find.