TPWD Youth Gator Hunt Success - More Pictures

My son Weston got his at the bottom of the 9th. Could not have cut it any closer. Got him on at the parking area while we loaded the canoe to head home, we thought empty handed, but when a small gator swam up it made the large one that had been ignoring the bait, get greedy and finally take it.
There were 7 youth hunters. Thanks to the patience of all the TPWD guys running this hunt, Weston's gator made it 100% success for all 7 kids. I will post more in a couple days including some pictures of another THFer son's big gator. Just wanted to get this one and a phone video one of the TPWD guys sent me posted up.

Great job on the gaters

Looks like fun!

Nice Gator congrats to your boy

x2

congrats to you both!

Looks like a good time. "Choot Em!"

Great job on all parts!!

sweet

awesome

It was a great hunt and TPWD staff did a excellent job for the kids. My son Wyatt got a real nice one. I think Sniper John is going to post a pic of it later. It was 10.5 ft and 280 lbs.

I bet Blaze could have handled it without the rifle. #myvizslaisslowlycomingintoherown

Great job John and Weston. Congratulations on a last minute repreve

Congrats, thats something he will remember forever and you too!

Congrats!

That is awesome! I love seeing folks like you taking kids outdoors! That's stuff they will remember for the rest of their life.

great job guys!!

That's awesome, great to hear about the success rate. I'm sure the memories will last a lifetime. Looks like a great time!

Congrats!

Congrats to you both. Looking forward to getting one of my kids a chance at a gator. How many PP's did Weston have this year?

Good job.

Don't know, but he is 15 so he had a few. The hunt coordinators did a great job on this hunt and helped the kids/dads in any way they could. More food was provided than we could eat as well.

Been a long time coming for Weston. I had not been on an adult hunt since 9-11-01, so this was Weston's first gator hunt. I have been on over 15 gator hunts myself, and my older son was on the first ever youth hunt TPWD had around 18 years ago. It was the only youth hunt he was drawn for also, but he did make some of the adult hunts with us including the one on 9-11.


I did ask Weston if he would like to kill his gator with a knife like I used to do. To my surprise he said yes, but I felt it best to use the gun for his first one.

Congrats to him!

More pictures from the hunt.

Since we moved our line to the parking area we got to watch the gator take the bait. Westons gator swam in, but caught and ate a fish just a few feet from the line. He started for the line again, but then saw a fish splashing the opposite bank so he eased over and caught that one too, then just stayed there. We thought it was over until a smaller gator swam in and started for the line, but the bigger one would have non of that. He swam out and blocked the small gator. Though he nosed around Westons bait, the larger one did not take it and backed off again when the small gator backed off. The small gator made another run for the bait and again the larger one would have non of this. He did take the bait the second time to keep the small gator from getting it. Fun to watch. Here is a great shot of the TPWD guys watching the show.



This was also the spot where Wyatt got his big gator the day before.

Pictures of MD6458 and son Wyatt's gator.

Picture of Weston's initial setup.



Out of all my gator hunts, I have never been skunked. Weston who is in the autism spectrum with aspergers has really worked hard to overcome. Last year was the the first year he was able to effectively shoot a shotgun. So the pressure was on and this turned into a true hunt. We worked for it. Our line was found down the first evening, but no gator. Rebaited and set it again just before we left. In the morning it again was down with the line run along the bank. But no gator. We baited again and reset. We got up on the levee down the way and kept an eye on it. After watching a 4 foot gator for over an hour swim under the bait and not take it, we decided he might have been our problem and decided to move the line to another location where we had seen a 10 footer that morning. The 10 footer swam past the line two or three times over 2 hours with no interest. With on hour to go, we moved the line to the parking area where Weston finally got his gator. And a perfect shot too. I was so happy for him.

Awsome! congrats to him!

Very cool, grats to the kids.

Where we hunted was like visiting an old friend. On my early gator hunts our party got assigned to the lost lake area often. Now days it is mostly a bird sanctuary and seldom hunted except for youth hunts. To show what hurricane Rita did, here is a picture I took over 10 years ago of the bridge onto lost lake and a picture from last week. The surge from Rita destroyed it.

2001


2012


Though things look very different now, my last gator was taken in the exact same spot that Westons was. This picture was taken from on top of the bridge. My dad lured the gator within bow range by casting a hookless topwater lure from on top of the bridge to tease the gator into position in front of me.

Woderful pictures and story John and Weston. Looks like a very exciting time for all the youth. Great job and youth hunts.

Great pics and good job to all!

very cool hunt!

Awesome job!!!

You know if I killed that I wouldn't know where to start on cleaning it. Would make a awsome addition to my wall.