^This^

These stories are just turning out to be my great Uncle's father in law heard from a neighbor and when it hit the interweb it became the "By God" truth. I am just being honest when I say I don't believe it. I hunted a delta down south that is as infested with them bastages as any waters I have ever been in. Never, not once out of all the years have I ever seen a gator in those waters when temps went down below 40. Then to have me believe they would eat at those temps really sends me into a "I gotta hit the BS button" panic mode.

It is just like water mocassins. I hear time and again, over and over and over how dangerous they are and they will ball up in a ball and chase you down yada freakin yada. At every clinic I put on I hear it. I can't stress how many times I have been preached to about a water moc will run you down, the most aggressive snake out there, ect. Just use you imagination and multiply it more than you can believe. They are in fact a rather dormant creature until confronted. They will stand there ground and then flee as soon as they see the opportunity. I finally just stopped passing that along at my clinics and just started agreeing with people. It costs me a whole lot of time, essentially mmoney, to try and tell people the truth about them. They will not hear it, so I move along. I just say "Yep, bad arse little suckers aren't they". Life got a whole lot easier for bothpeople in the conversation. Just watch, somebody will follow up and say, "Well by God" they will chase you.

My Dog eats Alligator for lunch. No, really he does.

I would be much more worried about beaver during the cold temps than I would a sleeping alligator. That dog would look like a gator got him had he tangled all the way up with a beaver. Them suckers are bad mojo for sure.

They sell gator balls at Joe's Crab Shack, 8 pieces for $16

Ok Wayne. I'll let my dad know it wasn't a gator that he watched get his dog. Must have been a big bass or something.

you must be the police, most cops I know cant tell the difference between a bass and a gator either

I have caught alligators on lines set no less than 24 inches off the water for small ones, and no less than 36 inches off the water for larger ones, early September after nights that were in the 50s. But on those colder mornings we do not normally catch the gators in the morning. On the cold hunts the catch rate on the hunt is low. Usually our lines are untouched when we check them the next morning. My party will pull the old bait, bait with fresh, sometimes lower the bait if set over 36 inches to settle for a smaller gator if no large one is in the area, and give it a last chance till noon when the hunt is over. We catch our gators on those cold days later morning like 10:30 to 11:30. On warm nights we would have tagged out late afternoon before or on lines out overnight and retrieved in the morning. Very cold water, a dog would have to swim over a large gator's den to get attacked, but it is possible IMO. Cold or cold water, but sunny day, shallow water, or area where a gator has been sunning, late morning to afternoon, I know for a fact a gator is active enough to be able to come half way out of the water to take a bait on cold days if other conditions are just right. My dog is staying out and away from the bank if I know there is potentially a large gator there. Smaller gators like 7.5 ft and under, not an issue to me on those cooler days.

This picture is a pond during the middle of January and if I remember might have had a little ice around the edges early due to a cold night. Though it had snipe on it, I did not hunt it and kept my dog away from the bank, there was more gators than are in the picture, some larger that were sunning before I walked up. The gators were very active. It does not take long for the sun to warm things up in the kind of habitat ducks and gators are found. But I did use both my dogs as retrievers the next day in a nearby Marsh hole, because it was below freezing all morning, windy and overcast that day. Every day and every situation is different, like hunting where you know there are rattlesnakes or moccasins, you take a calculated risk every time you hunt your dog there, but you still hunt your dog and use common sense on when and how.

The discussion had taken a turn about alligators in cold conditions. I led into it with displaying a doubt a gator got a dog busting through the ice. I don't doubt your dad lost a dog, I don't doubt it was cooler temps. I will venture to say the gator didn't come up through the ice like a leapord seal and snatch you father's dog. A more likely scenario that I would believe would be just like Sniper just posted. It was cold, it got hot and the gator's went to sun themselves. That is as far as my imagination can stretch on this subject. I am still stuck at the hogwash mark on ice breaking alligators. Shall we refer to them as IBAs (Ice breaking alligators)from now on.

It didn't bust through the ice. That would be far fetched. This one unlocked his kennel and got it out of the doghouse.

The catch phrase of late is "Well played". Well played Sir. Finally someone that knows how to have a discussion without getting all butt hurt

Haha.

Ol Wal sure has gotten cocky since buying that benelli

now if we can get him to back a real duck call instead of that old faulks

No Sir I am a caged wild animal. When I fired up this mornign I was in a "Forced to attend" conference call for 3 hours with a guy supposedly teaching us how to use the new software. We left the online conference call with "I will have to get back with you on that" burned into my ear drums. I was bored so I had to do something to fire it up a little. I have changed my mind though. I watched a youtube video of an IBA catching a baby sasquach

I saw 6 at our place in Cameron Parrish on January 3rd of this year. It was in the upper 50s though.

I heard from my buddy's uncle's cousin that the IBA that ate that squatch was later attacked and killed by a black panther on his sister's game camera.

Aforementioned IBA...



kdub, I'd say no way Jose...

Wayne believes because he wears Crocs so much it makes him an authority on gators

There's been two gators found in bastrop on the colorado in the past 5 years. Makes me nervous every time I go, usually my dogs stay home if it's warm enough for snakes anyways though.

Lol

Same thing happened to me, but my dog delivered a 6 footer all the way to my hand...the duck was in the gators mouth. Crazy I tell ya.