I hosted a bowfishing tournament on sat night here in Augusta, Ga. No sooner than I got back home and put the truck in park (3:45am) I got a phone call from a friend. He said that he and two friends had stuck a good gator in a pond just off the Savannah River in Richmond County. They were all three in a flimsy 14' Lowe jon boat. He wanted my help and my boat to get the gator. I un hooked the bowfishing boat and hooked up the mud boat. I also called a friend to meet me there for manpower. When I get to their location we had to half slide the boat off the trailer to get under a pipe across the road. They had already taken the roof off of the Rhino to get it and the jon boat back there. We then get the boat swapped over to the Rhino to pull it the mile back into the woods and to the pond. Once on the water we located the floats. They had already gotten two arrows with floats and were able to get one harpoon in him. With five of us working together in my 1848 Aucoin Bateau we pull him up to the surface and get one shot in his head. I don't think it was on its mark cause he then proceeded to bite the heck out of the side of my boat. After a little barell rolling, some tail swinging in the boat, and some more well placed lead we were able to finnish the easy part. I put a top jaw rope on his head to be able to control him a little more. While using a paddle to place the rope he proceded to wake up enough to chomp on the paddle. Got one more bullet in his head for safe measure and taped him up good. It took all five of us to get him in the boat. The boat handled the load a whole lot better than I ever imagined with no stability issues at all. In the end we brought home a 12' 6 1/4'' gator and one hell of a story! My boat now has battle scars to help me always remember the excitement. Me and a friend have been doing some guiding this year for permit holders. This is my third one harvested this year. There was a fourth that ended up breaking off both of our lines and floats in a tree top. So all in all I have had a great gator season here in Georgia!

Anyone have an estimate on the weight and age of a gator this size? I estimate him at 600-700lbs but I am no expert! The other two this season were 10' and 11' 8''

Thats bada$$ man!!

Here is a pic that shows the scratches where he chewed on the boat!

12foot6 inch gatro 001.JPG

Looks like fun, he went out like a champ....died still chewing on your boat paddle, lol.

thats a nice gator!!!.....we got one last week that was 11 and 3/4
we weighed him at about 780-790 and that was out of the basin.......he had been in my duck hole for the last couple years and we finally got tags and went get him......we had a 16 ft skiff wit a 16hp gdlt......but for future hunts.......make ur first shot count lol...i do alot of gator hunting on the ranch in erath wit ma cousins and all we do is get them to the surfice and bust wit one good shot then roll them in the boat....alot easier than fighting them lol