Gator Tour

We felt we had to take a Gator tour through the swamps of Louisiana in an airboat while we were down here. It was great! Gators like warm weather and spend a lot of time in the colder (winter) months hiding in their burrows or dens, which are entered from under the water, via a tunnel, into the den or living area which is above the water level. They can also dig an escape route onto dry land from the den. They often spend time in the warm sunlight as in these pictures.
Our guide walked around the airboat with this little gator in his hands. We all got to hold him, and he was very tame (although we were warned to hold him so his teeth could not take a chunk out of you). Yes, this is a real Gator: about 6 months old.These swamps were once covered with Bald Cypress trees. As has been our nature over the generations, man came in and "harvested" these trees for their wood. The Bald Cypress tree is quite amazing because the wood is impervious to termites and rot. It has been said to last forever and is highly prized.Unfortunately, it also take a very long time to grow: and the loggers realized after they had logged most of these trees, that some of those taken were about 1,000 years old. Today it is a crime to cut any bald cypress. But, unfortunately, it's too late for this area since they are almost all gone.

This was the first wildlife we saw on the tour, and we were all excited to see our first gator. Then I noticed that it had fur, and assumed it was a beaver (since it was the right size for a large beaver). Our guide corrected me and told us it was a rat. It was huge, and swam as good as a beaver. Then he went on to tell us the story of this particular rat.

There are some weeds that naturally grow in these here swamps that someone wanted to get rid of. A couple of generations ago this person imported this here rat; who was said to eat these undesirable weeds. Well, as so often is the case with good deeds gone awry: the rat eats everything in the swamp, except this weed, and they breed better than rabbits, and are now the greatest nuisance in the swamp. The local government pays $4.00 per tail for this creature, and another $5.00 for the whole rat (or so our guide told us). We were then told to watch what we eat in this here part of Louisiana since the rat meat had to end up somewhere.

Our guide also told us stories of catching this rat with his friends when they were young. Some rat hunting expeditions resulted in a healthy kill of up to 15 rats. All one needs is a flashlight and a baseball bat. Quite a prosperous evening for kids in their early teens.

The Gator population has rebounded in the past decade or so, from an endangered species, to a population of around 1,500,000. This has led the way to re-opening the animal to hunting. Anyone who owns land along the swamp is issued coupons to kill gators commensurate with the amount of land owned. The gators are caught by stringing nylon rope across a bayou, with another strong piece of line hanging straight down from middle of the nylon rope, with a very strong hook on it, baited with chicken. Since a gator can launch itself out of the water the same distance as its length, the chicken is hung up off the water the same distance as the sized gator you want to catch (got that?). Since you have a limit (tied to the amount of land you own), the first few days of hunting season you hang your chickens real high to catch the big ones. As the season progresses, you may lower your chickens to increase the likelihood of a kill if you have not caught your limit.

Now, the nylon rope is attached to a tree on the shore. When the gator catches the chicken, and pulls it into the water, they start the "death roll" we have all seen on Crocodile Dundee. They actually reel themselves into the shore and up to the tree the rope is tied to, to await the hunters return (the hunters do not even wait there). When the hunters return, if the gator is too small, they just let it go. Gators stomach acid is so strong it will dissolve anything the gator eats and pass it out the rear (including the hooks). This is why people who disappear in these here parts are never found. Gators do not leave any trace of what they eat, bones included.