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Highlands Today

Our Reporters' Favorite Stories Of 2007:Up Close And Personal With Gators

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By MANDY SHEETS | Highlands Today

Published: January 1, 2008

Being a Midwestern girl, I knew very little about gators when I moved to Florida about a year ago.
I had never seen a gator outside the zoo, but I had heard every body of water in Florida has one lurking below its surface, so I was determined to find one.

I headed to Highlands Hammock State Park several afternoons, hoping to find one loitering near a trail.

When that was unsuccessful, I went to Everglades National Park - where I saw my first, second, third … and hundredth alligator. Some of them were only a few feet from my own feet, and one even snarled when I commented how cute her baby was.

During a slow news day this summer, someone suggested I write an article about permits for gator hunting going on sale.

Hunting gators? I had never heard of such a thing, and at first I thought it was a joke. Who would be that much of a thrill-seeker to get close enough to those beasts to kill one?

That's when I met Frank Branca, who has been hunting gators ever since the sport became legal. I interviewed him about the permits going on sale, and he invited me to join him on a hunt later that summer. I don't think he really thought I would take him up on the offer, but I was feeling brave in August when I called him back, and he invited me out for the opening night of hunting season.

I don't think my editor realized when he approved the assignment that it would involve standing on the edge of an airboat while an angry gator chomped near my feet.

I'll never forget when Branca told the hunters, "Careful - that gator's likely to come up with his mouth open," and the catch showed his teeth and tried to thrash loose.

Trolling the waters of Arbuckle Creek on my first airboat ride, hoping to catch the glow of an alligator's eye was quite an exhilarating experience.

A sliver of the moon peeked from behind the clouds, and every star in the sky was visible, along with the Milky Way.

The bugs were so thick I had to keep wiping them from my safety glasses, and I had to keep reminding myself that if I didn't want to swallow one, I had to keep my mouth shut, which isn't an easy task for someone trying to ask questions.

Water shot in the air like a geyser when the hunters shot the 250-pound alligator and, even after it had been dead for about five minutes with its snout duct taped shut, I halfway expected it to come back to life and eat my arm when I touched it.

After that invigorating experience, I feel like I have experienced an authentic piece of Florida culture, and now I'm a regular expert on the amphibian compared to my Midwestern friends.

I've still never seen an alligator in Lake Jackson though, and since I'm planning to compete in the Heartland Triathlon again this year, I would like to keep it that way.

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