Hunting

Gator Getters

By Bob McNally

April 16, 2009

This immense 14-footer was taken by Darwin Lamb near Grady Alabama on Sept. 26, 2003. He used a rifle to collect this number two ranked SCI gator.

**MASSIVE GATORS**
Handgun hunter Kris Johnson downed this 13-foot-9 toothy lizard from gator-infested Lake Okeechobee in South Florida. Kris was on a self-guided hunt when he collected this number one gator taken by a handgunner.

Lake Okeechobee, Florida again was the place to be for a big gator when rifleman Scott Anglin took this 13-foot-6.5 gator during a mid-June night hunt.

This number one SCI ranked alligator by crossbow was shot along Florida's St. Johns River by Nelson Lopez-Reyes. Nelson guided himself to this oversize 13-foot-6 trophy on a Sept. 1, 2006 hunt.

With a head as big as a man's torso, this 13-foot-5 specimen was collected by rifleman Michael Fairbanks while hunting with Hampton & Hampton Guide Service out of Melbourne, Florida. The gator was taken Nov. 2, 2005.

Scott Talbot hunted in early July 2007 to take this third best SCI gator by a handgunner. The 13-foot-3.5 reptile came from Florida's Lake Okeechobee.

This 13-foot-2 alligator is the largest ever taken by a hunter hurling a harpoon. Guide Phil Walters led hunter Troy Duff to this Florida trophy in late September.

Livingston, Texas was the place hunter Danny Vines visited to collect this 13-foot-1 alligator. Using a rifle, Vines hunted with outfitter Steve Barclay in May 2007.

Florida's Lake Griffin yielded this number two SCI record gator by harpoon to hunter Ed Whalin. The 13-foot-.5 lizard was taken in mid-September 1997.

Cesar Deleon shot this number four SCI handgun record alligator one mid-September night, 2007 from South Florida's sprawling, shallow and lizard-filled Lake Okeechobee. It measured 13 feet in length.

More than twice as long as a man is tall, this 12-foot-10.5 gator was taken in May, 1996 by archer Eugene Morris with guide Lee Lightsey. It's the number one SCI gator taken by a bowman.

This is the second top SCI gator record held by hunter Kris Johnson. Like his number one SCI record by handgun, this, his number two handgun record trophy, was taken from Lake Okeechobee. It measured 12-feet-8, and was harvested with guide Paul Calcaterra in mid-September 2003.

This number two SCI crossbow trophy was anchored by Lane Kinney in Lake Talquin, Florida, located near Tallahassee. Measuring 12-feet-7.5, it was arrowed the night of Sept. 15, 2003.

Florida's Lake Okeechobee again, this time yielding a 12-feet-7.5 monster to Edward Kalinowski during a mid-October 2004 hunt. It's the number three SCI record for a crossbow archer.

Cajun country has huge gators, too, as evidenced by this 12-feet-7.5 giant taken by Thomas Breaux near Valcherie, Louisiana. It's the number seven ranked gator by a hundgunner, who apparently enjoyed a banner night with several animals collected.

John Long is dwarfed by his oversize 12-feet-7 Polk County, Florida alligator he harpooned in April 2007. SCI ranks his trophy in the number four slot in the harpoon method harvest divison.

Lake Okeechobee, again, gave up a pair of its giants during this June 1996 hunt. The largest of the two is 12-feet-6, taken by Gerard Nugent and guided by George Hogan. It's the number two ranked gator in the SCI crossbow division.

Lawrence Franks tagged this 12-foot-6 Okeechobee gator with guide Lee Lightsey with Florida Trophy Gators Outfitters. It ranks in the overall top 20 SCI records, and was taken in September 2001

This is the third largest SCI gator on record in the archery division. Bowhunter John Pouleson arrowed it near Melbourne, Florida in July 2002 while hunting with guide Don Hampton. It measures 12-foot-5.5 from nose to tip of tail.

Harpoon hunter Robert Berndt speared this 12-foot-5 goliath in Polk County, Florida at the end of March 2007.

Texas handgunner Robert Gegenheimer thumped this 12-foot-4 giant on Indianhead Ranch in Matagorda County. Hunting with outfitter Darren Carr, the big lizard ranks at number nine spot in the SCI pistol division.

Although once classed as an endangered species, the American alligator has strongly rebounded in incredible numbers; and the oversize reptiles can be gigantic.

Located throughout much of the Deep South, aggressive, dangerous and toothy gators commonly measure over 10 feet long and weigh hundreds of pounds. Some have been recorded weighing more than 1,000 pounds, and they regularly eat deer, wild hogs, dogs, poisonous snakes and sometimes even people.

Gator hunting is a fast-growing and intriguing sport, with guides and outfitters in many Southern regions - mostly hunting at night with powerful spotlights. Safari Club International (SCI) keeps records of big gators taken by hunters, and the following heavyweights are in the top tier of the nearly 250 trophies tallied by SCI (scirecordbook.org).