Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum What's the furthest north you have seen a gator?

I view them like sharks. They are an important part of the overall ecosystem and don’t have a problem with them existing. But when you cannot reel up a snapper or grouper without bringing up a head, there are too many sharks and they need to be thinned. Same with gators. When I can’t throw a topwater bait at dusk/dark without them destroying my buzzbait or prop bait, it’s time that they are thinned out some too.

We were talking to a game warden up at the cabin and he said they had recently taken a 10' gator out of Weiss Lake.

Yeah I agree they’re too dense in areas, and I hate dealing with them fishing. I was more addressing CNC, wondering what his solution is to gators being in southern waters. That’s a risk no different than swimming in the ocean and being attacked by a shark or hiking in Alaska and being mauled by a bear. It’s obviously awful any time a human loses a life to a wild animal, but no matter how many are removed each year, if they are present, it’s a risk.

I think people are the worst critters infesting our woods and waterways.
Frankly I’d prefer to have more gators, bears and mountain lions.

Shoot them

I think CNC’s only concern with gators is that he runs his dogs in creek and river swamps and around lakes and other backwaters in south central Alabama. It would be a valid concern for me too, anytime the temps were up in deer season. There are certain places I duck hunt, that I simply refused to hunt my lab in due to that very reason. A gator will go out of his way to grab a dog.

Yes, I also enjoy kayaking and camping on the side of the creek on sand bars and such…… as do a lot of other folks……I recognize that there are a lot of recreational uses for our waterways that are impacted by having to worry about gators…..The last lady that was killed in Florida was simply hiking on a nature trail and squatted down by a creek’s edge for a moment……I don’t want enjoying the creeks and rivers to become a gamble of me or my dog getting eaten every time you get near the water……and for what??......so there can be gators everywhere??.....

I wonder how much lake side property value would be impacted by gators filling up Lake Martin or Guntersville??

Ever been to Louisiana?

Yep. That's my biggest concern, personally. I like to kayak with my dog and don't need some overgrown aquatic lizard in the way. You mentioned property values. I can see the recreational uses of our lakes being very negatively impacted if gator numbers climb in those areas.

Sharks haven’t reduced beach property prices. If I’m given only two options, to face either a shark or a gator, I’ll take the Gator anytime and all day on Sunday.

Florida is chock full of gators from the southern most tip, all the way to the Alabama line. Take a look at waterfront prices in Florida and tell me if gators make a lick of difference when it comes land values. That’s laughable. Nuisance gators are dealt with, and property values and demand for waterfront goes up every single year. It’s that way in every southern state.

Let gators fill up Lake Martin then and see if that $1.5 million dollar average for a lakeside home holds steady

My buddy Charlie that lives in the lagoon out the front door says "HI!"

He likes to come up for smellovision when I'm grilling in the front yard.

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If I had to guess a lot of the demand for the Florida properties are simply driven by the supply and demand of it being a “Florida” property and folks wanting to live there……Nobody would care about living in Tallapoosa Co, Alabama enough to spend $1.5 million if it weren’t for being able to use the lake for recreation

I’m willing to run that experiment. Let’s do it. 👍

I usually get into a good pile of bream or crappie where I find a gator just hanging out at down here in the swamp north of 65. Been a dog hunting club in the swamp as long as I can remember, never heard of a dog being eaten. I camp on the sand bars on the Alabama River, not as many gators as you'll see south of there.

No Doubt! The folks that kilt big Bertha in Alligator slough several years ago need their asses kicked! She wasn't gonna bother nobody, and would've made a fine Gator for someone to get during the Gator season, she was a big ol 12 footer, but someone kilt her and left her smh...Was entertaining to watch her catch Nutria on the little island she'd nest on

We used to ski in Dog and Fish Rivers all the time. Buddy’s parents had a multi million dollar house on Dog River. First thing we’d do in the mornings is run up and down the main river and around the basin area a few times and get any gators that were out on the main river pushed back out into the creeks and marsh. Gators don’t stop you from using the water. Almost all gator issues are related to people feeding them and them losing fear of man.