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

Biggest Gada i ever seen in the wild was at Gravine island, we camped out there (yeah know ya not supposed too lol) one night about 30 years ago, woke up just as sun was coming up and it was foggy, was checking some poles then seen what thought was a mud tire floating, was until i seen the rest of what it was 😳 That had a massive slide where she/he been coming up on the island, and of course by 12 it was loaded with folks. As far dogs i know of a few, one feller kept getting hits on his dogs collar then it disappear, finally figured out what happened, big Ol Gator had a spot in a deep ditch where the pigs n deer would cross, and just so happened to snag a pooch when he was trailing a Deer. I remember when i was young we was down on the Causeway bream fishing and there was a Big Gator just laying there in the water with it's mouth half open and the brims was just jumping in it's mouth! Hell it was catching more than us lol.

There’s been several tracking dogs over the last 5 years or so that I remember…….One of them was dog that I actually got to hold the leash on and track with years ago……Gut shot deer went into the water in a south Georgia swamp and swam across…..Dog went in behind it and a gator got her on the way across……..

The reason it really sucks as someone who runs tracking dogs is that virtually every deer we deal with is going toward the water and if we jump and have to bay one its 100% headed straight to the nearest water hole if it has one to go to…..its just what they do without fail nearly every time…… I find myself constantly being in unfamiliar territory around all these backwaters off of Eufaula and the Alabama River, etc waiting to jump one of y’alls wounded deer and it and my dogs bailing off into a gator hole together……

It typically happens fast too because the wounded deer are usually held up right on the side of the water…..So its jump deer, kabloosh, splash……… and the dogs are in the water as quick as you just read that sentence……….places where you don’t even think about it either…..like in Shorter between the dog track and the river……or in a cypress swamp along the Alabama river just north of the city…. or in some swampy area out in Waugh…..or in someone’s pond in Little Texas just outside of Auburn……ALL of these little holes being places I’ve tracked that are slowly filling up with gators…..We’re not talking about the dogs getting into the waters of the Okeefanokee where there’s thousands of acres of swamp……We’re talking about isolated holes where the bastards are just sitting there waiting on something to slip up……

Haha! Jokers love to chase my cork too. They're not hanging around an area for nothing, usually some good fishing close by, if they'll let ya.

I'm sure dogs have been caught and me not hearing about it, don't mean nothing. I was just messing with CNC, cause everybody else does, lol!

Back when I had my lab, he was a well-mannered dog and would do everything for me. Except stay on the boat, when he got hot and ready for a swim...Splash! even if we were up on plane, lol! Quit taking when on the Tensaw in the swamps. Took him up to the sand bars a lot though.

There was a monster in Big Briar that would occasionally hang out on the mud bar just around the first bend north of the railroad trestle. I’ve seen a bunch of huge ones, but this one was truly prehistoric. Saw him twice, same spot. He was smart too. Both times I was running wide open and as soon as I could shut it down and come off plane, he was in the water and down on the bottom, never to surface within view. Swore both times he was almost as long as my bass boat.

I've seen some of them like that up there through the years. The biggest I've personally seen, was in Clearwater Lake. It's located in what is now the Upper Delta Management area. Before Forever Wild, I was in the hunting club there (Baldwin County Hunting Club). Place was loaded with some bigguns.

You know them Branum’s ? They used to hunt in there and everywhere else up thwre

Selma. Not sure how it got there, but my in-laws had a 3-4 footer in their pond. It didn't stay there long.

There was one at Sand Island back in the mid 90s, before Alabama had a gator season, that would have been bigger than the current world record. Which by the way also came from the same area. I’m pretty sure Mark Curl got pictures. I was there the day the state licensed trapper caught it and loaded it onto a 16ft trailer. The snout and tail was hanging over both ends of the trailer so without any official measurements I’m certain it was over 16 ft long.

Can't say that I do, but maybe, if that makes sense. It's been a long time and I've forgotten so many people.

Seen several just on the south side of I565 in limestone creek..limestone county

In the spirit of weighing the pros and the cons………What is the upside to allowing gators to fill up our reservoirs like Lake Martin??.....What is worth us risking ours and our dogs lives in order to just be able to use the waters of our state for recreation?......Is it so that the gar populations are better managed??

Were the Blount county ones at Inland Lake?

I’m just simply asking about a place like FL for instance, where everybody should know gators could be in any body of water, what steps do you suggest to eliminate the possibility of an attack. If 2-3 a year are too many, what is your solution?

We saw one in the Wheeler wildlife refuge many years ago.

CNC, that woman was swimming in the Econ river not far from me.
I have canoed the Econ years ago and even back then there was nothing but big gators. I mean 10’+.
It’s known for its big ones. No one swims in that river EVER! She did and unfortunately paid the price.
I live right on the St. John’s river here and can attest to the size and number of gators here.
We see people all the time towing kids on tubes here😳
People are just stupid

Do you know why there arent any swimmers being eaten by gators in Lake Eufuala??....The reason the number of attacks are that low is because nobody is able to get in the water….and that’s the point…… Again I ask you, what is the upside??....What are we are trading our abilities to use the waterways of this state without fear of being eaten for??.....To manage gar?

Back 20 years ago Bowfishing Wheeler we would see them.

2002 I saw that same gator in the Flint River about half mile upstream from the Tennessee River sitting on a log....he was about 8ft long or more and didn't move as my buddy idled the bass boat by him

Thing about gators, lot's of people think they are cool until they eat Fifo or follow their kid along the shore. I really don't want to see a gator in every pond or lake. Let Florida have them! I say keep the population near endangered limits in Alabama. I hear the tail taste good on small one's, never had any myself. Been to some backwoods areas and saw 10 ft. plus gator's pop up all around you, makes the recreation part not much fun. Eat more gators!

I'm reading William Bartram's travels in the evenings to help me fall asleep. Right now he is sailing a sailboat up the St. John's river. He's almost been eaten by alligators several times already and had to defend himself with a musket and a big club. He's talking about so many gators lining the banks that they seem almost impossible to avoid. He claims that some are up to 20' in length. This was around 1773-1777. I don't doubt him, because not only is the guy a scientist,but he also seems to have a very strong faith in God that comes out in the book.

To read the dude's writings you would think he was an English Dandy, but the dude was a badass.