BUNTING THE ALLIGATOR.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 9834, 17 September 1897, Page 2

BUNTING THE ALLIGATOR.

Exciting but Dangerous.

Hunting the alligator is a sport which is not only exciting, but fraught with much danger." The Florida swamps must be penetrated in order to participate in the hunt. Hunting is usually commenced at a spot some twenty or thirty miles from the nearest habitation, for. though the alligators may be comparatively plentiful near the villages, they are still more so among the unexplored swamps, and there is also the advantage that they are less cunning. For when one comes to reflect (says a writer in the July number of Pearson's Magazine) that the 'gator is still in the first bloom of his youth when 200 years old, there is every possibility of his having gained great experience " while yet a child* "in the ways of his implacable foe—man. These gruesome-looking brutes either lie in the full blaze of the sun during the day or wallow in the shady creess. At sundown they crawl up the banks, and, dragging their heavy bodies through the marsh grass, pass the remainder of the night in their holes. The holes are like enormous rabbit burrows, extending underground from the banks of a convenient swamp. The peculiarity of the holes is that they are partially submerged in water, and often turning and twisting to right or to left, end in a small cavern. In these holes tho 'gators lie with their bodies beneath and their snouts above tne water surface. As an alligator can ONLY BE CAUGHT ALIVE when in his hole, and a3 a dead 'gator is worth nothing, the trapper makes it his business to watch until his prey returns from the daily sleep. A live 'gator, moreover, varies in price according to his length. The hunters track the 'gators to their dens. Having ascertained that one is safely at home they proceed to drive' heavy stakes into the earth at the entrance to his cavern ; in this way his only means of exit is blocked up. When they have thus made sure that he cannot escape during their absence, they go on to the next den and perform the same operation again. By these means some half-a-dozen 'gators are made sure of. Now the fun commences. The large shark hook is firmly spliced to the pole, which is held by a couple of the men. It is then run down oiie of the holes, while the stakes previously driven into the ground are quickly pulled away. A running noose fixed to two ropes is slipped over the pole, and hangs just in front of the den's mouth, each, of the ropes being held by men standing on both sides of tho noose. > After feeling round the cave with the pole for some minntes, the trappers suddenly strike the watchful alligator. The pole is snatched violently out of their hands, for the 'gator, angry at being thus bearded in his own castle, SNAPS VICIOUSLY AT THE HOOK, with the result that he finds himself caught. " Geewhiz, man ' Steady, boys ! Yahaho, now pull ! Slip the noose over the»head 'fore he gets out! That's good—now run !" And there is a scamper to the sides as the alligator rushes open-mouthed at his tormentors, only to find them gone, and himself hopelessly tied between the two ropes. The struggle for freedom now commences in earnest, and it ia not until some ten minutes later that a third rope can be attached to the tail, which fixes our friend to the three points of a triangle, as it were. The rest is comparatively easy, and within another quarter of an hour he is firmly bound, body, leg 3, snout, tail, and everything to a plank. During the whole of this proceeding, however, ho keeps his mouth open, ready to snap at the first thing that comes within his reach. And although it is easy to keep his mouth shut when once he,has shut it—in fact, tho slightest pressure on the nose will do that —it is nearly impossible, if he be of any size, to force the jaws together.