ALLIGATOR HUNTING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5961, 28 August 1897, Page 2

ALLIGATOR HUNTING.

(Extract from a highly interesting article by. J. Malcolm Fraser, mi " Peai-soii** Magazine."). To be asked off-hand whether you would care to bury yourself in a remote Florida swamp in order that you may catch alligators alive, is a proposition likely to strike terror into the heart of the average novice. And it iB ouly when the guides and trappers cluster around you with apparently irrefutable arguments as to the simplicity of the sport that the fear is crushed down, and a superb desire swells within you to try your hand at the novel sport. The manner in which the "'gator " hunting expeditions are fitted, and th© implements employed are as crude aB ever they can be. . A. rickety boat, a few pounds of bacon and tobacco, some hominy, ninety or a hundred feet of stout rope, a rifle, a thirty-foot pole, and a shark hook, and the ' outfit of the hunter is complete ,* for the rest they trust to , luck. If they catch an alligator, so much the better ; they are richer by a few dollars, If they lose their lives, so much the worse . it is their own .fault. 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 that the 'gator is still in the first bloom of his youth' whon .200 years old. there is every possibility of his having gained great experience "while yet tt^ child " in the ways of 'his implacable foe— ■ ' man. And it a peculiar thing that he will remain for years and years within a radius of quite a few miles froth his first settling place, provided that he be hot disturbed. A trappers' camp is invariably of the roughest description. Tn fact, it generally' consists of a blanket, a few bricks for. an oven, and three or fVur tin pannikins. The 'food being placed 'upon a temporary shelf, half-way lip a palmetto two, 'or ou the bare ground covered with rocic, to prevent it Icing stolen by the puntl-ei***, bears, or wild-cits winch infe-t tli<» country, tha men set out f..r a hir-i .'•••.'• *v;-rk. If they have such 'tb'ugs 'th*-y wiil l.ru<_. a" scrub " cut nnd an Imh'pii •■ ouy with them; and in this are piled Ihn bop.rd.-*. rop»S: pole— ■ every tiling, iiu'lnding' thf-niselves.-. Scrub carts, however, are regarded ns luxuries — A " luxury," by th* whj*, which resembles a camel ride — and as s-ueh are usually dispensed- with. In this ease both, the "tackle" :-.nd the " caiv-h :" havd to bo carried 'o'.* d-v-irnd. by . the hunters. Tl.o lnnd around ihe camp is one vast swamp, so that foremost, among their many dangers is that o*' innlavia. 11l quick succession follow rhfc'l« -snakes, which are more numerous thnn rabbits with us, and whose bites are certain death, and the various wild beasts of which I have already made mention. When these minordangers have been overcome on» is within measurable distance of catching Florida alii*. •gatoi'3. These' gruesome-looking brutes either lie in th- full blase of the sun during the day or wallow, in -tl:« shady 'creeks. At sundown they 'cns-vl up tho banks, and. drairirmjf tbeir heavy bodies through the marsh . grass, pass the remainder.. of the night in their, holes. Tho holes are like enormous rabbit bnrrc ••.■":*, extending undenground'4'rom the bank*, :': a convenient swamp. Tho peculiarity <»• the holes-is Hint f bey are partially i*ubinerged in water, and, often- turning ai*ri twisting to right or to left, end in a sim.U ccvern. In .these holes the 'caters lie w:i V. their bodies beue.ith and their snouts al -ere the water'? surface. As an alligator can only be canjfht aUv* when in his hole, and as a dead 'gator is worth nothing, the trapper, makes it his business to watch until his prt*y ret'-ms from his daily sleep. A live 'g-*'.v* moreover, varies in price aoc-irdi'ng tr- ii. I.'1 .' len_rt.li. JM-wpen -ift nnd 10ft he is wvriA; anything from 5s to £2, while between -IOW and 15ft ho may fetch £2 10s or £H. AT>ove these lengths he would be bought for from £4to£si Anvthiiitr below 4ft, is hardly worth .troubling abont, ns they., may be bought. an 3 where for 2s ov 3s. These, price?, of " cour.se, refi-r to tho sums received by J lie trapper from the wholesale dealers ; for the innocent publio would probably have to p-tv tluee timeß as much were they to buy a specimen. Tp obtain those few Mhtm, therefore, the hunters track the 'gators to. their dens. Having ascertained, that. ojw is sat'ejy a,t. hpuie, they proceed to. d i.i vo heavy ' sti-,1.ei». . into the earth ,ivt t.he.' culmnQe.'to .hiti. cavern j mi his .way bi-^ujly. incjntis .of exit . iri blocked up. Vfhvil}. %'*•,• havo thus nhide sure' that' ho cai.^ot .C'sVapi' .dovni.g.tb.e.ic absence, they .•g!>.oii.,.ti>-. thu. v uext _de>ajj.d .perform' thn s.iiui.- npei-a't-iori ag:tft*'7 $y" ' 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, wliich is held by v. couple of the mon. It is then run down one of tlxj holes, while tho stakes previously driven into the ground nro quickly pulled away. A running ' noose fixed to two ropes is slipped over tho pole, and hangs justiu front of the den's month, each. -of the ropos being held by men standing on both sides of the noose. After feeling round the cave with the polo for some minutes, the trappers suddenly strike "*the watchful alligator. The pole is snatched violently out of their hands, for the 'gator, angry at beimr thus bearded in his own castle, snaps viciously at the hook, with the result that he finds himself caught. " Geewiz, man ! Steady, boys ! Yahaho > now pull ! Slip the noose over the head 'fore he gets out ! That's good—now run 1 "

— nMMßiiMi.— — ii ima 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 is not until some ten minutes later that a third rope ca.n 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 ili-mly bound, body, legs, snout, tail, and everything, to a plank.