Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-10-13
ABOUT ALLIGATORS.
SIX THOUSAND YOUNG REPTILES SOLD
ANNUALLY.
How the Business Of Hunting and Cap
turing the saurtan is Conducted
In Florida

Florida every year, and the amount o
ivory, number of skins, and quantity o
oil obtained from the older members of tn
saurin family are sufficient to entitle then
to high place among the products of tn
State.
The hunter sells young "'gators at 81
cents to 81 each. Live alligators two year
old represent to the captor 80 cents each
and to the dealer from 81 to So, as the sea
son of travel is at its height or far ad
vanced. A l0-foot alligator is worth $40
and one Ia feet long S25 to the hunter
while the dealer charges twice or tire
times that price. The eggs are worth t.
the hunter 80 cents per dozen and to tn
dealer 25 cents apiece.
The wages of the hunter depend, O
course, upon his good fortune in finding tn,
game. One OF the most expert of thes,
gives as instances of successful hunts thu
items of three days work which yielded
thirty nine dollars and seventy-ive cents
of six days, with yield of twenty dollars
and ten cents, and of eight days hunting
which Melted forty dollars and twenty-fiv,
cents.
Without speaking of those enemies o.
the "gator who hunt him for sport, there
are about two hundred men In the State OF
Florida who make business and try tc
make living by capturing or killing him.
Very many have eaten alligator steak from
simple curiosity to learn Its flavor; but
many more eat it because it is the cheapest
and oftentimes the only meat they can
afford. Toe flavor when it is fried or
broiled is that of beefsteak plentifully
supplied with fish gravy, while the fore.
legs roasted taste like mixture OF chicken
and fish, and have delicate fiber.
Very methodical in his habits is the
alligator, and very suspicious of anything
new around his home When he starts
out in search of food it is invariably an
hour after the tide has began to ebb, and
he returns about four hours after low
water. If he has a land journey to per-
form he goes and comes by the same
route, never deviating from it until he sees
evidence that strangers have trespassed
on his domain. He lives on the bank of
some stream, for he has decided objections
to stagnant water, and to make his home
he digs hole at least twelve inches below
the level of the water. This hole is per-
fectly straight, although on an incline, and
from twenty to thirty feet. in length,
terminating in chamber sufficiently large
to admit of his turning in it. There he or
she dwells alone, save when the female is
caring for her young brood, in which case
the one room is converted into nursery.
Full-grown alligators not only do not
occupy the same hole, but they will not
live near each other
The alligator usually lays her eggs about
the lst of July, and during the month of
June she is busily engaged in preparing
the cradle for her young. Selecting a
place on the bank of some stream or
creek, she begins work by beating hard and
level with her tail an earth platform about
six feet square. She scrapes together with
her forefeet, oftentimes from distance of
fifty yards from the proposed nest, dried
grass, sticks and mud until fifteen or TWEEN
ty cubic feet of the material is in place
convenient for her purpose. On the day
following the completion of these prepara-
tions she lays from thirty to fifty eggs on
the prepared ground, and piles over them
dried grass and mud deity worked in with
sticks, until mound six feet in diameter
and three feet high has been raised. The
surface of this Is quickly hardened by the
sun, and in order that it may be as nearly
air-tight as possible the female visits it
each day, covering with mud any crevices
that may have appeared, as well as re-
modelling such portions as do not satisfy
her sense of beauty.
The ordinary time of incubation is about
two months, and then the newly Matched
brood may be heard yelping and snarling
for their mother to continue her work by
releasing them from their prison nest. On
the second or third day after the first noise
has been heard the female bites hole in
the side of the mound, out of which the
young ones, barely more than eleven inches
long, come tumbling in the most vigorous
manner, crawling directly toward the
water. Until the young are three years
old the mother excl cises a parental care
over them, always remaining within sound
of their voices, not so much to protect
them from their natural enemy, man, as
from their unnatural enemy, their father,
who has an especial fondness for his own
children in the way of food.
When then the hunter finds a nest he
carries the eggs home to hatch them,
where he can easily capture the brood if
the eggs are fresh or if the young in them
are not more than five inches long at any
other stage they will not hatch if removed,
and are of no value except for the shell.
The captured eggs are then packed in
straw as nearly as possible in the natural
way, and the young may be thus Matched
out very successfully. One farmer reared
sixteen hundred and another a thousand
last season. The young will eat immedi.
ately after coming out of the shell, but
they thrive best if given no food for at
least three months.
Since, in order to guard his head, the
alligator is obliged to turn his body some.
what, and since when his jaws are once
closed he is unable to open them if only q
moderate amount OF strength on the part
of man be used, the hunter selects this
point for attack when it is possible for him
intending csptor gets a firm hold upon the
jaws of his game in this way the monster
becomes reasonably easy prey one rope
coon secures his jaws, another is tied
around his neck and fastened to a tree,
while third secures his tail in the same
way, thus stretching the captive in a
straight line his fore paws are tied over
his back, stout pole is dashed from the
end of his snout to the tip of his tail, and
the gator is helpless.
1t is seldom, however, that the hunter
gets his game at disadvantage, and to Sc
cure him alive he must set about the work
much as boys do when they snare rabbits.
A tall, stout sapling near the waters edge
is the first requisite, and directly in front
of that, in the water, narrow lane or pen
is made with stakes, the two outer ones be.
ing notched, as is the spindle of box-trap.
AT the end of this pen, and nearer the
shore a stake is driven into the mud, and
on the top of it is fastened piece of
tainted beef A stout rope, at one end or
which is large moose, is fastened to the
top of the sapling, and to the upper part of
the moose is attached cross.bar, or trigger,
which, when the tree is bent, catches in
the notches on the outer stakes, just be.
low the surface of the water, the moose
hanging around the entire opening. To
get at the meat the alligator attempts to
swim under the bar, but his back dis