The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1884-08-24
THE ALLIGATOR HUNTERS.
Life Along the Florida Rivers ia he
Hot Summer Months.

II Il 1&Ai84ANA40I4 NJ
Life Along the Florida Rivers ia The
Hot Summer Months.
Gulf Hammock, 6Fla,) cor. N. Y. sun
The men who hunt alligatOrs for their
hides and teeth are reaping their harvest.
The warm weather induces great num-
bers of aligators to frequent the marshy
banks of the rivers, and the absence of
sportsrnen during this season makes
them comparatively fearless. The most
successful hunters hunt only in dark
nights A few nights ago | had my
slumbers broken several times by the
discharge of gums. On repairing to the
banks of the river the next morning TO
ascertain the cause of the noise ] found
two young men occupying a hastily con
structed palmetto fan camp. Six dead
alligators were lying around the camp,
varying in length from four to eight
feet. The hunters had killed them the
previous night One of the young men
was busy sl1inning the alligators, while
the other, with the aid Of a single cook
ing utensil, which answered the purpose
Of baking oven and coffee pot. was pre-
pairing frugal morning meal. The
skin is removed from the belly, the un-
der part of the jaws, and the inside
Of the legs The skin on the back is
worthless. AS soon as the skins are re
moved they are sailed and packed in bar
rels, which are shipped to a New York
firm. The hunters receive 81 apiece for
all hides four feet long and upward.
After the skins are removed the hun
ters cut off the heads, and place them
on the edge of the river, where they re-
main for about week. At the end Of
that time the teeth become so loose that
they can be readily pulled out with the
fingers The teeth from half a dozen
aIIigators weigh about pound, and are
worte 81
The two young MN killed fifty alliga-
tors in the week that they hunted in this
neighborhood They begin i.unting as
soon as it becomes thoroughly dark,
Their hunting outfit consists of bulls
eye lantern, in camp language called
'loolz-'em-up," a double-barrelled shot
gun, or "kill-cm-sure and a hdtchet
with which they split the alligator skull,
and to which they have given the very
expressive name of dynamite" The
man who is to do the shooting for the
night fastens the lantern to his forehead,
and takes his place in the bow of the
boat His partner paddles the boat cau-
tiously along The stream, while the man
in the Bow keeps a sharp lookout for al
iigntor5 eyes which under favorable
circumstances he can fshine" with his
lantern at a distance of two hundred
yards. As soon rs they discover a pair
of eyes they paddle cautiously upto with
in a couple Of feet of the ailigator's head
and discharge Il load of buckshot into it..
AS soon as the shot is fired the paddler
catches the alligator by the Jaws, which
he holds together with one hand, while
he cloayes the skull open with his hat
chct
oOl' Ge5 tie aillgttOlS retain coli
siderahc power Of action When such
is the case, il is rather exciting work
getting them into the boat Sometimes
very large alligators turn the boat over.
If an alligator is not handled at once
after being wounded he sinks to the bot
tom and is lost.
asked one OF the hunters, who has
killed more than thousand aliigators
what was the size of the largest one he
ever killed and he told me 49, feet long
He said that his father killed one on tho
Sc, Johns river 17} feet long, the head
of which when placed in -four barre
projected two inches over the top. II,
sold tito a museum for $685.