Connecticut western news., 1884-08-27
THE ALLIGATOR HUNTERS.
Life Along the Florida Rivers in the Hot
 Summer Months.

A Florida letter says: The men who hunt alligators for their hides and teeth are now reaping their harvest. The warm weather induces great numbers of alligators to frequent the marshy banks of the rivers, and the absence of sports men during this season makes them comparatively fearless. The most sue cessful hunters hunt only in dark nights. A few nights ago had my slumbers bro ken several times by the discharge of guns. On repairing to the banks of the river the next morning to ascertain the cause of the noises found two young men occupying a hastily constructed 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 skinning the alligators, while the other, with the aid of single cooking utensil, which answered the purpose of baking oven and coffee pot, was preparing fru- gal morning meal. The skin is removed from the belly, the under part of the jaws and the inside of the legs. The skin on the back is worthless. AS soon as the skins are removed they are salted and packed in barrels, which are shipped to New York firm. The hunters re- ceive S1 apiece for all hides four feet long and upward.
 After the skins are removed the hun ters cut of the heads and place them on the edge of the river, where they remain for about week. At the end of that time the teeth become so loose that they can be readily pulled out with the fin gers. The teeth from half dozen large alligators weigh about a pound and are worth S4.
 The young men killed fifty alligators in the week that they hunted in this neighborhood. They begin hunting as soon as it becomes thoroughly dark. Their hunting outfit consists of bulls eye lantern, in camp language called "look-'em-up," double-barrelled shot
 
 with which they split the alligator's 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 fore head and takes his place in the bow of A small boat. His partner paddles the boat cautiously along the stream, while the man in the bow keeps a sharp look out for alhgators' eyes, which under fa- eorable circumstances he can "shine" at distance of two hundred yards. As soon as they discover pair of eyes they paddle cautiously up to within a couple of feet of the alligator's head and dis charge 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 cleaves the skull open with his hatchet.
 Sometimes the alligators retain con- siderable power of action. When such is the case it is rather exciting work get ting 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
 I asked one of the hunters, who has killed more than thousand alligators, what was the size of the largest one he ever killed, and he told me 13I feet long. He said that his father killed one on the St. Johns River 17I feet long, the head of which when placed in flour barrel projected two inches over the top. He sold it to a museum for $65.