The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-03-14
AMONG THE ALLIGATORS.
NATIVE rLoR1DIAN's ACCOUNT OF
THE REPTILES.
Their Habits, and How They are
Hunted for Their Slkins-The Ex-
pcrienCe of n Green Hand.

Iheir HABITS, and How They arc
Hunted for Their SISins-The Ex-
pcrience of n Green Hand.
$50, it's crocodile" said tall, light
haired man hailing from Miami, Fla,
gazing curiously at the skin of long,
sharp-nosed reptile he had brought in
and comparing it with the broad head
of an alligator. eve call 'em long
nosed CATERS down our section, but now
l come to look, they do seem kinder
different from a regular 'gater, and, come
to think of it," continued the speaker,
who was professional alligator hunter,
GIVE seen 'em do things we wouldn't
look for in a regular 'gster. They sticks
close in shore, where there's plenty of
mud to wallow in and hide, but these
long-nosed cusses-why, I've seen 'em
three miles out to sea fishin' on the reef
as regular as you please. One was seen
as fur down the reef as Branscom light.
drapped in there one day to see the
keeper, an old mate of mine, an he had
one Of these yere long nosed caters
hangin' on a peg. Shoot 'em on the
wing2' says l, intendin' to be joking,
as it were. No. says he, but they
swims out yere once in while,
an that's about as remarkable
He said he he'd seen heap of 'em
sence he'd been thar, a-nosin' around on
the beech and reef after fish and crawfish,
and one day l was a-bowlin' along jest
inside the reef, when 1 see one myself as
long as the boat. Yes, it was one o.
them long nosed chaps; yer can't be mis-
took on account Of their shown their
teeth when the mouths is shut. There's
heaps of 'em in County Dade, but Inever
knew they was crocodiles afore. Yes"
continued the cracker, II foller CATER
huntin' fur business. Does it pay
Well, don't look like man ter foller
losin' trade, do II I've got more orders
on hand than kin fill in a year. That
looks like prosperity, and it is, if the
caters will only hold out. I've been a
KILN of 'em now, off an on, for four
years, and thar's heaps o. folks after 'em
beside me. Why, kin remember when
alligators could be cotched at Fernand'na,
right in the swamp between there and
old town, but you'd have to scrape lively
to find one now on the st. Johns any
where within fifty miles of the
sea. There are all bein' druv off
plenty, the only way to do is
W W uOWll lutO hdht anu
thar the alligators, moccasins, leeches
and mosquitoes are so dog-gonned thick
yo' can't breathe without suckin' some of
'em in, an I'm a-drawin it mild, too.
git all l want though, at New River an
down that way, too, we don't do any
shootin' at night; some do up the river
but kin get all kin skin in the day
time. 1t takes some experience in shoot
in, as ball put in the wrong place
spoils the hide. The place to put it is
in the eye, an | reckon l kin do it about
every time as fur as kin see the critter.
You soon git the hang of it. That way
generally stuns or kills the critter right
off, but if you break a leg or wound it,
it's goodbye, sure"
Glow many skins do you get in
season." asked the Enquirer writer, who
was listener.
THAT depends" was the reply. 'Last
year l soaked down about twenty five
hundred with one gang of men, and in
all | reckon about five thousand. If
sold EN- untanned they'd average about
a dollar apiece, but tanned they sell
much higher, and that's what I'm up
North fur. AS the business now stands
the tanner gifts all the cash, and we do all
the work. I'm going to do my own
tanning now, and expect to carry back
all the tixin's.
"No, there amt no special fun in
shootin caters. It's all right if you can
] float down the river in steamer, and
: have a servant to hand out your gun and
another to fan you, like l see an English
swell on the st. Johns, but when it
comes to wadin' in mud up to your neck,
/ fightln' chills, lceches and SIGH, there
amt much romance l kin tell We. It's
hard work, and will kill white man.
Injuns is the only folks that kin stand
life in the swamps and glades.
"Alligators amt such fools as folks
think continued the hunter; "they hev
heap sense sailed down one way or an
other. I've seen 'em shot and taken
into boat kinder stunned like, an all
of a sudden lit out, with their tail knock
ing all hands into the water and film
the boat, and the crittcr was only twelve
feet long at that. You kin imagine
what twenty-foot one could do.
you take wild alligator and he's
got more curiosity than an old maid in
a one-horse town. When | fust struck
Lake Okeechobee the gators were thick,
4 anu never thought VI moving oul VI lHe
way, and, instead of that, they would
follow the boat in regular droves. At
first thought they were after me, but
when the canoe stopped they stopped,
and kind of drew round just as if l was
some sort of curiosity. You didn't have
to hunt much there, they hunted you,
and stood around waiting to be shot as
agreeable as you please,
"You know" continued the hunter,
'''that the gators stronghold is his tail,
and when they want to go Tor anything
on land they make a whack at it side.
ways, open their mouths and turn their
heads in the same direction, and if the
game is small it's liable to be knocked
right down their throat.
Anybody what has had any exper-
rience with alligators kin keep out of the
! lint Oroan hand rinoralI,, mob,