The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1888-11-28
MONEY IN THE ALLIGATOR.
SEEKING THE sAURIAN FOR ITS
HIDE AND TEETH.
A Saurian Hunter Tells How He
Makes Living by Gator Hunt
fuu and Pelican Fishing

n o0urtbn ltuuLcF 1cllS hoW IO
Makes a Living by Gator Hunt
ing and Pelican Fishing.
"seven barrels of hides, about forty
punches of feathers, dozen hams,
eleven pounds of teeth and one eight
foot gator How does that strike you,
Sonny, for a two-months' take on the
coastl Pretty large and luminous, ell ~
lie stood on the wharf at Baton Rouge
with his hides and feathers and teeth
piled around him
"Of course had half breed helping
me most of the time; in fact, he caught
the big gator all by hir,self. He saw
her.young ones first, caught one of them
and then tolled her into the moose. But
as he was working for board wages his
work don't count, and the whole take is
mine.
GLOW much is it WORTH Well, you
can figure it up for yourself. The hides
will run about ten to a barrel, and will
average 81 apiece; that's $40, amt it}
The feathers run about two punches for
81, which makes $13 more. The hams
are worth $25, and alligator teeth
market in the rough at 81 pound. un-
derstand there is standing order down
here from New York dealer for a big
gator, and if there is, mine will bring
$50 in the local market. If there is not,
/ may sell her for $50, and l may have
to kill her for hide. That makes $40,
and $l3, and $25, and $11, which is
$t19 sure, and maybe $50 more. Every
dollar made in two months time by just
padding around with a gun and rope
on the lower Bayou la Fourche. There
is another big industry down there that
did not touch at all this year and that
is oyster shoyeling. The whole coast
line is a bed of oysters, and the New
Orleans market is always hungry for the
bayou oysters But gator and pelican
fishing is good enough for me.n
He moved the muscles of his face into
a smile of simiau content, while he
leaned against barrel and scratched his
bare ankle with one of his big sun baked
big toes. lie was member Of the army
of nomads who pepper the Mississippi
and its tributaries with their floating
homes, locally known as ''shanty boats"
July and August invariably find them
above Cairo, and as the weather moder-
,atcs they follow the summer south,
spending the winter and spring in the
.bayous or on one of the southern lakes
which teen with every species of wild
fowl, game and vegetation, taking their
ease in their castle. AS rule, they toll
!1ot, neither do they spin, and it is an
'undisputed fact that Solomon was never
arrayed like one of them.
"Fire hunting at night is the best
plan, and the one most followed when
hides are the object. The fire In the
bow of the canoe lights up the shores
and hltn1e fl, ,f 4l,.a
that we can paddle close to them and
put ball into one eye without trouble.
The big beast always throws himself
ashore and lashes about among the reeds
with his tail, after an eye shot, dying in
about five minutes. We never stop to
pick them up but keep on down the
bayou until we have killed half dozen
or more, and the next day we hunt them
hp, strip OIL the skins, cut out the jaw
bones and sometimes a part of the tail,
which is as good eating as pork. After
being buried week or so the teeth drop
out of the jaws, and are ready for
market
Snow about the feathers. You want
to know what they are. They are peli-
can feathers. Every pelican has bunch
of these fine, hair-like feathers in each
wing, aud each bunch is worth about
thirty-fve cents. The simplest way of
catching them is with hook and line
baited with a minnow, which is kept on
top of the water by means of float
The pelican sails close to the water, sees
the minnow, swoops down and is
hooked. Ii wants to be stout hook
and strong line, or the big bird will
break it away, and you will not only
lose your seventy cents worth of feathers,
but your tackle as well.-Detrou Free
Press.