News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-03-27
ALLIGATOR HUNTERS.
A TYPE OF HUMANITY PECULIAR
TO FLORIDA SWAMPS.

A TYPE OF HUMANITY PECULIAR
TO FLORIDA SWAMPS.
How they Pursue Their Hazardous and
Poorly Paid Calling.
| The great demand which has recent
" sprung up for crocodile and alllga-
tor skins has produced a very unique
class of Nomads in Florida, who are
locally known as professional alliga-
tor hunters. These make a special
business of Staying the saurlans at all
seasons for their hides and teeth, but
vary it occasionally by trapping offers
or slaughtering plume birds for dealers
in feathered millinery.
The hunters are, chiefly, natives of
Florida, as they know every reptilian
haunt for miles around their ram
shackle cottages and are as much at
home in deadly malarial swamps as
mountaineers are in their ife-giving,
sky-kissing peaks and table lands.
These swamp ranges are usually tall,
thin, and almost as sallow as saffron,
but polite, unpretentious and hospit-
able They traverse the ponds, lakes
and streams of the wilderness fearless
ly. They have no prototypes on earth
so far as know, for not even the pro-
fessional rattlesnake hunters lead so
vagrant a life as they, or face such
hardships and dangers.
Although crocodiles are frequently
shot on bars while sleeping, yet they
are not pursued so 'persistently as ALI
gators, professional hunters not
caring to spice their business with
danger if they can help it. These MINI
rods generally hunt in couples, though
three or more may be found in party,
the number depending somewhat on
the abundance of victims. A daring,
self-reliant individual may sometimes
be found working alone, and if he has
anything like luck, and knows good
hunting grounds, he often earns
handsome sum in short time and,
under the worst of circumstances,
makes what he calls "day wages" if
he is able to use gun.
His outfit usually consists of light
boat, about fifteen feet in length and
two in width, jack lamp, pushing
pole, pair of oars, large hook attached
to a long handle, small tent, ak or
Ratchet, sharp hunting knife, pocket
knife, cooking utensils, gun and am
munition, stock of provisions and a
few knick-knacks for general purpos-
es. The lamp has bull-eye globe
about three inches in diameter and is
generally tied around the hat during
night hunt. The paddle is four or five
teet long with broad blade to take
firm hold of the water. The imple-
ment known as the "'gator pole" is
made of yellow pine, and about ten
feet long with large hook forged out
of quarter inch iron at one end. This
hook has shank two feet in length,
so that it is strong enough to hold the
largest saurian in the South. 1t is
chiefly used for raising dead alligators
from the muddy retreats and pulling
them over in the bow of the boat.
When two men hunt together one
man poles or paddles, and the second
stands in the bow with a gun in hand
and lamp fastened to his hat and care
fully scans every object within the cir
Gle of light. On deserving an alliga-
tor, he waves mis- hand to the steersman
and motions which way to move, and
as the craft proceeds, he signals in the
same way to hurry, go slow, squirt or
stop abruptly, according as the neces-
sites of the case may demand.
The gun-bearer is always the most
L,,x. 20 10 hit
when both men are equally expert they
change positions at intervals during the
night. They can readily tell the size
of the saurian by the cleaning of its
eyes, because the larger it is the more
light do they emit. An adult has eyes
ssf-ifeh OF more in diameter aed when
the mellow rays of the lard or gator
oil in the lamp fall on them they act as
rcfectors and throw lines of light ON
the black water near them.
The best time for shooting saurians
is the early part of dark nights, that
being their favorite feeding hour, par
.icularly in lakes and fresh water
streams. On seeing the light ap-
preaching they gaze at it in the most
fatuous manner, and if the hunters
draw near slowly they will permit
them to come within few feet before
attempting to escape. Most of them
are shot within distances varying from
five to twenty yards, as the men wish
to make as clean kill as possible, to
prevent the animals from escaping and
alarming all others in that vicinity.
Some alligators on being hit give few
70 ha
bottom as dead as salt behring's, but
others thrash the water into foam and
turn series of quick somersaults that
would reflect credit an circus acrobat.
When the saurian sinks, the boat is
kept beside it by promptly sticking the
pushing pole into the mud, and is re-
tanned there until the carcass is taken
aboard over the bow with the hook.
One of the men then chops it across
the back with ak or Ratchet just in
front of the hind legs, and almost
sewers he head from the body by
second cut This is done to prevent it
from fl undering about in the boat and
upseting it or charging the men. The
enormous ital power of the alligator
ofte prevents it from dying for some
time after being shot. The nerves live
for several hours after the head is cut
off, and an alligator which is left for
dead sometimes becomes lively enough
the following day to march away in
search of healthier quarters. 1t is
nothing unusual for an apparently de-
funct saurian to revive suddenly and
charge the hunters so furiously as TO
drive them out of the boat or to tumble
overheard itself and flee with such
rapidity as to raise high waves in the
most placid stream or lake.
A co lpic of hunters may capture
from five to thirty aligators in night,
but the latter is an extreme number
obtainable only under very favorable
circumstances and long hours of dark
ness. Ten or fifteen alligators in n
nj hit is, to use the phrase of veteran
hunter, ga mighty good catch and very
fair luck" and pays us good wages,
better at least than we could receive as
dav Iaborers." When two men hunt
as partners, the owner of the outfit
generally gives the other ope-third of
the receipts, but they divide p oceeds if
everything is common. Men who are
hired for ga Tip receive from s. to
81 % day, AMI must for that sum be
ready to hunt at any hour of the day or
night, salt hides, and even secure fresh |
meat for the camp.