Connecticut western news., 1890-03-26
ALLIGATOR HUNTERS.
A TYPE OF HUMANITY PECULIAR
 TO FLORIDA SWAMPS.
How they Pursue Their Hazardous and -- Poorly Paid Calling.

tor skins has produced very unlque class of Nomads in Florida, who are locally known as professional alliga- tor hunters. These make a special business of staying the saur1ans at all seasons for their hides and teeth, but vary it occasionally by trapping otters or slaughtering plume birds for dealers in feathered millinery.
 The hunters are, chiefly, natives of Florida, as they know every repIlian haunt for miles around their ram shackle cottages and are as much ata hone 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 life as they, or face such hardships and dangers.
 Although crocodiles are frequently shot on bars while sleeping, yet they are not pursued so consistently as alli- gators, professional hunters not caring to spice their business with danger if they can help it. These Nim- rods generally hunt in couples, though three or more may be found in party, the number depending somewhat Ion 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 a 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 8 long handle, small tent, ax or hatchet, sharp hunting knife, pocket knife, cooking utensils, gun and ann munition, stock of provisions and few knick-knacks for general purpos- es. The lamp has bulP-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 a 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. It 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 gun in hand and lamp fastened to his hat and care fully scans every object within the cir cle of light. On descry.ng all afliga tor, he waves his 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, spurt or stop abruptly, according as the neces- sites of the case may demand.
 The gun-bearer is always the most experienced hunter of the two, but when both men are equally expert they l change positions at intervals during the night. They can readily tell the size of the saurian by the gieaming of it's eyes, because the larger it is the more light do they emit. An adult has eyes an inch or more in diameter, and when the mellow rays of the lard or 'gatcr oil in the lamp fall on them they act as | reiectors 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 W ithin distances varying from five to twenty yards, as the men wish to make as clean a kill as possible, to prevent the animals from escaping and alarming all others in that vicinity. Some alligators on being hit give few spasmodic hcaves and dive to the bottom as dead as salt herrings, but l others thrash the water into foam and turn series of quick so1nersaults that would reflect credit an a circus acrobat.
 When the saurian sinks, the boat is kept beside it by promptly sticking the pushing pole into the mud, and is re- tained there until the carcass is takel, aboard over the bow with the hook. One of the men then chops it across the back with ax or hatchet just in front of the hind legs, and almost sewers the head from the body by a second cut. This is done to prevent it from fl foundering about in the boat and upsetting it or charging the men. The enormous vital power of the alligator often prevents it from dying for some time after being shot. The nerves live for several hours after the head is cut of, and an alligator which is left for dead sometimes becomes lively enough the following day to march away in search of healthier quarters. It 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 co1ple of hunters may capture from five to thirty alligators in night but the latter is an exreme number obtainable only under very favorable circumstances and long hours of dark. ness. Ten or fifteen alligators in { mi Int is, to use the phrase of veteran hunter, "a mighty good catch and very fair luck" and pays us good wages
 better at least than we could receive a. day laborers." When two men hun
 as partners, the owner of the outfi