The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1908-01-30
CUNNING FOR ALuGAIORS
EXCITING SPORT; so is CAPTURING
THEM ALIVE,

An alligator can be shot in the head,
the bullet penetrating his brain, and he
will not die of the wound. His verte-
br9 may be chopped into several sec
tions with an axe and he will live from
four to six days afterward. He may
even be skinned and yet live to work
havoc among his captors. He is the
hardest to kill of any known creature
and the only one that cannot be killed
instantly. P. A. Mcmillan, formerly
of Eau Gallie, Fla, but now resident
of St. Louis, an alligator hunter OF
thirty years experience, is authority
for this statement.
Il have seen a twelve foot gator
shot full of holes and apparently feel
no more pain from the wounds than If
we had thrown handful of pebbles at
him." said Mr.. Mcmillan to st. LOUIS
Globe Democrat man. ''An alligator
may have heart. suppose he has,
though | never dissected one to find
out, but it certainly is not vulnerable,
and his brain is so small that it makes
mighty little difference to him whether
somebody shoots a hole through 1T or
not. Alligators are the queerest beasts
that the Almighty ever created, and
often wolder how the spoonful OF
brains they possess is enough to teach
them all the cunning they know.
"The interesting thing about ALL
gator hunting is that you have to do 1t
on land and water both. Alllgators
are amphibians, you know, and the
man who hunts them must become an
amphibian too, for the time being. Our
hunting equipment consists OF boat,
several picks and shoves, long pole
ropes, rifle, an axe and the wire l told
you about, and we use one OF these
Just about as much as we do another,
SO you see we go prepared for WORK on
land as well as On water. Then we
have to know something about swamp
life, both animal and vegetable, so that
we can locate our quarry, just as a
hunter in the forest must understand
woodcraft ir order to track his game.
An alligator's habits are peculiar, but
they do hot vary, and what is true OF
one is true of all the rest that were
ever Matched. That is one thing we
can always depend on, and it is big
help in a pretty dangerous sport.
"The first thing we do is to locate a
trail and follow that up to the cave.
Part of this trail is always on dry
ground because the caves mouth is
above the watesline, and that part Is
very plain. You see after an alligator
gets any growth his body is too heavy
for his small legs and instead OF walk
ing when he is ON land, as most people
think he does, he simply drags himself
slowly along. half wriggling and half
crawling, using his legs just as he does
in the water, only with less effect.
This peculiar motion leaves long zig
gag line on the ground, something like
a snakes trail, only much larger, ana
uy following this up to the cave ana
noticing carefully to see whether IL IS
going III or coming out, we can mighty
soon tell whether the old fellow is In
side or not. If he is not we try tor
another trail, but if he is we tie up the
boat and go to work to dig him out.
AN aligator's cave is sometimes
fifteen or twenty feet deep-not
straight down, of course, but dug at an
angle of about fifteen degrees. The
end of it is always below water ilne,
but the entrance IS usually just above
high water mark. Sometimes these
caves are full of water, and in that case
we wont dig them out We prod the
alligator with long pole to make him
angry, When an alligator is angry he
Kisses continually, thus exhaustlng the
reserve supply OF air with winch he has
provided himself before entering the
water filled hole. Can alligator can ill
himself with air and live a week under
water without ever coming to the sur
face to breathe) When he has used up
all his reserve air IN kissing he has to
come out for breath and that is what
we want.
"IIe usually comes with rush and
mad as "a halter, and we have to be all
ready for him or somebody gets hurt.
Ii we are after his skin, we shoot him;
but if we want to take him alive, We
rope him-that is, we do if we can.
Sometimes verybody has to scatter,
and Mr.. Gator goes free; but some
times we get him. When we think it
is about time for him to come one man
stands over the hole with an axe, and
the minute the gator appears he strikes
him on the head with the axe. This
stuns him for a moment only, and we
have to work pretty fast before he
comes to. First, we put couple OF
half hitches,' as the sailors say, around
his head to keep his jaws together, and
then we run pole along the top of his
body from head to tail and wind rope
around the entire length of his body,
carrying his legs up over his back
toward the pole. This renders him
absolutely helpless, and we can easily
and safely carry him to the boat and
start for another cave.
eff the cave is dry we dig, piling up
the dirt as we proceed in such a way
that when we reach the end the gator
is penned up and can't do much harm.
1t is much easier to get an alligator IN
Il dry cave than in one that is full OF
water, and it is not half so dangerous.
The most dangerous form of alliga-
tor hunting is egg hunting. There you
have no way of protecting yourself
against the mother gator that is guard
ing her nest, and discretion is usually
the better part of valor if she approach
eS too near.
"An alligator fights with his tail and
his Jaws, and either is enough to Grip
pie man at once. He can't bite a
limb clean off as a shark does, because
his teeth are not sharp but he hangs on
like bulldog if he ever gets a hold,
and if he does not crush it at once he
tears his victim to pieces by rolling
himself over and over very rapidly.
He throws himself about SO quickly
and changes his mode of attack so often
that'it is practically impossible to cal
culate what he is going to do or to be
ready for any of his many moves.
Egg hunting is the principal method
Il