AustinL
AH enthusiast
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2018
- Messages
- 312
- Reaction score
- 866
- Location
- Kerrville, Tx
- Media
- 139
- Hunted
- USA, South Africa
I have done a chronicle so to speak of our hunting seasons for the past several years so this one should be no different.
Pre season this year started as they always do with work on family properties throughout the summer. One notable change for this year was the decision not to run trail cameras. Years past I knew every buck on the property before season rolled around and frankly I found something lacking the unknown.
August rolled around and it was application time for various hunts around the state for me and my son. Our state has staggered draw deadlines based on hunts and species. I think this year we applied for about 20 different hunts of which I typically apply for what I consider the more premium areas so don’t expect to draw hunts with any frequency.
Each draw deadline carries with it the feeling of Christmas Eve to a child with the building anticipation for the next days draw results. Needless to say I was ecstatic when I got the email that my son had drawn a youth alligator hunt. This would be our second alligator hunt the previous trip to the same area yielded success for both of us on the general draw.
We had plans made equipment squared away and we’re just waiting for our Friday departure to roll around. Unfortunately the Tuesday before the hunt had me fielding a call from the hunt coordinator about the water conditions in the marsh due to low water conditions the area we were to hunt was not accessible by outboard we would have to have a UTV or boat with a mud motor.
Work had me pinned to the house for the week so my dad made the run down from his house stopping at the ranch and grabbing the Kawasaki mule and trailer on the way. Crisis averted or so we thought. My dad met me at the house and I picked my son up early from school. Intentions were to be on the road by 3:30 pm and it’s currently 12:30 we get the truck and trailer loaded and hit the road it’s now 3:00 PM we are ahead of schedule, I can’t believe things are falling into place. As I merge onto the interstate and get up to speed something isn’t right the trailer is vibrating something fierce, we think it may be wind catch from the Jon boat we have strapped down so back to the house and unload the boat. Back on the road nope vibration is still there it’s obvious now that there is an issue with the trailer and we don’t have time to diagnose. Back to the house again and we drop the trailer and hit the road wondering how we are going to put this together, my son is feeling pretty defeated at this point.
Several phone calls later and I have a friend of a friend with a 14 foot Jon boat with a long shaft mud motor we can borrow for the hunt. We are back in the game. All this has us way behind schedule and I am now trying to make my way through San Antonio at rush hour a 5 hour trip turned into a 6.5 hour marathon. It’s now after 10:30 as we are at our room and getting unloaded and settled in for the night
The following morning we converge with the other youth hunters on the WMA headquarters and are issued our tags and Orientation. They then take us to the hunt unit where they have a pavilion with coolers drinks and snacks set up for the kids. Most importantly they have a case of bug spray… the one thing I forgot and without it this would be a miserable day. We get the boat launched make a sandwich and have lunch under the pavilion before heading to our assigned area. The water conditions were super shallow even being a challenge for the mud motor in some spots. As we near a corner in the canal it starts to open and deepen up and as we make the corner it’s obvious we have found the spot to set up as we can see over two dozen gators in this deeper pocket of the canal. We quickly get our line set and head out of there. It’s now 2:30. We go back and hang out with the other hunters plans are to go out and check our lines at 4:00 that gives us an hour and a half to check our lines and be back before our hunt day ends.
We motor our way over and I kill the motoras we near the corner. In case we don’t have one on I want to get in and out without disturbing the area to much. Those concerns were not warranted though as our line was down. After a short tug of war we got him to the surface and my son made a perfect shot on a nice 6’ 9” alligator.
Pre season this year started as they always do with work on family properties throughout the summer. One notable change for this year was the decision not to run trail cameras. Years past I knew every buck on the property before season rolled around and frankly I found something lacking the unknown.
August rolled around and it was application time for various hunts around the state for me and my son. Our state has staggered draw deadlines based on hunts and species. I think this year we applied for about 20 different hunts of which I typically apply for what I consider the more premium areas so don’t expect to draw hunts with any frequency.
Each draw deadline carries with it the feeling of Christmas Eve to a child with the building anticipation for the next days draw results. Needless to say I was ecstatic when I got the email that my son had drawn a youth alligator hunt. This would be our second alligator hunt the previous trip to the same area yielded success for both of us on the general draw.
We had plans made equipment squared away and we’re just waiting for our Friday departure to roll around. Unfortunately the Tuesday before the hunt had me fielding a call from the hunt coordinator about the water conditions in the marsh due to low water conditions the area we were to hunt was not accessible by outboard we would have to have a UTV or boat with a mud motor.
Work had me pinned to the house for the week so my dad made the run down from his house stopping at the ranch and grabbing the Kawasaki mule and trailer on the way. Crisis averted or so we thought. My dad met me at the house and I picked my son up early from school. Intentions were to be on the road by 3:30 pm and it’s currently 12:30 we get the truck and trailer loaded and hit the road it’s now 3:00 PM we are ahead of schedule, I can’t believe things are falling into place. As I merge onto the interstate and get up to speed something isn’t right the trailer is vibrating something fierce, we think it may be wind catch from the Jon boat we have strapped down so back to the house and unload the boat. Back on the road nope vibration is still there it’s obvious now that there is an issue with the trailer and we don’t have time to diagnose. Back to the house again and we drop the trailer and hit the road wondering how we are going to put this together, my son is feeling pretty defeated at this point.
Several phone calls later and I have a friend of a friend with a 14 foot Jon boat with a long shaft mud motor we can borrow for the hunt. We are back in the game. All this has us way behind schedule and I am now trying to make my way through San Antonio at rush hour a 5 hour trip turned into a 6.5 hour marathon. It’s now after 10:30 as we are at our room and getting unloaded and settled in for the night
The following morning we converge with the other youth hunters on the WMA headquarters and are issued our tags and Orientation. They then take us to the hunt unit where they have a pavilion with coolers drinks and snacks set up for the kids. Most importantly they have a case of bug spray… the one thing I forgot and without it this would be a miserable day. We get the boat launched make a sandwich and have lunch under the pavilion before heading to our assigned area. The water conditions were super shallow even being a challenge for the mud motor in some spots. As we near a corner in the canal it starts to open and deepen up and as we make the corner it’s obvious we have found the spot to set up as we can see over two dozen gators in this deeper pocket of the canal. We quickly get our line set and head out of there. It’s now 2:30. We go back and hang out with the other hunters plans are to go out and check our lines at 4:00 that gives us an hour and a half to check our lines and be back before our hunt day ends.
We motor our way over and I kill the motoras we near the corner. In case we don’t have one on I want to get in and out without disturbing the area to much. Those concerns were not warranted though as our line was down. After a short tug of war we got him to the surface and my son made a perfect shot on a nice 6’ 9” alligator.
