My Avatar vs Gator

My best friend and my avatar picture had a run in with a Florida gator a couple of weeks ago on my hunting lease. He got thirsty and ran to a cattle pond for a drink. Unfortunately a 7.5 foot gator was very hungry and grabbed him by his front shoulders trying to pull him in. He screamed for a solid 30 seconds before he was able to break free. Luckily he is a very wiry and a strong guy. He is still recuperating but all of the antibiotics, stitches and a caring veterinarian seem to have worked and fast on his way to recovery. He is a very lucky best buddy!

Wow glad he got free and you have a great vet.

Do gators sink or float when shot? Just wondering if they’d have to be buried when retaliatory violence was visited on them. I like my dogs more than people.

Wow glade he is making a full recovery !

My little tracking/back up buddy in Africa was bitten near in two by a Big Dog Baboon, when he recovered We went out and shot a heap of Baboons together.
He seemed very satisfied in that !

See how no matter how badly they are damaged/injured when their Human holds them they know it will be Ok, even if sometimes it isn’t !

Carried & been with a lot of hunting Dogs over the years that have died from wounds in the field, still makes me cry to this day !

That's quite a story. Like something one would see in the movies. Lucky you saved him.

My Lab Pearl who succumbed to kidney disease ten years ago last week was bitten by a rattler in Montana and eventually recovered just in time to get my last rooster for possession limit on the way home. We were only out for forty minutes when I discovered she had flayed her left shoulder on a fence. She didn't make a sound, probably because she knew I would quit. The wound was a mess. Rushed back to the vehicle and thirty birds jumped up from the ditch next to it. Bang and that was that. It was Thanksgiving weekend and I had trouble finding a vet. Finally one gal up at the border doing cattle pregnancy checks answered her phone. Took almost two hours for her to get back to town and I had to be her surgical assistant. Over twenty stitches and she was not optimistic that infection could be avoided. Sure enough, a couple days after returning home it got messy and Pearl was back in to trim some flesh and clean it again. This time the vet put in two drain tubes. The first night home I removed the cone so she could eat. Afterwards she was thinking about worrying her stitches. "Pearl, knock it off! Leave that alone!". And she did. Two weeks later I took her back to have stitches and tubes removed. Vet asked where was the cone. I told him what happened. He said he'd never seen anything like that. Dogs will invariably tear the drain tubes out of given the opportunity. Pearl was special for sure. Still the only dog they've seen at U of Minn that recovered 100% from glioma brain cancer. Only three others before her had survived (for a while anyway) but not in very good shape. She was expensive to maintain but a great hunter and lovely dog. Worth every penny.

Tucketed said:

My best friend and my avatar picture had a run in with a Florida gator a couple of weeks ago on my hunting lease. He got thirsty and ran to a cattle pond for a drink. Unfortunately a 7.5 foot gator was very hungry and grabbed him by his front shoulders trying to pull him in. He screamed for a solid 30 seconds before he was able to break free. Luckily he is a very wiry and a strong guy. He is still recuperating but all of the antibiotics, stitches and a caring veterinarian seem to have worked and fast on his way to recovery. He is a very lucky best buddy! View attachment 753148View attachment 753146View attachment 753147

Click to expand...

Drahthaar?

@Rimbaud he is a Pudlepointer. Best dog I have ever had over many years. Wonderful hunter and the best friend of everyone he sees. My sons also have them so we have three in our family.

Sarg said:

Wow glade he is making a full recovery !

My little tracking/back up buddy in Africa was bitten near in two by a Big Dog Baboon, when he recovered We went out and shot a heap of Baboons together.
He seemed very satisfied in that !

See how no matter how badly they are damaged/injured when their Human holds them they know it will be Ok, even if sometimes it isn’t !

Carried & been with a lot of hunting Dogs over the years that have died from wounds in the field, still makes me cry to this day !

View attachment 753175
View attachment 753176

Click to expand...

Tough dog!

Jagdterrier?

Wishing your buddy a speedy and 100% recovery!

NIGHTHAWK said:

Tough dog!

Jagdterrier?

Click to expand...

Well let me say first, I didn’t intended to have a small dog like this but I will also say 4-5 of us ended up with them after seeing them work & being on the job with them !

He is/was a Wire Haired Dachshund, a very surprising animal in a small package lol !

I was embarrassed to have him in public but many times after seeing him work our hunters wanted him or one like him !

Schüler Jumbo said:

Wishing your buddy a speedy and 100% recovery!

Click to expand...

I do believe I'd do a bit of gatoring ---quietly.

Tubby’s Canteen said:

Do gators sink or float when shot? Just wondering if they’d have to be buried when retaliatory violence was visited on them. I like my dogs more than people.

Click to expand...

Can do both or so I have been told
And sometimes they will float back up when the gas builds up.

Best guess I would than ( don’t know) would be to eat it.

As a kid on the old deer leas I remember a pond ( mine hole) they called the gator pond.
Every one quit hunting and tried to catch the dogs when the deer would take them towards it.

We lost dogs to it every year.
And they kept replacing them selves if some type of gator Covid hit them in the spring and summer.
There were more mine holes and a swamp just over the property line

Sarg said:

Wow glade he is making a full recovery !

My little tracking/back up buddy in Africa was bitten near in two by a Big Dog Baboon, when he recovered We went out and shot a heap of Baboons together.
He seemed very satisfied in that !

See how no matter how badly they are damaged/injured when their Human holds them they know it will be Ok, even if sometimes it isn’t !

Carried & been with a lot of hunting Dogs over the years that have died from wounds in the field, still makes me cry to this day !

View attachment 753175
View attachment 753176

Click to expand...

Brother
That’s one think I hated about hog and bear dog hunting especially before the cut vest and collar came out.
I don’t do it much anymore but even with them and being able to stitch them up you can lose a lot with mean hogs

Tucketed said:

@Rimbaud he is a Pudlepointer. Best dog I have ever had over many years. Wonderful hunter and the best friend of everyone he sees. My sons also have them so we have three in our family.

Click to expand...

Nothing better than a dog like that. Glad he is ok and rooting for his speedy recovery. You should frame that photo of you and him in the back of the truck.

Flbt said:

Brother
That’s one think I hated about hog and bear dog hunting especially before the cut vest and collar came out.
I don’t do it much anymore but even with them and being able to stitch them up you can lose a lot with mean hogs

Click to expand...

We here in NZ also (some people & some species) course Deer with Dogs, Sambar & Sika Stags take a heavy toll on them, of course it is always the brightest & best that get stuck !

I’m a little soft on my animal hunting companions, I was devastated if I lost a Ferret rabbiting as a child !

Sarg said:

Well let me say first, I didn’t intended to have a small dog like this but I will also say 4-5 of us ended up with them after seeing them work & being on the job with them !

He is/was a Wire Haired Dachshund, a very surprising animal in a small package lol !

I was embarrassed to have him in public but many times after seeing him work our hunters wanted him or one like him !

Click to expand...

We have a Jagdterrier. She has no pain threshold and will hunt and kill anything that isn’t a dog…. Scary because she has a resource guarding issue and will fight other dogs that are twice her size or bigger!

Only get a Jagdterrier if you plan on hunting them and don’t have another dog!





But she loves kids…

Sarg said:

We here in NZ also (some people & some species) course Deer with Dogs, Sambar & Sika Stags take a heavy toll on them, of course it is always the brightest & best that get stuck !

I’m a little soft on my animal hunting companions, I was devastated if I lost a Ferret rabbiting as a child !

View attachment 753352

Click to expand...

Agree it’s all ways the best most loyal dog that gets hurt.
Because there the one that go above and beyond for you the most.

Catch dogs normally one of the bulldog breeds get themselves hurt the most. Because of there personally and when one of them likes you you are there world.
The best I ever had was a boxer.
She was a grate dog that I got to have in my life for 10 years

Tucketed said:

My best friend and my avatar picture had a run in with a Florida gator a couple of weeks ago on my hunting lease. He got thirsty and ran to a cattle pond for a drink. Unfortunately a 7.5 foot gator was very hungry and grabbed him by his front shoulders trying to pull him in. He screamed for a solid 30 seconds before he was able to break free. Luckily he is a very wiry and a strong guy. He is still recuperating but all of the antibiotics, stitches and a caring veterinarian seem to have worked and fast on his way to recovery. He is a very lucky best buddy! View attachment 753148View attachment 753146View attachment 753147

Click to expand...

Thank god he made it! Good lucking dog.

As far as being soft don’t worry about it.
I would be considered hard by most pet owners.
But I am really soft on them for a dog hunter at least around here.
The old guys my dad and the generation before him mostly looked at them as tools
When is kids came along it was the first time dad “had pets” around but they were still expected to work.
My wife and kids got me softer and we ended up with non working pets.
But surprisingly useful.
My wife sausage dog will track wounded deer.