I was taking a picture of the far one when the other popped up. I think the secret to seeing them is going out in the afternoon. We never saw any in the water in the morning.
And we varnished the canoe finally. Stinks. No longer glossy. Sad.
Lake Jesup-saw gators!
- Thread starter Eichhornia
- Start date
I was taking a picture of the far one when the other popped up. I think the secret to seeing them is going out in the afternoon. We never saw any in the water in the morning.
And we varnished the canoe finally. Stinks. No longer glossy. Sad.
Gators and crocks and bears have funny eyesight. Whenever they look at a human, right across the chest they see "LUNCH" in large letters.
Kayak Jack said:
Only if they are Yankees with there soft foods , scotch fer drinks and bodies, us southerners are just to tough for them, it is the grits that we like ........ Ya Know they make you tough. A body just got's to be in the South to like grits and swamp water.
Chuck.
Get down here Jack , the critters need to be fed.
I DID wonder how many we were going over. I'm thinking, though, probably none. They seemed really skittish and always ducked under while we were still pretty far away. I don't think they'd come up TO the canoe if they could help it.
Also, Alex made his baby gator call and none cared. We had seen this PBS thing about gators coming to your boat if you made that noise. Supposedly they come out of curiousity. Nope. Didn't make sense when I was watching it either. Why would a male gator care? Why would a female without babies care? I think the gator came up to their boat because the were right on top of it and dangling bits in and near the water. Gator has probably been fed by humans before. Keep it up and they'll be feeding the gators the hard way.
But that doesn't mean I'm going swimming there anytime soon. :shock:
Also, Alex made his baby gator call and none cared. We had seen this PBS thing about gators coming to your boat if you made that noise. Supposedly they come out of curiousity. Nope. Didn't make sense when I was watching it either. Why would a male gator care? Why would a female without babies care? I think the gator came up to their boat because the were right on top of it and dangling bits in and near the water. Gator has probably been fed by humans before. Keep it up and they'll be feeding the gators the hard way.
But that doesn't mean I'm going swimming there anytime soon. :shock:
You guys paddle with some pretty scary creatures. :shock:
Do those gators ever bother anyone in a kayak?
If not, I'd like to paddle around some gators some time. 8)
Do those gators ever bother anyone in a kayak?
If not, I'd like to paddle around some gators some time. 8)
If they have young and Mom hears that call she will show up to see who is picking on junior. If Dad is around he will make a bee line to it, he thinks junior is a mighty tasty snack , especially if Mom is not around to protect junior.
As far as paddling with the Gators they are rather docile creatures, they see a paddler coming and just sink to the bottom, lay there till you pass over them and then pop back up.
Paddling in the Okefenokee Swamp , Mac was having fun chasing some of them that were almost as long as his canoe and he was in a Mohawk at 16 feet. They tore up the water getting away from his boat and came straight towrds my boat before diving.
If it is breeding season they become territorial and do protect there turf, just like anything that is love sick. They have attacked kayaks in the past, a kayak looks a lot like one of them when in the water and easing along.
I have had three different times when they have actually charged my boat in over 50 years of paddling. It is always around breeding (April - May) season and about 90 days later (August) when the young have hatched out and Mom is protecting her young.
During that time if you get really close to the nest, she will let you know she does not like you there. :evil:
A friend and I were paddling a backwater when I noticed some young, reached out and grabbed one of them, lined him up towards the bow and let him loose. It was an aluminum canoe and you should have heard the racket he made as he speed towards the bow and my buddy. Heck you should have heard my buddy when he turned around to see what was making all that racket and saw junior coming at him :lol: ... I can't print what he was saying on here.
We caught the little guy and put him over board before his mommy could respond to his cries.
Later on a different paddling trip my buddy got even with me. I was in the bow and we were approaching a log we would have to push the canoe under and he started paddling really hard so I could grab the tree and push the bow under it, There was a water moccasin on the tree sunning him self ..
.. You should have seen me back paddling that boat.
I never said we were sane.
Chuck.
PS. That is why I paddle solo , no one wants to paddle in the same boat with me , I just can't figure it out. :roll:
As far as paddling with the Gators they are rather docile creatures, they see a paddler coming and just sink to the bottom, lay there till you pass over them and then pop back up.
Paddling in the Okefenokee Swamp , Mac was having fun chasing some of them that were almost as long as his canoe and he was in a Mohawk at 16 feet. They tore up the water getting away from his boat and came straight towrds my boat before diving.
If it is breeding season they become territorial and do protect there turf, just like anything that is love sick. They have attacked kayaks in the past, a kayak looks a lot like one of them when in the water and easing along.
I have had three different times when they have actually charged my boat in over 50 years of paddling. It is always around breeding (April - May) season and about 90 days later (August) when the young have hatched out and Mom is protecting her young.
During that time if you get really close to the nest, she will let you know she does not like you there. :evil:
A friend and I were paddling a backwater when I noticed some young, reached out and grabbed one of them, lined him up towards the bow and let him loose. It was an aluminum canoe and you should have heard the racket he made as he speed towards the bow and my buddy. Heck you should have heard my buddy when he turned around to see what was making all that racket and saw junior coming at him :lol: ... I can't print what he was saying on here.
We caught the little guy and put him over board before his mommy could respond to his cries.
Later on a different paddling trip my buddy got even with me. I was in the bow and we were approaching a log we would have to push the canoe under and he started paddling really hard so I could grab the tree and push the bow under it, There was a water moccasin on the tree sunning him self ..
I never said we were sane.
Chuck.
PS. That is why I paddle solo , no one wants to paddle in the same boat with me , I just can't figure it out. :roll:
Westcoastpaddler;
Sparkey wrote:
"As far as paddling with the Gators they are rather docile creatures..."
This I can attest to. I tend to love carrying my old 8 X 10 camera around in the bayous, sloughs, and marshes here in SE Texas and have spent time wading chest high in water with them. A few times a curious one has popped his head up beside me (to watch what I was doing, I guess) and if it got TOO close for my comfort all I had to do was swat him on the snout and he'd go away....
Of course, don't make a mistake and catch one in a cast net (another experience I've had :shock: ) they seem to get right testy, then....
Sheena's Dad
Sparkey wrote:
"As far as paddling with the Gators they are rather docile creatures..."
This I can attest to. I tend to love carrying my old 8 X 10 camera around in the bayous, sloughs, and marshes here in SE Texas and have spent time wading chest high in water with them. A few times a curious one has popped his head up beside me (to watch what I was doing, I guess) and if it got TOO close for my comfort all I had to do was swat him on the snout and he'd go away....
Of course, don't make a mistake and catch one in a cast net (another experience I've had :shock: ) they seem to get right testy, then....
Sheena's Dad
You guys fartin' around with one of the world's oldest predators, reminds me of the late fellow who used to camp next to all the grizzlies up on the inland waterway off Canada's western coast.
They finally ate him. And his girlfriend too. Left the tent.
Here's a truism: Dont screw around with Mother Nature.
They finally ate him. And his girlfriend too. Left the tent.
Here's a truism: Dont screw around with Mother Nature.
Jack,
T'ain't a matter o' messin' with Mother Nature... or her critters...
It's a matter of respectin' what the Good Lord put on these ol' rivers here for us to enjoy and be a part of. I'll grant ya, there's no fear like the fear o' one o' those big ol' gators grabbin' hold o' ya and spinnin' ya roun'n'roun' then stuffin' ya off in some spot underwater t' wait fo' ya t' spoil. Respect's th' key...
'Course, it do get t' be a bit unsettlin' on th' nerves when yer up under a drop cloth tryin' t' take a picture and one brushes 'gainst yer legs as he's swimmin' thru 'em.
For them times, you'd best have a good supply of nitro and someone t' talk ya back to shore.... if'n ya know what I mean.... (an' a change o' clothes...)
Dad
T'ain't a matter o' messin' with Mother Nature... or her critters...
It's a matter of respectin' what the Good Lord put on these ol' rivers here for us to enjoy and be a part of. I'll grant ya, there's no fear like the fear o' one o' those big ol' gators grabbin' hold o' ya and spinnin' ya roun'n'roun' then stuffin' ya off in some spot underwater t' wait fo' ya t' spoil. Respect's th' key...
'Course, it do get t' be a bit unsettlin' on th' nerves when yer up under a drop cloth tryin' t' take a picture and one brushes 'gainst yer legs as he's swimmin' thru 'em.
For them times, you'd best have a good supply of nitro and someone t' talk ya back to shore.... if'n ya know what I mean.... (an' a change o' clothes...)
Dad
Kayak Jack said:
Jack
There is a fellow down here you need to spend a day with, only if you want to have some fun.
He takes pictures of the lizards but he does it in a different way .... He has a waterproof camera and swims with them. So far he has all of his arms and legs and has not been bitten by any of them but has taken some really nice pictures and close up's.
Since man has walked on this planet he has always called the Crocodilian family dragons and made stories up about how nasty they are when in reality they are not that bad. Anyway the ones we have, not those suckers in Australia..... they do like folks for supper.
I am talking about the Alligator mississippiensis species (longest word Chuckie ever writ - Jack cutting in)
Some interesting information from the Book "Alligators and other Crocodilia" by Dick Bothwell.... I had to recheck sections of his book to make sure I had the names and places correct.
When the Spanish Explorers landed and saw then they called them "The Terrible Lizard" or "el largato " which later was shortened to alligator or gator.
Back in the dark ages the el largato was not short by any count, in 1940 in the Big Bend section of Texas they uncovered a prehistoric Gator skull. Broken sections of the skull were painstakingly dug from the rock and pieced together. Result , "Phobosuchus" who , when he roamed the earth must have been a truly terrifying sight. Picture a crocodile over 45 feet long with jaws three feet in length, studded with six inch teeth. In the same rocks were dinosaur bones, fellow countrymen of this great-great-great grandfather of Crocodilia.
The crocodiles saw the dinosaurs rise, decline and vanish. These survivors of the Mesozoic era, the oldest of all living reptiles, saw mammals develop and then man come on the scene.
In ancient times, crocodiles are 1st mentioned by the Historian Pliny. The old Roman recorded that 36 of the reptiles were slautered by Coliseum gladiators in the days of Agustus -- or perhaps it was the other way around.
Some of the Egyptians considered the crocodile sacred while others hunted him as an enemy.
The inhabitants of Thebes and the shores of Lake Moreris regarded him with veneration. Each person has a tame one and feed then a daily ration of food.
One was kept in a tank in the city of Crocodinopolis , carefully tended by priests and fed an unnatural diet of roasted meats, small cakes and mulled wine.
The crocodile is even mentioned in the Bible ... "In Job 41.1 and Psalms 74:14.
"Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? Or his tongue with a cord which thou letest down? Canst thou put a hook into his nose? Or bore his jaw through with a thorn? . . . Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?. . . None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?
" Who can open the doors of his face? His teeth are terrable round about. His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. One is so near to another, that no air can come between them . . . his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning
"Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out ... the sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon. He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. Darts are counted as stubble, he laugheth at the shaking of a spear... Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.
Back to almost modern times........
The Timiquan Indians ( who inhabiated Florida some six centuries ago) liked the Gator , especially when he was smoked for there supper.
The early French Explorers recorded this action . The Indians would hold a large log which they had sharpened to a point at one end, wait till the gator had opened wide "the doors to his face" then rammed the log down the large gator throat.
Chuck.......
While I agree with respecting the animals, I guess I do something different with it. Respect don't do either of us any good if he's got his teeth sunk into my leg. It does good at a distance, but not up close & personal.
Respect is a mixture of both love for and fear of. At a distance from a nasty critter, I'm in the love end of the spectrum. As we get closer (geographically speaking) I edge much more to the fear end of the stick.
Mental instability, emotional trauma, and insanity ya know, are all in the province of the animal kingdom. A psychotic predator will know exactly what to do with the observer who gets within range. So does the one who had a bad morning at the swamp or hills and is just pissed off at the world in general.
Ya'll can chuckle at me all you like. My respect of teeth and claw says to keep my distance and let the animals have their own personal space.
Respect is a mixture of both love for and fear of. At a distance from a nasty critter, I'm in the love end of the spectrum. As we get closer (geographically speaking) I edge much more to the fear end of the stick.
Mental instability, emotional trauma, and insanity ya know, are all in the province of the animal kingdom. A psychotic predator will know exactly what to do with the observer who gets within range. So does the one who had a bad morning at the swamp or hills and is just pissed off at the world in general.
Ya'll can chuckle at me all you like. My respect of teeth and claw says to keep my distance and let the animals have their own personal space.
All said, Jack, it all boils down t' each person and his own feelin' o' comfort.
Used to be, I'd go chasin' after snakes... y'know... th' deadly kind... (was big time into collectin' the things when I was a kid... made good money sellin' th' venom 'til they changed th' rules on me)but after I had a cottonmouth drop outa a tree into a kayak cockpit with me I ain't had th' slightest desire t' go near 'em.... (not to mention th' fact I ain't been in a kayak since... cain't get out o' 'em fast enough in situations like that for my taste...)
So, no chuckles here... I'm just comfortable with 'em around... maybe, if something happens t' change my regard for 'em, I'll feel th' same way t'ward 'em.
But is I's right in assumin' ya's don't wanna go pichur takin' wit me anytime soon?
Dad
Used to be, I'd go chasin' after snakes... y'know... th' deadly kind... (was big time into collectin' the things when I was a kid... made good money sellin' th' venom 'til they changed th' rules on me)but after I had a cottonmouth drop outa a tree into a kayak cockpit with me I ain't had th' slightest desire t' go near 'em.... (not to mention th' fact I ain't been in a kayak since... cain't get out o' 'em fast enough in situations like that for my taste...)
So, no chuckles here... I'm just comfortable with 'em around... maybe, if something happens t' change my regard for 'em, I'll feel th' same way t'ward 'em.
But is I's right in assumin' ya's don't wanna go pichur takin' wit me anytime soon?
Dad
I'll go picture taking with you right after the guys pay me to sing for'em around the campfire. I always offer to sing for $10, or not sing for $20.sheena's dad said:
I make a lot of money that way, but don't work for any of it.
Damn straight there Chuck. We lose tourists every year to them. A few years ago a camper was dragged from his tent in the Northern Territory by one. His mate, sleeping beside him didn't even know he had been taken till he woke up in the morning.
They were on a big drunk at the time and had set up camp right on the river bank.
To camp on the sandbars, as some do on the mississippi apparently, would be suicide in our northern rivers.
hairymick said:
Yep..... You guy's ended up with the nasty ones while we got the mild mannered fresh water ones, they only got or bit a total of four people so far this year and a couple of kayaks ended up with puncture wounds to there hulls.
All of the incidents where during the breeding or mating season.
We do have a Salt Water crocodile here in Florida but it is only located on the southern tip of Florida off the Florida Bay area and is on Federal land and protected by the Federal Government.
It is a very restricted area and the only way a person can get in there is by invitation. Any other type of entry will land a person in a Federal Building with bars and room service , plus a clotihg outfit with numbers on it.
From what I have read ... camping on a sand bar close to the water in your country would be the same as camping in a crocks living room, not the smartest thing to do.
Over here on some camping trips we have had a gator laying next to the boat in the morning but when he sees a person moving around ..... Whoosh ... he is gone.
My guess is they know we can invite them as the guest of honor for supper.
Chuck.