The Story Behind The Photo:
It is nothing to see several alligators in the bayous and lakes while swimming or fishing being an outdoorsy woman from Louisiana. Many times, you are counting more than fingers and toes combined will allow! 80% of the year is spent freshwater fishing, deep sea fishing, and bowfishing down in south Louisiana with Ashley and Nick Cheramie (Midnight Blue Bowfishing) who have quickly become great friends.
Once bowfishing season started slowing down and it became alligator season, we received a call from Ashley and Nick asking us to come down and hunt gators. It has always been a topic while at the camp sitting around enjoying a true creole dinner. Of course, it was an immediate “we’re on the way.”
We packed the gear and the dogs and hit the road! Ashley cooked one of her amazing meals the night we got there while we planned out our next day. The next morning, we set out looking for alligators and checking hooks. It was a steep learning curve because we had a few on immediately, but nothing huge.
We finally came to a spot thick with water lilies and grass making it unpassable and having to switch boats to access past it. Immediately when coming onto the final spot, we knew we had a gator on, but he was not easy to get to and had bedded himself underneath the flotant. After many attempts, we were unable to get the alligator and almost gave up trying.
We were only able to slightly get a hold of his tail, but not his head which we needed. We came up with the idea to attempt to get his tail and try to pull him out that way. At first it didn’t work and I bent the push pole. We were afraid that the line would snap, and we would lose him. After one last ditch effort, we pulled backwards with the boat and his tail in hand and finally were able to pull him from the brush. Immediately the gator came up aggressively and I knew I had to get the shot as soon as the chance came.
The next time his head came out of the water, I took the only shot I had and got him. We won that battle but still had another ahead of it. How do we load this big ole gator in the tiny boat we swapped to? Three people and a 10 ft + gator in a small mud boat was a feat, but we managed it! I could not contain my excitement, especially after the work it took to even get to him.
This is a memory that will last a lifetime.
Aside from the “gator excitement,” I am 26 years old and grew up in a small town in Louisiana where you don’t meet a stranger. Growing up, I spent every second outdoors hunting, fishing, rodeoing, and many other outdoor activities. I have my Bachelor of Science in Nursing and am an emergency department/ trauma registered nurse. I am a travel nurse, so I get the opportunity to visit and see many different places as well as hunt some of those areas while on an
assignment.
Alexus DeBlieux
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