The seventh annual alligator season has just wrapped up in Alabama. One hundred twenty five tags were issued to hunters who wanted to chase down the large reptiles. Of that, seventy-eight gators were brought in, leaving forty seven tags unfilled.
Two weekends a year Alabamians get the opportunity to hunt for alligators. Hunters like Jennifer Smith and her family, who bagged a three-hundred fifteen pound alligator that measured ten feet five inches long. She says hope to go every chance she gets.
“The first year I got a tag, I just thought it would be to go out with Keith, something we could experience together and now, it was so much fun that year, I’m going back every year.”
With no major incidents, wildlife officials are calling the season a success. Most people do tend to follow the rules, to make sure; game wardens patrol the waterways that make up the hunting grounds. Wildlife Conservation Safety Officer Sergeant Henry Lowery says it important the hunter know they are out there.
“It’s a high visibility patrol, we basically just check license and frankly just watch a lot of them participate in the sport, which is kinda enjoyable, it’s not often we get to do that.”
Though the season has come to a close, hunters are already chomping for the next season.