DNR Concerned by "Killing of the Giants"

[Maggie Glover]

In the article linked below, Morgan Hart, very nice person who is over the gator hunts in SC, gives a report about the loss of the gators over 10 feet. So this fall the SCDNR hunts will issue 400 new tags but for gators under 8ft. Wow. Who would want to use their lottery for that? What say the brain trust that cares about lizards? MG

https://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/article299027405.html

[swampknob]

How is this bad? Its only an increase in tags and opportunity?

[mudminnow]

more tags for smaller gators makes sense from a conservation standpoint to manage the population

[Rubberhead*]

How is this bad? Its only an increase in tags and opportunity?

Because female gators never get much bigger than 9 feet. These <8 feet tags will be a much higher ratio of female to male alligators than the general tags.

Hunters focusing on 10+ gators not only ensures they are only killing males, they are killing males that are the only predator of gators < 6 feet...

It's a bad thing in my view and a quick path to reducing the SC gator population to unhuntable numbers.

[Silentweapon338]

Among them was a Massachusetts woman who, at Lake Moultrie in 2010, killed a 13.5 foot gator that weighed 1,025 pounds.

Read more at: https://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/ar...#storylink=cpy

Something seems a tad off with this?

[centurian]

Does it mater if a 10' gator kills a 6' gator or if a hunter kills the 6' gator. They can manage the population with the number of tags regardless of size.If there are no 10' gators around those drawing tags will take 8' gators anyway

[swampknob]

Because female gators never get much bigger than 9 feet. These <8 feet tags will be a much higher ratio of female to male alligators than the general tags.

Hunters focusing on 10+ gators not only ensures they are only killing males, they are killing males that are the only predator of gators < 6 feet...

It's a bad thing in my view and a quick path to reducing the SC gator population to unhuntable numbers.

The additional 400 tags wasn't a number they just pulled out of thin air.

I also want the gator population reduced to unhuntable numbers so I will admit I am biased.

[Catdaddy]

I also want the gator population reduced to unhuntable numbers so I will admit I am biased.

Two short of Extinction would suit me.



Sent from my motorola edge 2024 using Tapatalk

[Maggie Glover]

Among them was a Massachusetts woman who, at Lake Moultrie in 2010, killed a 13.5 foot gator that weighed 1,025 pounds.

Read more at: https://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/ar...#storylink=cpy

Something seems a tad off with this?

Funny you picked up on that. Morgan told me years ago that that weight was "estimated" and submitted by a gator guide. She said that gators simply do not get that heavy in SC. She said beware of all gator weight claims not being weighed on certified scales. BTW DNR does not require anything other than an estimate of length or weight.

As a comparison, the longest gator (at that time) was officially 13' 8" and weighed ~350lbs taken out of the Waccamaw River. The heaviest on a true certified scale was 765lb. I know the weight has been exceed on true scales now, but I am not sure about the length. MG

[Buckin Bronco]

I’m not opposed to it.

I don’t love the idea of some ass wagon with a flat bill and heydudes killing an animal that’s managed to survive for 30+ years so that they can take some pics with it. There’s something cool about a wild animal living that long.

[Silentweapon338]

One of the DNR guys gave me the formula for their age. I forgot it now. Seems like they figured that big one that came out of Blacks in the canal was 70ish years old. I find the formula questionable due to the overall length being reached by 35 years of age.

[Saltydog235]

SSS. Two short of extinction is the right call.

[WhitewaterDuck]

What does it say about me that I truly don’t care about an alligator in the least? I use to care about stuff like this; now I don’t think I’d care if the only alligators left were in Riverbanks or on a gator farm. They are cool to listen to on a slow night catfishing.

[Hambone]

Killem all...

[FEETDOWN]

There’s a happy medium somewhere between overpopulated and “two short of extinction”. Heaven forbid we find that.

And if you’ve got a problem with a gator that’s in close proximity to your kids or your dogs, kill the damn thing. Just a reminder that you don’t have to have the government's permission to handle your business…..

[Palmetto Duck]

So according to the article we “need” larger gators bc they wallow out holes in banks which fill with water during droughts to help other species and they eat smaller gators to control the population.....RIGHT. This is bullshit

[ccleroy]

To many hippie biologist giving opinions and being taken seriously by other hippie higher ups.

[JABIII]

We should have finished them off when we had the opportunity. Now they are bringing back bears, wolves, and fucking woolly mammoths. Not to mention sharks. Liberalism is a death cult...

[pee dee]

Kill them all

[Hogg]

Other than dike destruction, I have never been bothered by a gator.
I don't understand the hate.