This hunt story actually started about 16 years ago. Back in early 2005, I had recently returned from an African safari, and had just learned that my wife and dad had arranged for a second one as a gift for finishing my master’s degree. As part of “preparation,” I was, of course, obligated to watch a few “good ol’ boy hunting shows” about Africa.
One morning I was watching a crocodile hunt when my daughter Regan, then just two years old, wandered by the TV. When she saw the croc on the screen, she froze. She was enthralled by the big reptile, and has been fascinated by the idea of hunting one (or the American cousin) ever since then. Fast forward to last spring as she approached her high school graduation. When her mom and I asked her what she wanted as a present, there was no hesitation in her reply. “An alligator hunt,” she said immediately. So, the search was on for a suitable opportunity.
The obvious first choice was Florida, but the time and cost involved in traveling there was a definite negative. Enter Texas. Four years ago I traveled to Houston for work, and while there I visited a buddy in nearby Anahuac, which I learned is the self-named “Gator Capital of Texas.” During this visit, I was introduced to Mark Porter of Porter's Processing and Alligator Farm. By this time, the “farm” part was no more thanks to one of the many hurricanes that have ravaged the south Texas coast. But the processing and guiding side of the business was still going full swing. So a few months ago I reached out to Porter’s. I learned that Mark had retired and sold the business, but the new owners were going full throttle on game processing and guided hunts. I talked with Casey, the new owner, a couple times about a gator hunt. He told me that Mark would be willing to guide Regan, which sounded like a great time, so I booked a hunt and sent a deposit. We decided to go on the first weekend of gator season, which coincides with Anahuac’s Gator Fest and the Great Texas Gator Roundup.
The Texas alligator season opens on September 10, so I was on the road on Thursday the 9th after work. Regan, who traveled from her new “home” at college, and I met up with family in Lubbock to stay that night. We left very early Friday morning to make it down to Anahuac with time to settle in and get ready for the next day’s hunt. In Texas core alligator counties, gators must first be caught on a line, then dispatched. One is not allowed to set the bait until the first day of season, and one cannot set lines in the dark, so we only needed to make it down there in time to set a couple lines before dark on opening day. We met up with Mark and Casey at about 5:00. They had been scouting around and talking with landowners and told of us a couple good options. Our “Plan A” gator was a suspected 11-footer that had been seen several times in a brackish slough near a dock on the bay. The Plan B” gator was one estimated between 9 and 10 feet that had recently shown up in a rancher’s pond. His presence was not appreciated.
After touring the processing facility and gathering our gear, we first traveled to the Plan B gator pond. We met up with the landowner before setting the bait. We were excited to see that the alligator was still lazing in the pond. The set consists of a large hook attached to heavy cord, which is hung over the water with the bait, in this case a chicken quarter. Because there was no vegetation or other structure from which to hang bait at this pond, we first installed a T-post that would be used to support a pole that would then suspend the baited hook over the water. Here’s Regan driving in the T-post.
After the T-post was installed, she and Casey made up the hook and line. If you look closely or zoom in, you will see the gator’s head between my ring finger and pinky, just to the right of the bamboo pole.
With the line made up and the hook baited, we then used a long bamboo pole to suspend the bait over the water. You can still see the gator here, just above the top of Regan's hat.
With that site set, we hopped back in the truck and headed over to the location of our Plan A gator. Here was no sign of an alligator, but we set a bait in similar fashion.
With baits set, we grabbed dinner at a local place (where we had fried alligator as an appetizer in preparation!) and then went back to my buddy’s place for a good night’s rest. We met up with Mark the next morning at sunrise to check the baits. We were pretty optimistic about the Plan B gator, but needed to scout Plan A first because he was supposed to be the larger alligator. When we got to the bait site, we noted that the cord was down in the water, but not pulled tight against the T-post. A bad sign. Regan pulled the cord up anyway, but found only an empty hook. At least the local crabs ate well.
On to Plan B about 15 minutes away. When we got to the ranch pond, we immediately saw two things. First, the gator was still in the pond. Second, the line was down and pulled tight in his direction. Gator on!
As soon as Regan started easing back on the cord, the alligator came alive! He was not at all happy about being pulled from the depths.
It took Regan several minutes, and a break to get gloves, to wrestle the gator from the open water up to the bank where he could be dispatched with a small caliber rifle. She dragged him partway up on the bank, with him thrashing and splashing, then handed the cord off to me so she could swing around the side for a good clean shot. At the shot, the gator rolled partway over and gave a little wave with his front leg, the sign of a good hit. Regan pulled him the rest of the way out of the water.
Then she put another round into his spine from directly above, severing the spine and ensuring a fast, clean kill.
Before loading and transporting the gator, we checked the sex (which I won’t show a picture of; it was a male) and attached the required CITES tag to the tail.
From there we took the alligator to the Roundup for check-in. They confirm the sex, take measurements, and document all the hunter’s information. Regan’s gator measured 9’5”, and probably weighed about 225 pounds, a respectable alligator. From left to right, Regan, me, Plan B gator, Mark, and Casey.
Immediately after this picture, the alligator was placed into cold storage to later be processed for the meat and the hide. Regan plans to display the skull and tanned hide in her dorm room at college (we’ll see how that goes over!). We brought some of the meat home with us and will have a gator fry then next time she’s home from college.
With the real fun out of the way, we enjoyed the rest of the day at Gator Fest, which is like a county fair, but with alligators! We saw a bunch of gators, including a giant 11’6” male taken by another young lady hunter. That was the biggest we saw, but later heard of one that measured 12’10”! A true monster. For a mid-afternoon cool-down, we took an airboat ride with the craziest driver there. He treated us to numerous drenchings during our few hectic minutes aboard his airboat.
Later that evening, we met Randy Rogers before he went on stage as the night’s headlining entertainer.
In summary, this was a very interesting experience, a combination of super-sized fishing and a bit of hunting. We had a great time, and can’t say enough good things about Mark, Casey, and the crew at Porter’s Processing. They made us feel right at home. I wouldn’t hesitate to return to hunt with them again or to recommend them to anyone looking for a new experience. Mark is a wealth of information on alligators, having been involved in the business since 1987. He knows all about their population dynamics, sustainable harvest, farming, everything. I learned a lot about gators in the short time we were with him. There's a lot to learn at Gator Fest too. This was a very educational experience for Regan and me. You should try it!
The obvious first choice was Florida, but the time and cost involved in traveling there was a definite negative. Enter Texas. Four years ago I traveled to Houston for work, and while there I visited a buddy in nearby Anahuac, which I learned is the self-named “Gator Capital of Texas.” During this visit, I was introduced to Mark Porter of Porter's Processing and Alligator Farm. By this time, the “farm” part was no more thanks to one of the many hurricanes that have ravaged the south Texas coast. But the processing and guiding side of the business was still going full swing. So a few months ago I reached out to Porter’s. I learned that Mark had retired and sold the business, but the new owners were going full throttle on game processing and guided hunts. I talked with Casey, the new owner, a couple times about a gator hunt. He told me that Mark would be willing to guide Regan, which sounded like a great time, so I booked a hunt and sent a deposit. We decided to go on the first weekend of gator season, which coincides with Anahuac’s Gator Fest and the Great Texas Gator Roundup.
The Texas alligator season opens on September 10, so I was on the road on Thursday the 9th after work. Regan, who traveled from her new “home” at college, and I met up with family in Lubbock to stay that night. We left very early Friday morning to make it down to Anahuac with time to settle in and get ready for the next day’s hunt. In Texas core alligator counties, gators must first be caught on a line, then dispatched. One is not allowed to set the bait until the first day of season, and one cannot set lines in the dark, so we only needed to make it down there in time to set a couple lines before dark on opening day. We met up with Mark and Casey at about 5:00. They had been scouting around and talking with landowners and told of us a couple good options. Our “Plan A” gator was a suspected 11-footer that had been seen several times in a brackish slough near a dock on the bay. The Plan B” gator was one estimated between 9 and 10 feet that had recently shown up in a rancher’s pond. His presence was not appreciated.
After touring the processing facility and gathering our gear, we first traveled to the Plan B gator pond. We met up with the landowner before setting the bait. We were excited to see that the alligator was still lazing in the pond. The set consists of a large hook attached to heavy cord, which is hung over the water with the bait, in this case a chicken quarter. Because there was no vegetation or other structure from which to hang bait at this pond, we first installed a T-post that would be used to support a pole that would then suspend the baited hook over the water. Here’s Regan driving in the T-post.
After the T-post was installed, she and Casey made up the hook and line. If you look closely or zoom in, you will see the gator’s head between my ring finger and pinky, just to the right of the bamboo pole.
With the line made up and the hook baited, we then used a long bamboo pole to suspend the bait over the water. You can still see the gator here, just above the top of Regan's hat.
With that site set, we hopped back in the truck and headed over to the location of our Plan A gator. Here was no sign of an alligator, but we set a bait in similar fashion.
With baits set, we grabbed dinner at a local place (where we had fried alligator as an appetizer in preparation!) and then went back to my buddy’s place for a good night’s rest. We met up with Mark the next morning at sunrise to check the baits. We were pretty optimistic about the Plan B gator, but needed to scout Plan A first because he was supposed to be the larger alligator. When we got to the bait site, we noted that the cord was down in the water, but not pulled tight against the T-post. A bad sign. Regan pulled the cord up anyway, but found only an empty hook. At least the local crabs ate well.
On to Plan B about 15 minutes away. When we got to the ranch pond, we immediately saw two things. First, the gator was still in the pond. Second, the line was down and pulled tight in his direction. Gator on!
As soon as Regan started easing back on the cord, the alligator came alive! He was not at all happy about being pulled from the depths.
It took Regan several minutes, and a break to get gloves, to wrestle the gator from the open water up to the bank where he could be dispatched with a small caliber rifle. She dragged him partway up on the bank, with him thrashing and splashing, then handed the cord off to me so she could swing around the side for a good clean shot. At the shot, the gator rolled partway over and gave a little wave with his front leg, the sign of a good hit. Regan pulled him the rest of the way out of the water.
Then she put another round into his spine from directly above, severing the spine and ensuring a fast, clean kill.
Before loading and transporting the gator, we checked the sex (which I won’t show a picture of; it was a male) and attached the required CITES tag to the tail.
From there we took the alligator to the Roundup for check-in. They confirm the sex, take measurements, and document all the hunter’s information. Regan’s gator measured 9’5”, and probably weighed about 225 pounds, a respectable alligator. From left to right, Regan, me, Plan B gator, Mark, and Casey.
Immediately after this picture, the alligator was placed into cold storage to later be processed for the meat and the hide. Regan plans to display the skull and tanned hide in her dorm room at college (we’ll see how that goes over!). We brought some of the meat home with us and will have a gator fry then next time she’s home from college.
With the real fun out of the way, we enjoyed the rest of the day at Gator Fest, which is like a county fair, but with alligators! We saw a bunch of gators, including a giant 11’6” male taken by another young lady hunter. That was the biggest we saw, but later heard of one that measured 12’10”! A true monster. For a mid-afternoon cool-down, we took an airboat ride with the craziest driver there. He treated us to numerous drenchings during our few hectic minutes aboard his airboat.
Later that evening, we met Randy Rogers before he went on stage as the night’s headlining entertainer.
In summary, this was a very interesting experience, a combination of super-sized fishing and a bit of hunting. We had a great time, and can’t say enough good things about Mark, Casey, and the crew at Porter’s Processing. They made us feel right at home. I wouldn’t hesitate to return to hunt with them again or to recommend them to anyone looking for a new experience. Mark is a wealth of information on alligators, having been involved in the business since 1987. He knows all about their population dynamics, sustainable harvest, farming, everything. I learned a lot about gators in the short time we were with him. There's a lot to learn at Gator Fest too. This was a very educational experience for Regan and me. You should try it!
