Alligators
I've had some interesting debates about if using a handgun for alligator hunting is considered handgun hunting. We can't shoot open water on public lands but the general consensus is if you refuse to use a rifle and you set up a pistol for it, it counts, but that's a debate for later. A rife makes it easy for getting the muzzle real close and not having to aim to hit that quarter sized spot behind the head.
My wife drew tags this year to hunt near a lake that feeds into NW side of Lake Pontchartrain, which is the north side of New Orleans, and I got a helpers license. We got 2 of our nephews to join and they went crazy over it. That was probably the best part.
When I got to the second line, I told my wife I wanted to fight one alone (personal thing) and I got more than I bargained for. It nearly pulled me in and I had to go full catchers position on the bow to keep from falling in. Im 6' 3" 210# and it jerked me so much, you can see my wife nearly loose her balance in the lower floor of the boat in the video.
The second picture was a screenshot from another family member nearby. The ripples were from how fast we were being towed by the gator, and we arent in a small boat.
The last photos is a "don't try this at home" example. He rolled the line all around him and I had to reach in and grab his back leg to get him to move and show his head.
Took a shot with my Glock 17 (sitting in front of the small gator). That gun is very special to me and I may write an article about that. He was just under 10' and 300#.
In the swamp people TV show I was just watching (to get in the mood), that same gator weighs about 800#. I may discuss some of that too in an article. Sadly I don't have a scale that could handle this one but alligator hunters are like fishermen, that tape measure seems to have smaller increments as it goes 😉
Nice very cool story !