Give the Gator a Hand...(Alligator Attack)

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10-foot gator bites off man's hand in canal | WOAI.COM: San Antonio News


This should go well with the snake and bear topics.

Any ideas about the best places to shoot an attacking alligator or crocodile? I'd prefer a .357 or bigger sidearm, but suspect that a .38 Plus P might work if it penetrated well.

This article says that docs might be able to re-attach the severed hand, recovered from the dead gator's stomach. But a later article said that they decided that it contains too many toxins. I feel for this guy, but what sort of moron swims in a place like that?! :rolleyes:

Tarzan used to stab crocs, as did Jungle Jim. But a report some years ago in, "South African Panorama" said that a rescuer had to stab a big Nile croc in the eye, as the blade wouldn't penetrate its armor elsewhere. The hero did save the victim. Apparently, no one had a gun, although the sport fishermen involved should have known to take one. They were of European descent, so I'm guessing the knife was of good quality, not a Bantu soft iron blade.

If anyone knows of a successful case of a crocodilian being stabbed, please post. But I bet that you almost have to blast the brain on those things to kill one quickly.
 
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A feller just outside Gainesville FL had his hand bitten off yesterday when he tried to pull a gator out from under his mobile (yet stationary) home.

They recovered the appendage from the gator's stomach.
 
Just a short dive from where I live. Pretty sad to lose a hand, let alone like that.

A 12 gauge or bang stick between the eyes usually does it. They do not have a very large brain.
 
above the eye you will see a bump like a prune - one for each side - that is the brain cells connected by a stem - shoot the eye will not kill them but poke a stick in those bumps will - one of the ONLY soft spots on gator - and where did I learn this from? - in high school I helped my friends in summer at The Alligator Gardens - we wrestled them - but you people behind the fence did not know they had no teeth or claws!!! - they came from the convent -3 nuns were in Florida and brought 2 baby gators home in shoebox - kept em in tub and fed hamburger meat and the like with no bones!!! the reptiles need the calcium from the bones - their teeth and claws fell out and never grew back - they became to large to feed and HIDE from Mother Superior so they were donated to Zoo and placed in The Gardens - the other gators would have killed them - need to add that to my accomplishments - Alligator Wrestling - by way the tail still hurt when they hit you with it!!!
 
While Texas is quite civilized, and free of most noxious four legged critters, we do have alleygators. St. Charles Bay is full of gators and occasionally one will cruise down our canal, looking for eats. I havn't had to shoot one. They stay in the canal, and I don't swim there.
 
Harrison said:
While Texas is quite civilized, and free of most noxious four legged critters, we do have alleygators. St. Charles Bay is full of gators and occasionally one will cruise down our canal, looking for eats. I havn't had to shoot one. They stay in the canal, and I don't swim there.
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Gators occasionally make the news by appearing in a lake or stream around the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. People usually panic, even if the reptile is only 3-4 feet long. But there are probably larger ones around here, and East Texas has more and bigger ones.

The problem with using a 12 gauge or a bang stick is that few of us have those to hand when one might grab someone, or ourselves. We'd probably have to rely on a concealed handgun or a knife. Of course, hunters or divers will have better ordnance, if the diver has a bang stick.

I know that a shark has a small, Y-shaped brain, too, and puncturing it is critical to a really quick kill. But they have gills and a tummy that can sometimes be unzipped with a strong, very sharp knife. I've encountered a few examples of divers successfully knifing sharks, but none yet of one doing in a crocodilian with a blade. But the guy I mentioned who knifed the croc in the eye did save his pal, and received a lifesaving award from the government.


What's the law on bang sticks? I read somewhere that they aren't even made anymore. Can that be true? Why, if so?

T-Star
 
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Be aware that they are surprisingly fast on land, quick acceleration; they will grab a pet off the lawn in a blink.
I am told that they are very good judges of size and have no fear of anything smaller then themselves. A local Nature Park has a pond full of ten footers, no 9 ½’ and no 10 1/2’, all 10.
 
oldRoger said:
Be aware that they are surprisingly fast on land, quick acceleration; they will grab a pet off the lawn in a blink.
I am told that they are very good judges of size and have no fear of anything smaller then themselves. A local Nature Park has a pond full of ten footers, no 9 ½’ and no 10 1/2’, all 10.
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Who gets the dubious honor of measuring them?

BTW, I understand that Florida and maybe some other areas have some caimans that were released pets. I used to work in a pet shop that sold black caimans, and I can tell you, at even a foot long, they have a nasty bite and are quick to use it. They have a rep for being meaner than gators. Some reach 20 feet in their native South America.

In one of Siemel's books, his wife was pictured with one she'd killed with a bow. The Brazilian name for them was "jacare".

T-Star
 
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There are a fair amount of alligators within 40 miles of where I live.

They are not to be "toyed" with.
 
The one that was living in the retention pond in front of our house was just killed recently. The local conservation agency (DNR or whatnot) apparently shot it after it resisted efforts to be relocated. Apparently the PMO called it in after the gator came after someone's child. The playground is actually right in front of that pond, though there is a nice, but faded "Beware of Alligators" sign. Probably explains why the playground has been empty lately. I somehow missed all the excitement/fun, I think I was quite literally at lunch when the events transpired.

Commercial alligator farms are all over LA and Florida, despite the efforts of PETA and what not, the things make wonderful watch bands, holsters, and belts. They also taste sort of like gamey chicken. However, investing in such enterprices in the midwest proved an unsound theory, cold blooded creatures and all that. Don't ask.

Anyway, they're strong and mean. Spearing or clubbing senseless (hit the snout if I remember right) might be more efficient than shooting one. I believe the one up front met his end via a .40 caliber Glock though.
 
Some guy who edited some editions of a DBI annual shot some with a snub M-19 or 66 and 125 grain Hornady .357 ammo. It worked for him, but I don't know how large they were.

T-Star
 
Some well placed shots of probably any handgun 38 and up would probably dispatch one. The problem being, as mention is they are lightning fast. If the mouth is wide open and he is hissing there is no easy head shot and all you are gonna do is make them madder. They would have to be flat, and docile to get a good shot. There are Gators all around where I live. Only a .45min-1hr drive from the Glades and Alligator Alley I-75.

I would prefer a 12 gauge with buck shot.:D
 
Just cleansing the gene pool. What idiot swims in a canal in Florida at night? Unfortunately some lessons in life are painful some even fatal.
 
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