Flynt says conditions best yet for gator hunting

Season opens at noon Friday, statewide for first time

One of the great success stories of modern game management in Mississippi, alligator hunting, renews at noon on Friday when the 2013 season opens in all areas of the state.

Oddly enough, the growth of the sport has not been easy. Nature has rarely cooperated.

Consider this, in 2005, just two weeks before the first season opened to only 50 hunters on Barnett Reservoir, Hurricane Katrina hit Mississippi, impacting every square inch of land and every life in the state.

During the second weekend of that same season, the remnants of another monster, Hurricane Rita, was churning its way east and dumping heavy rain in the Pearl River after making a Texas landfall. Hunting conditions were, as one hunter said, “so bad, even the alligators hated it.”

It was a precursor of things to come over the next eight years.

In 2012, when the program experienced its greatest growth to 810 permits and all but Northeast Mississippi, Hurricane Isaac hit the Gulf Coast a little over a week before the season opened. Rivers that had been at extremely low levels from the dry summer quickly jumped several feet.

Between that first season in 2005 and the 2012 season, hunters have rarely seen a run of ideal conditions when gators were legal. From drought to tropical weather, from full moons to freaky fronts, it was never easy.

“Seems like it’s been something every year, at least in some areas where hunting was allowed, always,” said biologist Ricky Flynt who has led the alligator program from its beginning. “We either have a drought and the rivers are too low for hunters to get around, or we get tropical events or a lot of storms that push the rivers up and spread the alligators out over a bigger area.

“I don’t know which is worse, but neither one is good.”

So what about 2013, when the season truly goes statewide with a record 920 permits available?

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed, but we may be looking at ending our bad luck with water conditions this year,” Flynt said.“Across the state, we’re probably looking at the best (water conditions) we’ve ever had, assuming we don’t have storms hit between now and the end of the season.

“Even the moon phase is good. We’re coming out of the full moon phase and will be working toward the new moon, or dark moon period, as the 10-day season progresses. Some people question whether or not moon phases affect alligator behavior, but from my experience from catching and tagging alligators over many years, I can tell you that I have found that alligators are a lot easier to approach on dark moons.”

Flynt said it’s really a matter of common sense.

“Think about how it is for us on a full moon, how much easier we can see on the river,” he said. “You can almost see good enough to run without a light. Well, alligators are nocturnal creatures, which means their eyes see good in the dark. Give them that much more light from a full moon, and they can see you so much easier.”

Of course, it is still summer in Mississippi and it is sure to be extremely warm and humid. Hunters must still deal with that, but even then…

“You know what, that’s not a bad thing in alligator hunting,” Flynt said. “Gators are a lot more active in warmer temperatures. Some of the toughest nights have been those in late September on the coast when we’d have a cold front pushing the temperatures down into the 50s. They just don’t move, and when they don’t move, they can be hard to locate.”

Hunters have been scouting for weeks in preparation for Friday’s opener.

“I’ve heard both sides, from people telling me they aren’t finding alligators to people telling me they know where at least three 10-footers and up are hanging out,” Flynt said. “It will be interesting as always.”

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Alligator hunting

Public season: Opens at noon Friday (Aug. 30) and ends at noon Sunday, Sept. 9. Limit is two gators per permit, both of which must exceed 4 feet and only one of which can exceed 7 feet.

Private lands season: Opens at noon Friday (Aug. 30) and ends at noon Sunday, Sept. 23. Limits are based on available land and water.

Legal methods of capture: Snatch hooks on rod and reel or thrown by hand, archery, snares or harpoons attached to line and or buoys. Alligators must be captured and controlled before being killed. Captured and controlled is defined as having a noose or snare either around its neck or at least one leg in a matter in which the alligator is under control.

Share your Gator tales

Mississippi Sportsman magazine and MS-Sportsman.com invite you to share your alligator hunting stories. Visit MS-Sportsman.com and post your photos and captions, or send photos, brief accounts and contact information to Bobby Cleveland at bobbyc7754@yahoo.com.