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Riding An Alligator

Riding An Alligator image
Parent Issue
Day
4
Month
September
Year
1903
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

How Hunters of the Big Lizards Have Sport with Their Captives. 

 

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Alligator hunting in Florida originally began as sport, and it was not until someone tanned the skin and found that it could be put to a commercial use that the animal was considered from a financial standpoint. Carried on, as it must be, at night, owing to the animal sleeping in the daytime, the hunt is very picturesque. In many places the hunters fasten bicycle lamps on their caps and when the animal is attracted by the light pick it off by hitting it in the eye with a rifle ball. Torches are quite generally used. Sometimes the animal is called to the surface by the hunter imitating the noise made by a young alligator, which is similar to the grunt of a pig, but much fainter. 

 

In catching them alive they are frequently lassoed while asleep on the bank or on a log. When asleep in their holes in the mud they are occasionally drawn out by means of an iron hook. These holes are easily found, as the animal cuts the grass all around them, while the trail from the water through the long grass is easily followed. Sometimes the grass is set afire, and the animals are lassoed as they flounder toward the water. After the alligator is caught the hunter in sport sometimes mounts it, using the reptile's fore feet and legs as reins. It is needless to say that the hunter keeps his seat through the struggles of the infuriated reptile, and if care is not used the fun may develop into tragedy for the rash rider.