PORT LAVACA WAVE (Texas) 19 August 10 Local trio enjoys going after the big gator (Melony Overton)
Full time hunting guide Jake Huddleston can size up an alligator by looking at the length between the creature’s eyes to its snout to know whether it is a big 13-footer or a small fry.
“Thirteen feet, three inches is the biggest gator we got, but the state record is 14 feet, four inches found out at Lake Texana,” Huddleston said.
Huddleston guides hunts for wild hog, waterfowl, goose and dove, and he also organizes bay fishing trips. But it may be alligator hunting that provides he and his clients with the most excitement and adrenaline rush.
Huddleston has his own guide service, H2O Extreme. He also guides with Kevin Henke, who is a rice farmer, and Cory Housworth, who works for Alcoa, with H&H Guide Service. From Sept. 10-30, the three are on the prowl for alligators in coastal bayous, creeks, rivers, streams, ditches and marshes on private property in three counties during alligator season.
“I like things that are a little bit dangerous. It seems like all three of us - me, Kevin and Cory - can look at an area and know an alligator is there,” Huddleston said. “Some clients are excited. Some are a little bit scared and nervous, but in the end they are always excited. We take out all ages.”
Since the season is so short, the trio is out in the thick of it all 20 days to harvest gators, day and night.
Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist Kevin Kriegel, with the Guadalupe Delta Wildlife Management Area, said private landowners can purchase alligator hide tags at the GDWMA office, located at 13815 S. Hwy 35 south of Port Lavaca, from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. on Aug. 26.
Kriegel said Texas has issued these permits to landowners whose property is within alligator habitat since 1984. Landowners in turn can lease their property to guide services.
“The American alligator was under the Endangered Species Act by 1967. After about 17 years of protection, we began to harvest the wild alligators again through Texas Parks and Wildlife,” Kriegel said. “The state issues the permits as a management tool, for landowners to manage the alligators on their property. The American alligator’s historic habitat is along the coast, but the population has increased over the years moving more inland.”
The tags are issued each year by the GDWMA, which covers Calhoun, Victoria, Jackson and Refugio counties. TPW issues the tags to land owners depending on the types and amounts of alligator habitat on the property. Kriegel’s office will issue between 300-350 permits a year.
“The number of permits vary from year to year. Some landowners don’t have anyone who wants to hunt it. It depends on the weather and the water may be dried up on their property. In the bottom, sometimes we are flooded and that makes hunting alligators a nightmare because the water is so deep and they’re scattered,” he said.
Huddleston, who grew up in Calhoun County, has been hunting since he was 3-years-old, beginning with his father, David Huddleston. He has been hunting with Henke and Housworth for 12 years.
The hunt does not come without its challenges.
“Scouting for the gators and setting the line can be difficult, but we always get our gators,” Huddleston said. “I like being out there in that environment, but they don’t always bite. You have to wait to try to get them to bite.”
The alligators are caught on a large hook that is baited with a rotting chicken, steak or other meat. The hook is tied to strong rope, which is attached to a tree or a metal stake until the hunters arrive. The alligator, described by Huddleston as usually docile and curious, will not give up the meal without a fight.
Huddleston, who is a stout 6 feet 2 inches tall, and has an alligator tattoo on his arm, along with Henke and Housworth, make formidable adversaries, but they still have a tough time pulling in a rolling, thrashing beast that can weigh up to 1,000 pounds close to the boat where they shoot it.
“You have to be aware of your surroundings. You have to know it is a dangerous animal,” Huddleston said. “They can become aggressive if someone has been feeding them. They expect to be fed. They get aggressive if they have babies or if they get cornered. Curiosity and their stomach are their downfall.”
Sometimes the gators get too big for their scaly britches and take the upper hand. Housworth knows all to well how a hunting trip can go awry with a determined alligator.
He began alligator hunting at age 19.
“It sounded interesting and different. I knew some people who had property,” he said. “My first was 11 feet. I thought, ‘What do we do with it now?’ We had to skin it ourselves. It’s a lot of work if you don’t know how to do it. It still takes a while, even when you know what you’re doing.”
The processing packages differ depending on what the client wants. The hunter may elect to harvest an alligator, but has no interest in the hides, skins, meat or other alligator products. Others may want the gator skinned, have the hide tanned, process 10 pounds of meat and have the head mounted.
The gators are kept in a walk-in cooler until they can be processed in Anahuac. The hides are made into belts, purses and shoes.
What Housworth has learned about alligators over the years is that if he catches a big one in one area, he will catch another. They are also sluggish during a cold front. Gators can also try to take you with them.
“I had one pull me off the boat, but I got out in time before I was bit. He was on a line that got untied,” he said.
But the gator did not get away as planned. Housworth was able to pull the gator back to the boat.
“Hunting alligators is not something you can do by yourself. It takes muscle to get a 12 foot alligator in the boat,” Henke said. “They are not as ferocious as one might think. For the most part, they are passive, but they are still wild animals. If you don’t respect it, you will pay the price.”
Because of the years he has invested in it, Henke said the thrill of the alligator hunt has left him for the most part, but the excitement comes when he sees a hunter bag their first gator.
“We can’t always guarantee a size, but we can definitely put them on alligator,” he said.
Housworth agrees with Henke.
“You never know how big the gator is on the end of a line. It’s not the same old thing. You get to do something different. It’s exciting to pull one in, have him splash and thrash around,” he said.
Local trio enjoys going after the big gator