Conservation: Florida Alligators in a Different Light

by
posted on March 7, 2017
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
gator_conservation_f.jpg

Last summer’s tragic death of a 2-year-old seized by an alligator at a Disney resort touched off a flurry of press coverage—much of it wildly uninformed—about the risk these animals pose and what the state is doing about it. Since hunter-driven conservation was a key factor in stabilizing the alligator population, and since hunting remains a vital managment tool, this discussion involves us, and so here are some facts.

At present, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) estimates there are about 1.3 million resident wild alligators, up sharply from a low in the early 1960s that prompted the closure of legal hunting. The alligator population has been on the rebound since, and hunting seasons were reinstated in the 1980s.

Florida’s human population has also spiked over the past half century, rising from 4.95 million in 1960 to about 20.4 million today, and so managing alligators has been an extensive undertaking with the dual objectives of ensuring the species’ continued existence while at the same time protecting humans, pets and livestock from this potentially dangerous animal. Prior to the child’s death, alligator attacks in the state had caused 25 fatalities and 257 injuries requiring medical treatment dating back to 1948.

Since 2010 regulated hunting has accounted for an annual statewide harvest of about 10,000-12,000 alligators, a number augmented by some 8,000 or so nuisance animals killed yearly by licensed trappers, who are called in to remove those endangering people. In 2016, the state issued 6,128 permits, but that doesn’t include hunts on private lands conducted under a separate management plan. Permit hunts are scheduled from mid-August through Nov. 1, whereas private-land hunts can occur year-round and involve the use of firearms. Ample hunting opportunities exist, and outfitters say the demand is growing.

Not to be overlooked is the associated license and permit fees that earn the state government a healthy yearly revenue stream, and that amount is exceeded by additional economic activity directly resulting from hunting.

What’s also a fact is that alligator hunting in Florida and Louisiana drives commerce in a way that’s unique to how big-game animals are customarily managed in the United States.

Where it’s largely forbidden to sell the meat, organs and hides of wild deer, elk, bears, etc., that’s not the case when one kills a gator in our two principal alligator states. In Florida, when the kill is handled by a licensed processor, nuisance trappers and sport hunters alike are free to sell whatever parts they choose. Likely that’s a holdover from days when the goal was to eradicate these threats to livestock and human safety, and back then, the income from gator hides and meat was important to rural communities.

But it’s starkly opposed to our prevailing conservation ethic, which holds that such economic value puts big-game populations in jeopardy.

Last fall our colleague Stan Yates (American Hunter’s Southeast sales executive) and his wife, Rebecca, each drew permits to hunt a unit near their home in northern Florida. The permits came with two tags apiece, whereupon both husband and wife scored big with respective 13- and 12-foot bull gators. Then son Jackson was able to use one tag (legally transferred) to take another big one. While the family enjoys eating the meat, the bounty from three animals weighing 500-plus pounds proved such a windfall that they sold some of it online, where Stan reports finding ready demand.

Thanks to “Swamp People” and similar TV shows, such practice is not exactly breaking news, and in the 30 years since Florida reopened alligator hunting, has it hurt the population? My view is that Sunshine State wildlife managers have charted a creative course that sustains a key natural resource while minimizing conflicts with the fast-growing human presence. Might there be something here we can carry over to managing other game that tends to be destructive or poses a threat to the human population? Future conservation could very well depend on equally creative solutions.

Latest

LEDE John&Jim
LEDE John&Jim

Member's Hunt: A Tale of Two Moose

This month's Member's Hunt comes from John R. Bean of Tucson, Ariz.

Breeding Duck Numbers Decline Again in ND

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s 78th-annual spring breeding duck survey conducted in May showed an index of about 2.66-million birds, down from 2.9 million in 2024 and 3.4 million in 2023.

2025-26 Pennsylvania Migratory Game Bird Seasons Set

Pennsylvania’s 2025-26 migratory game bird seasons have been set. There are two significant changes to waterfowl seasons. The regular season daily bag limit for Canada geese in the Atlantic Population Zone has decreased from three to one, and for northern pintail, there will be a flat daily bag limit of three.

New for 2025: Christensen Arms Evoke in 450 Bushmaster

Christensen Arms has announced the release of the Evoke rifle chambered in powerful 450 Bushmaster.

Oklahoma Wildlife Commission Passes Rules for Nonresident Hunters, Public Hunting Lands

New emergency rules and resolutions for public hunting lands were approved last month by the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission.

First Look: Premium and Premium Deluxe Die Sets From Redding Reloading Equipment

Redding Reloading Equipment has expanded its Premium Die Set and Premium Deluxe Die Set product lines, including over seventy of the most popular cartridges in the industry today.

Interests



Get the best of American Hunter delivered to your inbox.