Mating Season Is April/May
Babies hatch out Aug./Sept. They can be very aggressive
during those times. KK
They can be aggressive
before mating season. If they think you might be a gator and competing for territory, you might get chased. I did.
Mating is April…in the Everglades (which is all I know about my gator attack after asking the rangers “why”) but the guys are bluffing now.
If you paddle up streams blindly prepared to have to change your clothes. Those mangrove tunnels are hard to figure out where the gators will be…cant see round the bends.
yup
They get used to seeing paddled craft alright. Fact is many paddlers feed them lunch scraps. I took this pic at Wakulla Springs recently of this big boy. He was content to stay right there until we rafted up to eat lunch. He knew exactly what was going on and slipped into the water and waited near our canoes for handouts.
URL=http://family.webshots.com/photo/2705580470104282821BpMFVk]http://thumb1.webshots.net/t/52/752/5/80/47/2705580470104282821BpMFVk_th.jpg
If they slap their head and tail
hard into the water, it is a male who is marking his territory. Let the gator have it - paddle around.
Only happened once to me.
Agressive gators…
are a very rare thing.
Been paddling central Florida for 15 years, and have yet to see agression.
We paddle year 'round, almost weekly.
Now, I’ve seen them warn me that I am on their territory, or getting too close, but only a warning.
They have roared at me (once), hissed at me, arched thier bodies at me, and generaly let me know I am upseting them.
I give them time to go away, and they do.
Be respectful, it is their home you’re visiting.
T
alligators can be agressive and
may defend themselves, but they do not eat people and have some fear of people
you are all missing the point
that is you may indeed be charged.
Has anyone actually paddled a narrow Florida creek with mangrove tunnels?
There often is less than ten feet in width. Just passing (on the opposite shore) can set a territorial male off.
Ask the rangers at Everglades National Park…they have seen this before…
My conclusion after over ten years boating with gators is that you cannot assume one will just slide into the water.
They can get up on all fours and run.
Pammy you are wrong again.
Do some more reading
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/UW230
Yes, I paddle narrow creeks,
and mangrove mazes. Seeing aligators in the salt water is less common than in the fresh.
Even in the narrow shallow creeks, they find ways to disappear when given the chance.
I have never been charged at, nor has anyone I know.
Yes, they can run, and manuver quickly, but real world interaction with these critters leads me to enjoy, and not fear them.
T
Gators
Avoid paddling toward sunset and night paddling. Manatee’s are a hazard as far as upsetting your kayak and putting you in the water .
Dale
I dont fear them
and Gopher Creek is pretty freshwater…there is no connection to the Gulf of Mexico. It is connected to Cannon Bay but is supplied by inland sources.
Gators they are wild animals and it was an awesome experience if a little unsettling.
Gopher sometimes is packed with fish in cold and windy weather and I wonder if fishermen habituation or the expectation of fish had anything to do with the charge. It had been cold for the three days before with temps just above freezing and high winds.
I echo your post completely
I have been paddling with them and studying them for thirty years and have never seen one charge yet.
If you get one cornered where it has no escape route, it will face you, open it’s mouth and hiss.
A few of the many gator tales I can relate:
I was pulling a canoe through a three foot wide mangrove tunnel where we ran out of water and only had about a inch of it. The thick Mangrove routes on each side were like a picket fence. I rounded a hairpin turn and came face to face with a big bull. Before I could even say “oh s–t” it exploded up and over the roots and off into the surrrounding mangrove forest where you or I could never even get to.
- another time with a canoe we were just entering a tiny mangrove tunnel from a small open pond, and from a distance a saw a gator in the opening submerge.
I thought the water was deep, and figured it would be long gone by the time we got there, but it was not and unbenounced to me the gator was just lying on the bottom. As we went over it, I felt the canoe rub on something that I assumed was a log and pushed my paddle down to push us off of it. Once again the water exploded, the canoe lifted in the air and a gator took off out the front from under us. It ran down the tunnel, until it was able to get a side branch where it disappeared.
The stories about leaving the area if there are babys around are BS too.
We have more times then I can count sat amongst a bunch of little seven inch ones while the mother is either swimming around us or lying on the bank dutyfully watching us and them.
Cheers,
JackL
No BS
Jack :
I have no doubt that you have encountered immature gators without problems from the mother, but please do not belive this is BS. Baby gators emerging from the egg make a croaking sound which gets the mother’s attention. She gathers them up gently in her mouth and takes them into the water. After that she stays near for several weeks, then they are on their own. So, you see it is possible to encounter immature gators without mom, but if she has not yet left, you will have to account with her about being there and it can be unpleasant.
I personally don’t wait to find out. One needs be especially careful if the young ones start a loud croaking alarm call. This will surely alert mom, if she is still around!
I’ve been charged and know people
– Last Updated: Mar-09-09 3:12 PM EST –
I've been charged and know people that have had a boat holed.
I live on a stretch where they are extremely abundant and in some cases well habituated to people. Most just sink out of sight when I pass but there are always a couple of big gators along my workout routes on the St. Johns that I have to take care to avoid during the warm months. The problem animals swim rapidly on the surface toward me. I've never stuck around long enough to find out if it is a bluff or not. It doesn't matter what side of the river I'm on either. I can be in the middle of the river or on the other side and they will approach. I did slow down enough once so that one could keep pace with me and he followed me for about 500m. These aren't females guarding nest either. So far these encounters have all been large males primarily during mating season.
I ought to add that feeding is a big problem in this area and that the river gets a huge amount of use so the gators here are well habituated to humans.
I didn’t say anything about going near
the nest, and yes I have gotton close enough to the new borns in the water on numerous occassions to hear their croaking while the mother is watching with a weary eye.
Jack
I wonder how much
paddling a long green object looks like another gator to a gator?
The gators wont tell me…I know they cant read…the long green object had Hemlock Canoe Works on it.
It never occurred to me that I would be harmed. I envisioned sitting in a mangrove with three quarters of a canoe and a surly neighbor with a mouthful of carbon fiber splinters.
And get a ride later from a fisherperson.
How about if you hide in the mangroves
and shoot the feeders?
Where do you get that?
posted details on a previous question on alligators:
When I was 12, a bull alligator ate one of my peers, on the St. Johns.
'Gators are unpredictable; they DO eat people from time to time, and if they are incapable of eating somebody, the bacteria in their mouths is so toxic that fatal toxemia is possible only hours after being bitten.
No mangroves on this side of the county
– Last Updated: Mar-10-09 10:21 AM EST –
Mangroves in the eastern part of the county haven't got many gators. The St. Johns were I live on the western side of the county is bottomland hardwood swamp with gator densities rivaling Lake Jesup. During droughts it's worse because they all come off the floodplain and hang out in the main channels. When the densities get really high the bulls get really edgy in season regardless of whether they've been fed. They like the river bends and 2-3 big guys will often spend the better part of the spring and summer battle over prime spots and they seem to regard sprint k1s as another rival based on the displays I've seen.
Regarding the feeders. I've gone ballistic a couple of times when I paddle around a corner back in a dead river and there are a couple of tourons on a rental houseboat or pontoon chucking scraps to gators. I've generally impolitely suggest that since they treat those gators like tame pets they should be willing to go swimming with them.
Gopher Creek
– Last Updated: Mar-10-09 12:26 PM EST –
Gopher Creek in the ENP is connected to the gulf via two creeks, one of which runs from Rookery Bay. This is during the high water months of the year, so you are somewhat correct. During this time of year, the male gators become very territorial and a bit more bold than usual. I've paddled ENP for years and have no encounter except once, on Gopher Creek. One approached my tan Wenonah canoe from his resting site and actually got into the water toward my boat. Not sure if it was the boat or the fact I had a 400mm telephoto lens pointed squarely at him.
Do you think in this case
that the heavy use of Gopher Creek by fishermen affects the gators behavior?