Gator eliminator

Prescott hunter sets state record

Mike Cottingham killed the biggest alligator taken in Arkansas with this 13-foot, 3-inch giant he killed Sept. 14 in Hempstead County. The gator weighed 1,380 pounds, and Cottinham said the head alone weighed nearly 300 pounds.
Mike Cottingham killed the biggest alligator taken in Arkansas with this 13-foot, 3-inch giant he killed Sept. 14 in Hempstead County. The gator weighed 1,380 pounds, and Cottinham said the head alone weighed nearly 300 pounds.

— Hempstead County just produced the biggest alligator ever killed in Arkansas, and it was an honest-to-goodness, bona fide native.

Mike Cottingham of Prescott killed it Sept. 14 on a private hunting club downstream from Millwood Lake Dam. It measured 13 feet, 3 inches and weighed 1,380 pounds, besting the former record of 13-1. Cottingham said the head alone weighed nearly 300 pounds.

Kelly Irwin, herpetologist for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said the gator was probably about 35 years old.

“It takes 15 years for one to grow to 10 feet, and it takes 30 years for one to get to 12 feet,” Irwin said. “It takes maybe 35 or more for one to get to 13 feet.”

The alligators in most of the state were transplanted from other states in 1974-1984, Irwin added. Alligators were not extirpated in southwest Arkansas, so those in Grassy Lake and the surrounding area are native.

“That’s where we never lost our native gene pool,” Irwin said.

Cottingham’s gator was a mature bull. The maximum length for a female alligator is 8-9 feet, Irwin said, so anything longer than 10 feet is always a male.

Cottingham said he’d seen this particular giant before, but it’s always dicey to find the exact gator you want during a hunt. He said he actually tried to catch a smaller gator earlier in the night, but it got away. It was a good thing, he added, because his crew lacked a vital piece of equipment.

“Somebody just happened to look back and asked, ‘Where’s the gun at?’ ” Cottingham said. “Thank God we didn’t get no gator.”

You have to have a shotgun or bang stick to kill the gator after you get it under control. With no way to kill a snared gator, you’re stuck in a dangerous situation. The group, which included Eric Gonzales, Wes Bolden and Austin Robbins with Gary Chambliss running the trolling motor, returned for their armament and searched methodically for a gator of suitable size.

When hunting, it’s important to move slowly and be extremely quiet, Cottingham said. He said he prefers to use a dim light to reduce glare and to avoid alerting gators more than necessary. The light illuminates the red membrane in a gator’s eyes.

They found the big gator and tried to catch it, but it submerged when they got about 2 feet from it. Snaring a gator is tricky because of the way it sits in the water. The head is more or less flat on the surface, but the body suspends at an angle. Novices often make the mistake of pulling a snare straight back across the gator’s head, which allows it to pull free. Cottingham said you have to pull the snare down and then back up.

The group returned about 40 minutes later and found the big bull in deeper water. The snare found its mark, and the fight was on. The gator thrashed and rolled and tried to go to the bottom. Just when they thought it was spent, it got a second wind and fought anew.

“It was about a 20-minute fight,” Cottingham said. “It was awesome! I’ve been on a few others, but this was by far the best one. It took five of us to get him out of the water.”

Cottingham’s boat is specially made for gator hunting. It’s 18 feet long and 8 feet wide. It’s stout and stable, but Cottingham said the gator pulled it around like a cork.

“He kind of let up every now and then,” Cottingham said. “They tell you if they ever quit fighting, he’s trying to lie down on the bottom, so bring him back up. Every time we started pulling him up, he’d go crazy.”

It takes a world-class gator to impress Cottingham. He caught a 12-6 during the inaugural Arkansas alligator season in 2007. For a few hours, that one was also the state record. This one might hold that distinction for awhile.

“I don’t know how long it will last,” Cottingham said. “It might not last through the weekend. There are some big ones out there, but you still got to catch them. Those big ones didn’t get that big by being stupid.”

And little ones don’t get big by getting close to giant gators. When Cottingham skinned his gator, he found in its stomach the remains of a 5-foot gator.

“It’s definitely the biggest I’ve ever seen,” said Mike Harris, a wildlife biologist for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission who certified the kill. “I’ve never seen more than two or three over 13. An alligator isn’t like a whitetailed deer that grows to maturity in four or five years. It takes 30 or more years to grow an alligator like that. I’ve seen some close to that in length, but I’ve never seen anything remotely close to it in weight.”

Harris said Cottingham’s crew was excited when he arrived.

“To say the least, they were,” Harris said, “but when I got over there and saw what they had, I have to admit I was pretty excited myself.

Sports, Pages 31 on 09/23/2012

Upcoming Events