Arkansas Game and Fish Commission held the annual alligator hunt permit draw on July 6 and 108 hunters will pursue one of Arkansas’s largest big game species.
The hunt, scheduled for Sept. 21-24 and Sept. 28-Oct. 1, takes place only at night, and participants must locate and subdue their alligator from a boat before killing it. No baiting, electronic calls or hooking of alligators is allowed.
All permit winners must attend a hunter orientation class before being issued their permits. Orientation classes will be held from 9 a.m. until noon on Aug. 4 in Hope and Pine Bluff. A makeup orientation will be held from 9 a.m. until noon, Aug. 11 at Game and Fish headquarters in Little Rock.
At orientation, permit holders will be issued a federal permit, which allows them to move the alligator out of state for processing or tanning once they have properly checked it. Mark Barbee, wildlife biologist in Monticello who helps coordinate the alligator hunt, said this should help cut down on paperwork and wait time for successful hunters.
“In years past, you could use an in-state person to process the meat or tan the hide, but people who wanted to get their ’gator mounted from a shop that was out of state had to wait for their federal permit to be issued,” Barbee said. “Now they can just call in the harvest that night, check it online and the check-in process is complete.”
Successful private land at-large applicants must provide written permission from the landowner and a map of their proposed hunt area at orientation.
Barbee said hunters learn more than just the basic regulations of the hunt at orientation. Class leaders will offer some helpful advice gained through eleven years of alligator hunts in Arkansas.
“It’s a nighttime hunt, so safety and familiarity with your equipment is extremely important,” he said. “You’re also hunting something that can bite back. You’ll have a loaded firearm in the boat, so you want to make sure you do it right.”
Barbee said aside from safety, permit holders learn the importance of preparation.
“You have to have a plan of action ready to go if you harvest a gator,” Barbee said. “You can’t just ride around with it for hours before getting it on ice. The ’gator’s water-tight hide will trap whatever heat is in it, so you have to do what you can to get it cooled quickly and have a processor you can get it to that next morning if possible.”
Another tip offered to hunters is to settle down on the scouting. Getting out ahead of time and finding a alligator is fine, but the more you revisit that area, the more likely you are to spook the animal before the day of the hunt.
“Alligators are really shy,” Barbee said. “We’ve had a lot of hunters talk about seeing a big ’gator for multiple trips, but then either couldn’t get close to it or couldn’t find it the day of the hunt. The more you visit a ’gator’s territory, the wiser you make it to your presence.”
The hunt itself is different from what people may have seen on television. There’s no baiting or hooking of the alligator beforehand, so hunters must slip up on their alligator and catch it with either a hand-held snare or harpoon. The slow, steady approach is followed by an intense bout of chaos once the harpoon hits home or snare snaps closed.
Alligators are known to roll, dive and thrash violently during the fight, and the larger the alligator, the harder it pulls. Arkansas alligator hunters must completely subdue the alligator before finishing it with a shotgun or shotgun shell-loaded bang stick using shot no larger than No. 4.
Permit winners are allowed up to three assistants during the hunt, but only the permit holder is allowed to snare, harpoon and kill the alligator.