# Coleto Creek Gator Killed



## chickenboy (May 5, 2008)

This was killed in Coleto Creek Reservoir the other day between the boat ramp and the swimming area, a distance of about 100 yards



Eleven feet, 6 inches. About 70 or 80 years old, weighing about 800 pounds.


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## InfamousJ (May 21, 2004)

wow, swam and jet ski'd there many times growing up.... that's scary for the kids and adults alike..


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## Jolly Roger (May 21, 2004)

that is a big dragon.


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## Troutfisch (Jun 19, 2005)

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...


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## chicapesca (Jun 7, 2004)

And that's not even one of the big ones.


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## Big Willy (Jun 20, 2007)

Wish there would have been a way to relocate it but TPWD did what they had to do. There are gators in almost every major body of water in South Texas and you very rarely ever hear of anything happening to humans that frequent the same areas. Pets and livestock seem to be the victims more than anything else. 

Pretty big gator hope they do something with it like stuff it or at least skin it and mount it at the office.

Now I have to make sure my wife never sees this or I will never be able to get her in the water at Coleto again.hwell:


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## Harbormaster (May 26, 2000)

How ironic....he always said he'd be famous even if it killed him!


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## slopoke (Jul 10, 2005)

That's a whole lotta boots, shoes, belts, and wallets! Oops. That's no longer p.c.

I mean, couldn't they have relocated it to someplace safer to the public?


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## MEGABITE (May 21, 2004)

There's plenty of them, no need to relocate.
When's the BBQ?


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## bigdaddyriverrat (May 24, 2004)

Man oh man, Larry the alligator slayer! I was wondering how Janik was the other day.


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## TexChef (Jun 11, 2007)

Scary. I have swam and partied in that exact locations multiple times. Glad no one was hurt by that big ole thing.


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## Harbormaster (May 26, 2000)

MEGABITE said:


> There's plenty of them, no need to relocate.
> When's the BBQ?


You do know how nasty any gator over 3 or 4 feet is....dont you....running up and down them with a truck wont even tenderize 'em! :biggrin:


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## MEGABITE (May 21, 2004)

Hmmm, my neighbor sure made a 10 footer palatable a few weeks ago. It was downright tasty! (of course it was just the tail)
Maybe he marinated


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## Harbormaster (May 26, 2000)

MEGABITE said:


> Hmmm, my neighbor sure made a 10 footer pallatable a few weeks ago. :shrug:


He must drive a 1 ton!


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## 032490 (Jul 25, 2007)

Stepson's house backs up to Black Horse golf course. One of the ponds there has a five footer in it. It will come up to golf cart bridge when you walk across it.


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## MEGABITE (May 21, 2004)

032490 said:


> Stepson's house backs up to Black Horse golf course. One of the ponds there has a five footer in it. It will come up to golf cart bridge when you walk across it.


Sounds like somebody's been feedin it there.


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## surfspeck (Jun 7, 2006)

Dont get me wrong, thats a pretty big gator, but by the looks of him, he aint 800 lbs. There are gators in that area that make him look like benchwarmer at best. 13' + and then your getting big and probably over 750-800lbs. I saw a gator at Choke Canyon in April that was big enough to make me turnaround for another look, he was just sunning on the bank of the river about 3/4 miles from the bridge with his mouth wide open. I watched him from about 30 yards away and he was an easy 12'+ long, had a huge belly and massive shoulders on him. 
Anyone remember the picture of the gator killed by the game warden in Brazoria Co at Bar X ranch a couple of years ago??? He was a hoss!!


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## Bimini Twisted (Apr 17, 2005)

I could go for some 'gator boots, but I'd like the spikes running lengthwise from the toe to the ankle across the tops to make them look like Stegosaurus boots.


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## remi19 (Feb 27, 2008)

Here is the story......

COLETO CREEK - A 11-foot, 6-inch American alligator was killed Wednesday after being a nuisance to swimmers at Coleto Creek Park, near Goliad.

The 800-pound alligator was about 40 yards away from nearly a dozen people swimming at the creek, said Larry Janik, the nuisance control hunter from El Campo .

The park called Janik to handle the alligator. He shot it with his rifle. 

Killing the alligator was a safer option than moving it somewhere else, said Janik, who also has an alligator farm and incubates baby alligators in El Campo. 

"When you've got an 800-pound alligator that's not scared of people, it's more likely to put the problem on somebody else," he said.

Monique Slaughter, a Texas Parks and Wildlife natural resource specialist in Port Arthur, agreed that the alligator needed to be shot. 

"If it's a nuisance gator, it's not wise to move it somewhere else because it'll be a problem elsewhere," Slaughter said. "If it's over 6 foot, it's harder to move. It's a lot safer to euthanize them."

Janik said he gets between 400 and 600 nuisance calls a month, with the most being from Brazoria, Matagorda and Fort Bend counties. He handles calls from Galveston down to South Padre Island, he said. 

Based on the alligator's size, Slaughter estimated its age was in its late to mid 30s.

No part of the alligator will go to waste, Janik said.


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## Swampus (Sep 1, 2005)

Watch ur toes.....................................Dang--I'd have a frickin heart attack if that dude cruised next to me!!--makes ya wonder what is swimmin with us!


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## das71198 (Aug 12, 2005)

I have not seen Larry since December of 1999. He has put on a few, but still looks the same. He got his start by shooting hogs & gators on the Pierce/Runnels (sp) ranch. He would cook and eat all types of road kill.



bigdaddyriverrat said:


> Man oh man, Larry the alligator slayer! I was wondering how Janik was the other day.


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## 11andy11 (Aug 12, 2004)

Caney creek in Sargent had a 14 footer cruizin a couple of months ago.


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## pevotva (Sep 7, 2005)

For the life of me I cant understand why they let ANY of em get over 8'. There are so many in that lake, any lake in this area. I say lets thin em out a bit. What's the big deal, we hunt everything else that eats good.


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## Saltstalker (Jun 6, 2008)

Seriously , someone help me out , why arn't you allowed to kill more of them ? Do they still protect them ? They arn't endangered are they ?


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## TheAnt (Jul 1, 2008)

Ya gotta wonder how many eggs she has laid over the years. I understand the males don't get that big. I have seen some like that in small lakes along the Brazos like Harris Reservoir, Columbia Lakes (many years ago), and a small lake we hand grabbed frogs in. 

The one at Columbia Lakes took all but gills and head off what was likely a 5lb bass a friend's dad was reeling in. All the fight just seem to come right out of the fish. 

My brother-in-law and I were frogging one night in a 12' flatbottom (the old gal there was a bit longer than the boat) and we struck out across the shallow leveed lake. I was poling and BIL was going to get one of those 2 gators about a foot apart over there. Well, it was more like 10" or so but it was only 1 gator! We were ok with her deciding to just sink there and as she mosied off she left a trail of bubbles from the moss.

Earlier that night we were on a tight part between the levee and a shallow island, exposed because of evaporation and little rain that summer. We could hear the babies on shore making their little baby sounds and he reaches out, grabs one and throws it back at me... wadda guy. Given that mama gators tend to protect their young we decided not to tarry there.

I also was blessed with a sight at Manor Lake a few years back. We could hear what sounded like one of those 55 gallon plastic drums with some water in it and somebody hitting it with a baseball bat... kinda a hollow deep sound. We eased around the cane breaks there and saw a gator looking like a big Sesame Street "U", tail up, head up and mouth open making that sound. As great as that was at that time the bass were chasing shad onto big lilly pads and the fishin' action was non-stop. That was the only time I ever got bored catching bass. THAT was a memory! You just gotta get out there to see this stuff.


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## sharkbait-tx70 (Jun 28, 2009)

You can hunt them here in Tx. There is a season and you have to have permit..They are extreamly tastey..They have made a huge comeback and are begging to become a problem in some areas..To many and the big ones have been feed by people so they have no fear...We were fishing down @ POC last month by mouth of the river and had a ten footer come stick his nose over the transome of our boat. We shoed him off and went elsewhere..They seem to know now that fisherman = fresh fish=dinner..


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## 11andy11 (Aug 12, 2004)

Pretty sure the males get alot bigger than females when it comes to gators.


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## TXwhtlHNTR (Nov 19, 2008)

11andy11 said:


> Pretty sure the males get alot bigger than females when it comes to gators.




100% correct 

"...
*Size and Growth Rates *
Alligators are about 10"-12" in length when they are hatched from eggs. Growth rates may vary from 2" per year to 12" per year, depending on the type of habitat the alligator is living in and the sex, size an age of the alligator. Growth rates slow down as the alligators become older. Male alligators will grow faster and larger than females. Females can grow to approximately 9' in length and 200+ pounds. Males can grow to approximately 13'+ in length and attain 500+ pounds...


Several years back I took one off Mad Island WMA - 8' 11 1/2" Biologist at that time said she was the largest female recorded off that area, and largest female he'd ever seen personally.

http://www.alligatorfur.com/alligator/alligator.htm


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## justinsfa (Mar 28, 2009)

There are a TON of big gators that have made their way away from the coast or have been released by people on lakes all across Texas. Lake Fork has a monster that I have seen once... I have grown up around alligators all my life, even tagged a few myself, but this one was WHOA.... Ive never been scared of them until I saw this specific one... I was in a 17 ft boat and it was **** near just as long as us, and almost as wide... We went looking for it after some locals had been telling us about it for a few years. We ran up on it in a shallow area... when it crossed underneath us in 3 ft of water, I thought it was going to flip the boat... We left immediately... Even had one big guy with us that was literally laying in the bottom of the boat begging to go home... I tried to get it on camera, but all I got was the splash of it taking off under us...

I have seen some on Toledo Bend that are 13 footers easy, and many in upper Trinity Bay area that are just as big....

This, on the other hand, is a prime example of what happens when alligators have the freedom to eat all day for decades... My friend Ryan and his buddies from Lufkin shot this one a few summers back up in Trinity on some private property. When TPWD measured it originally, it went 13' 10". I went turkey hunting with Ryan this past spring and he told me that TPWD officials REMEASURED it CORRECTLY (the original measurement was not on the lateral line or something) and it is now on the books for 14' 8". I know Justin brought it to a taxidermist, but I dont know what the status of it is..... I would like to see the mount though...




























Here is the link if you want to read up on it.

http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=07110952634

Ive been trying to get up with Ryan this summer to get a monster myself during the special Non-Core County season... but might have to wait til the Fall core season cuz Im too **** busy at work...

That gator makes my 11 footer on my fireplace look like a newborn...


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## InfamousJ (May 21, 2004)

friend of the family has some property along 77 south of Victoria that has swamp in the back part along the river bottom... he had surveyors in the back swamp marking property lines and they came back and told him he had a state record back there, thought to be over 16' long as they scoped him out on a bank with their equipment.


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## justinsfa (Mar 28, 2009)

Here is the video link if you wanna watch them catching it..


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## InfamousJ (May 21, 2004)

that is a monster justin, great kill for all involved


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## rab ag (May 19, 2005)

I never hunted a gator so enlighten me Justin - aren't the gators usually still alive when they're hooked? Don't ya usually have to pull in the rope & then shoot them? Those guys were sitting in that water & the whole time I thought that monster was gonna start thrashing around. Did that one die on the hook or did the video just not show the shootin' part?


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## drred4 (Aug 12, 2005)

Larry raises them too!! pretty neat little setup, live right across the road from my Uncles mian barn and resevoir. Larry Janik "Hell on Hogs" and gators.


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## justinsfa (Mar 28, 2009)

rab ag said:


> I never hunted a gator so enlighten me Justin - aren't the gators usually still alive when they're hooked? Don't ya usually have to pull in the rope & then shoot them? Those guys were sitting in that water & the whole time I thought that monster was gonna start thrashing around. Did that one die on the hook or did the video just not show the shootin' part?


I would say that rope and hook are the most common form of catching them. Suspend a large hook over the water (the higher off the water, the bigger the alligator has to be to get it).... baid it with chicken, nutria, live kittens (just kidding PETA). Once the gator gets it, it swallows it whole and the hook catches in its gut, which is why a 175lb man can pull in a 800 lb gator by himself... Then the alligator is usually shot behind the eyes....

This particular alligator was caught on a rope and hook, but sometime during the night, it went underwater and got the rope hung up in a log and drowned. Trust me, when he sent me that video, I questioned his sanity.... Hes a little on the wild side anyway, but this one tops the cake... He does the whole swimming with Great Whites stuff and grabbing rattlesnakes barehanded and such.... Very interesting friend to have....

He later informed me of what happened... haha... They waited for an hour or 2 and there was no movement and he never surfaced, so they went in after him... Because they did not actually kill the alligator by gun or bow, I know there were some problems with the Record Books. Im not sure how they figured it all out... Whether it was SCI or what.... I do know that it is the new state record and beat the old one by 4 inches....

Note, they knew this gator was lurking there... The property owner actually approached them about catching it. Said there were missing livestock and such...

For comparison purposes, this gator is one I shot in Cameron Parrish. It measured 10' 10". As you can see, its dwarfed by the one they shot...

We videoed the hunt that I killed this one on, but the camera was left on the entire time, so we have an hour of moving grass as it hung off our shoulder... and the lens was foggy... still good memories though...


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## TheAnt (Jul 1, 2008)

*I stand corrected, thank you!*

Thanks good post!



TXwhtlHNTR said:


> 100% correct
> 
> "...
> *Size and Growth Rates *
> ...


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## Pocboy (Aug 12, 2004)

We have land on Coleto and have seen one that is definately bigger than that.


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## capn (Aug 11, 2005)

The best way to control your gator population is to let the gators get BIG... like scary big. Gators are opportunistic feeders, and will eat whatever they happen to come across that takes the least amount of energy to eat, including other gators. A big reason you rarely see many gators in areas that have very large gators, is because that big gator done ate all the others. 

I have personally taped a 14 footer, and have seen another gator that taped over 12 feet long that had a bite mark on his tail... from a much larger specimen.

Many well managed refuges and WMA's mandate that their trappers not use hooks on their lines. Instead, they use wooden dowels cut at certain lengths. The dowel is swallowed just like a hook, but the difference is that a big gator's throat is big enough that it can pull out. Little gators get the dowel down with the meat, but can't pull it back through their throat. That way the small gators are harvested for skins and meat, but the big gators are left to help with population control.


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## justinsfa (Mar 28, 2009)

Ya, the dowels work well also if the alligator needs to be released. They dont cause damage like the hook does... Ive never seen them used, but I believe they put another rope or string on one end in order to make the dowel go back to an IN-LINE position so it can pull right out... Ingenious idea....

That is unless somebody is drunk or dumb enough to climb in those jaws and fish it out themselves....


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## Texas Jeweler (Nov 6, 2007)

On the fourm for Maverick Boats, a guy took a picture of a 16 foot salt water crocdile, this is a hugh deadly beast. Estimated weight of 1,100 pounds, a truely dangerous beast.


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## Pope (Jun 20, 2004)

Texas Jeweler said:


> On the fourm for Maverick Boats, a guy took a picture of a 16 foot salt water crocdile, this is a hugh deadly beast. Estimated weight of 1,100 pounds, a truely dangerous beast.


Saltwater crocodiles are native to Australia. Unless the angler was in Australia, he took a photo of an American crocodile in a saltwater environment.


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