Needed a break from work, went across to my friends dock and noticed a pretty decent gator watching me from about 3o feet away. I thought it would be like all the other gators Ive come across, basically leave them alone and they leave you alone, but not this guy. After watching me for 20 mins or so he actually went underwater a re surfaced about 2 feet from the dock, so about 3 feet from me. He didnt seem at all scared, in fact it was like he was stalking me. Anyway, while this cat and mouse game went on a dolphin appeared and started feeding. Ive seen this before but never so up close and personal, and with a gator getting interested in what the dolphin was doing.
Wish i had my camera, but got some good iphone video but it doesnt look like i can post clips.
cheers
One time I was fishing from a dock in a creek and there was a 3’ gator doing the same thing. Anywhere I would cast my line, he would immediately swim toward the splash. Kind of intimidating how aggressive they can be when they’re hungry!
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It’s not just hunger that drives this behavior, it’s the idiots who feed them chicken necks and bait when they are done crabbing and fishing. This in turn teaches them to associate humans with an easy food source. Some may think I’m being silly and it’s cute to feed the crocs, but wait until you get charged by an eight or nine footer while wade fishing because he wants the fish you are trying to unhook more than you do. What you witnessed is not their natural behavior at all.
Yeah, that one sounds like he has been fed and was looking for another handout. I could say something about being a democrat gator but…
X2 to what bellyup says…
i use to fish the impoundments at Bear Island NWR when i was in high school. some monster alligators out there and if you hooked up on a fish they would charge from 75 yards away and get to you in a matter of seconds. one actually took a nice black drum i had on the line. about 15 feet from the shore as i was reeling it in!
have not fished there in years… i heard that the ponds turned over about 6-8 years ago and i have not been there since. maybe i will give it a try again one day soon …?..
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Democrat gator…LOL
Guns kill people just like spoons made Rosie O’donell fat.
I had a similar experience. I was in a pond, had waders on in Mt. Pleasant cleaning the intake screens on a irrigation pump. Noticed a small 5’ gator about 150’ away as he slipped off the bank in the water and went under. I figured he would move off to the other side to get some uninterrupted sun. There was a little duck weed along the edge of the area where I was working and some string alge further into the water. I forgotten about him and was busy wire brushing and washing the screens for several minutes. I took a break and turned around looking to see where he was and couldn’t spot him, didn’t think much of it and went back to work. I dropped a old shirt in the water I was washing the screen with, reached down to get it and spotted two eyes about 4’ away in the duck weed! I threw the wire brush at him and he went under again and resurfaced only 10’ further out in the water. He wasn’t the least bit scared of me because after some investigation from Animal Control the local kids and parents were feeding him table scraps. (**() idiots! There’s no less than three bright yellow signs on the edge of this pond warning people not to feed the Gators. This gator was put down before he could eat one of the local dogs or kids. Sad state of affairs.
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They do get used to people even if they aren’t fed. Was playing golf one day at Berkeley County Club and hit a ball that landed about 5 ft away from a 6 or 7 footer. The gator was laying on a pond bank. I figured it would just slide into the pond when I got close to it. I had a club in my hand and walked right at that gator. He turned to face me and stood up and opened his mouth. I think he is still using my ball or sold it to the next group through. I told the other guys that I was taking an unplayable lie:smiley:
Democrat gator…ha,ha,ha. I almost fell out of my chair laughing at that one. Now that’s funny! Guess the gators like the welfare system too. He would have a little trouble using his Obama phone in the water though (ha,ha). You guys are right; the only wild animals not afraid of humans are generally the animals that get free handouts.
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[quote]Originally posted by J-Dizzle
Democrat gator…LOL
Funniest quote ever!
Love the nature in the Low Country. That had to be a great experience.
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The gators out at Bushy Park can be a little pushy. I was out there at the dock fishing and crabbing with my kids and 2 gators were chasing my fishing lines and trying to take my drop nets. They were good size at that, 6 or 7 feet.
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ive had that happen on the cooper crabbing many times. 1 in particular (7-8 feet) seems to like to play “whack a mole” as the best way to describe it. havent seen him there this year but hed usually show up after me and another guy had our crab nets in. 1 would lift and hed go right to where the trap just got lifted. drop it down and it gets smashed so the other guy would lift one of theirs so the gator would go to them and the 1st guy could put his trap back in. this can go on for quite some time…not just a minute or 2. 1 day he decided to skip the game and just grab my chicken…no wonder that net was so heavy to lift! im def not stupid enough to toss gators free handouts but i wouldnt doubt plenty of others in that area have seeing him constantly act like that.
I only had my iphone with me and the clip doesn’t really do it justice but it gives you a sense. It really was amazing, my wife and i had just got back from an incredible vacation but we were ready to come home, its stuff like this that confirms how lucky we are to live here.
cheers
Great video. Probably feeding on mullet, rather than reds or trout as you suggested. I made a hobby for a while of watching them strand feed and never saw bigger fish targeted. You can usually see the mullet flopping around on the bank. I could be wrong, though. As for stalking, it may be caused by feeding by humans but is also gators’ natural behavior. I have relatives in Florida who regularily observe the behavior and have pointed it out and explained it to me. If a potential meal stays in a defined area for a period (such as a dog in a yard or coes in a fenced pasture), gators will eventially hone in, park offshore, and “size it up” -sometimes for hours or coming back the next day. Just my experiences on strand feeding and stalking, could be wrong on one or both.
Cool video.
Thanks Hobo, that seems more likely, i have never seen or caught and reds/trout at that time of tide.
btw - do you know why mullet leap around like they do, back in the Uk it was usually a sign that a predator was trying to eat it, but that dosnt seem the case with mullet?
cheers
What DO gators eat in general? I always wonder that when I see them around. Big creatures and I’d guess they have to eat a lot, and there are a lot of them!
Neat video. Mullet have A.D.D.
Vinman
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That’s cool,
miss’n fish’n
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