News of Big Gator Travels Fast

By DAVID RAINER

John Sutton found out early Sunday morning that the axiom about news traveling fast in small towns is true, especially if the town is as small as Stockton in Baldwin County.

By the time Sutton had driven from the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division office on the Causeway back to Stockton, the news of the huge alligator in the back of Sutton’s truck had spread.

“The people in Stockton knew about it before I got home,” Sutton said of the 641-pound alligator that is the largest taken since Alabama sanctioned its first alligator season in 2006. The monster gator measured 12 feet, 10 inches. “The word beat us home. They knew we had a state record before we did.

“We went to Powell’s (convenience store) to get some ice and people stopped us and wanted to see the gator.”

Sutton said he didn’t have any idea it might be a record until one his hunt assistants called.

“Chad (Conner) called and asked me if I had looked at the newspaper,” Sutton said. “That’s when I found out about our gator.”

In fact, the record had been eclipsed twice before Sutton brought his behemoth to the scales. On opening night of the season in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, Cory Smith and his hunting mates weighed in a 492-pounder, 30 pounds heavier than the 2006 record.

Then just before Sutton got to the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) office, Michael Odom of Citronelle weighed in a 525-pounder that measured 12-5.

“We didn’t even know about the 525,” Sutton said. “We knew those guys were jumping around and were real, real happy. They were saying something about a record. It had been a long, long night, so all we wanted to do was get our gator checked in.”

That long night started at dark Saturday when Sutton, Conner, Bill Cobb, Mark Fincher, Kenny Hanak and Brad Russell hopped into Sutton’s bay boat to look for big gators.

“We saw a bunch of small gators early, some that were borderline legal,” Sutton said. “But we wanted something bigger. We were going to the last spot I had picked out because I knew there were some big ones around that area. We were leaving McReynolds Lake and headed for Dennis when spotted two sets of gator eyes as we were coming down the (Blakeley) river.

“Then we saw the big one swimming in the river. There was no doubt he was a keeper. He went down and came back up three times before we could get close enough.”

When the gator came up the third time, Sutton was able to stick him with an arrow from his crossbow. The gator immediately went straight to the bottom in 27 feet of water. Fortunately, the crew had purchased several grappling hooks and was able to get two into the huge reptile.

“We managed to get him beside the boat and stuck him with a harpoon,” Sutton said. “But then he started spinning and tore the arrow out and both grappling hooks. We almost lost him. The line on the harpoon was all we had. He took off and pulled us around for a while until we could get two more grappling hooks in him. We got him to the boat again and got another harpoon in him. By this time he was worn out.”

Sutton dispatched the gator with a couple of shots from the bang stick. That was the easy part, although the battle lasted about an hour. The hard part was getting the big gator in the boat.

“It’s a good thing we were in my bay boat,” Sutton said. “I don’t think we could have done it in a smaller boat. It took all six of us to get on the side of the boat and pull him in. That was no easy job.

“Then you should have seen us when we got to the processor. It took five of us to get him on the table, and they said it would take six hours to skin him out. We’re going to mount his head and have the hide tanned. The only problem I’ve got now is my 8-year-old son, Tyler, is mad because he didn’t get to go.”

There is no guarantee that Sutton’s gator will remain atop the chart, however. The season continues Aug. 24-26 with another three nights of hunting in the Delta. Also, a three-night hunt begins at 8 p.m. Aug. 23 at Lake Eufaula, the first alligator season for that area.

The total number of gators taken during the first weekend in the Delta was 55, according to Chuck Sharp, WFF’s supervising wildlife biologist in District V.

“As far as the overall hunt, we had a good, safe hunt,” Sharp said. “There were no reports of injuries.

“The size of the gators appears to be bigger than last year. We’ve already had three bigger than the largest that was taken last year. And, we’ve had several in the 12-foot range.”

Sharp said he expects the success rate to be similar to last year when 40 gators were taken out of 46 permits issued. This year, 100 permits were issued for the Delta and 40 for Lake Eufaula.

“We’re halfway through the hunt in the Delta and have over half the permits filled,” he said. “It appears the weather is going to be good, so we’re optimistic we’re going to be able to get a lot of the remaining permits filled this weekend.”

PHOTOS:

TOP: The current record alligator of 641 pounds taken during the first weekend of 2007 season on the Mobile-Tensaw Delta was caught and dispatched by (from left) Chad Conner of Saraland, Bill Cobb of Birmingham, Mark Fincher of Elberta, Kenny Hanak of Daphne, Brad Russell of Birmingham and permit holder John Sutton of Stockton.

MIDDLE: Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources personnel had to use a front-end loader to take the huge gator out of John Sutton’s boat.

BOTTOM: Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division wildlife biologists Chad Masley, right, and Chris Nix carefully weigh the big alligator.                  

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