Spirit of the Swamp Airboat Tours

Call me a rebel, but I don’t like gator hunting season.  Never have.  Captain Harold doesn’t hunt gators (yet anyway) but he has gone on some nighttime scouting trips with friends of his who DO gator hunt.

Since part of our job as an airboat ride company is showing our passengers gators, I think we should just leave them all alone.

Besides I don’t want blood on the airboat.  Just kidding!

I know we need the hunting to keep the gator population under control – it’s definitely bounced back from being on the endangered list years ago.  In fact, hunting gators has been legal in Florida since 1988.

Florida Fish and Wildlife estimates there are 1.3 million gators lurking in the Sunshine State.  And 6,000 gator hunting licenses.

I’ll never tell where the big ones are hiding.  In fact, I’m rooting for their survival.

Be careful gators.

Be very careful.

Yes, alligator hunting season started last Saturday night in Florida.  I’m feeling a little worried about some of the gators we seem to see in the same places over and over.  Especially the mama gators – they won’t leave their nests!  I always worry this time of year and can’t say I’m a big fan of gator hunting.

Of course, Captain Harold would tell me that there needs to be gator hunting in order to control the population – an alligator has no predators, it’s at the top of the food chain!  And I know even though they have my sympathetic thoughts, they would chomp me and eat me up if given the chance.

But still…  I can only hope that the smart gators will survive another year so that we can continue to enjoy seeing them!