Hunting Blogs

Odd Objects Found Inside Nuisance Gator

By: J.R. Absher

Jun 04

Have you ever found something unusual inside fish or game that you’ve harvested? Last week, nuisance wildlife experts in South Carolina trapped and killed a problematic alligator with a bellyful of ... well ... lots of stuff.

Judging from the stomach contents of the 13-foot nuisance gator trapped May 21 from Jarvis Creek Park on South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island, the big reptile had a special liking for round things. When trappers from Critter Management opened the gator’s stomach, they discovered a soccer ball, two baseballs, one tennis ball and two other semi-digested balls of unknown type.

And that was just the beginning. They also discovered 53 fishing lures, a half-pound of lead sinkers, two turtles, a beer can and 48 rocks.

Oh, and I can't forget to mention the 4-foot alligator. It’s not unusual to find to find a gator digesting in a larger one’s stomach, according to professional trapper Mark Carinus.

“People don’t understand that this gator could not be relocated,” Carinus told "The Island Packet" newspaper. “It would eat any smaller gator. It snapped up the soccer ball at the water’s edge and it could easily snatch a dog or a small child.”

Back in 2006, I reported about a Kentucky angler who caught a channel catfish that coughed up a 1984 high school class ring in his livewell. When he turned it over to authorities, a subsequent television news report helped lead to the ring’s owner—in Idaho!

How about it? What’s the weirdest thing you’ve found while field dressing a critter?

1 comments

# garybyrd
Tuesday, June 05, 2012 6:51 AM
WHOA. You where right in putting it to SLEEP. I have heard that alligators like this was a real problem . I'm very sure you done the right thing. (YOU HAVE MY SUPPORT)

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