Gators anyone?

[ajmoritz17]

ok so i watch the videos read the mag and follow the forum pretty well but i never hear anything about gators or crocs...im from ohio so obviously i have no issue but thought about making my way to Fl and i was just curious....I know near a noisy motor is the last place a gator would want to be but everyone has got to wait for the rope to get tight and everyone crashes so whats the deal? am i the only one who would find swimming with wildlife that has larger teeth than me uneasy? I don't know how everyone is so cavalier about this and i would be scarred shitless(at least on the inside :) ). so please if any of you have stories please share
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Aprilia TX311M (http://www.cyclechaos.com/wiki/Aprilia_TX311M)

[04OUTBACK]

Have you seen Innuendo DVD? There is a section filmed here on the Pearl River where I ride. They actually filmed some gators from the Chopper CLOSE to the riders. We have a gator season in Late Aug/Early Sept. I have seen 2 on calm days, but never an issue. I think you are correct in motor noise and traffic deterring! just don't go up in their areas!

[K_E_N]

Hahahaha, for some of us Louisiana riders a gator is just something else to ollie. I don't recomend falling near one or attempting to rail slide its back, but for the most part they aren't out to get you.
Gators rarely attack adult humans. Note: I did say rarely. Main thing is, if you see one, don't mess with it. Gators generally see humans as predators not prey.

[ajmoritz17]

well ed thats a good question i guess i generally don't see to many trees in my lake.....
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teen vids (http://teenvid.org)

[bamaspiveys]

Oh Yea, gotta love those gators.

We were doing a photo shoot on Lake Seminole in GA for the local chamber of commerce several years ago. I had just pulled off a dock start on a slalom ski and as I looked back everyone on the dock was screaming at me. THere was a gator under the dock about 2 feet from where I dropped in and as I skied away he trashed and came out from under the dock.

Once out in the water I was never in any danger and we finished the shoot, did a few "around the boats" (no tower) and stayed away from the dock. He eventually swam away and all was back to normal.

It was really not that uncommon to see them on regular occasions, for the most part they are going to leave the area when you start skiing, so it is really not that big of a deal.

[bamaspiveys]

Lake Seminole State Park

We had a large day and a large group, stayed will in to the night, when we went down to the dock to get the boat it was gone. Everyone got out flashlights and car lights and we located the boat it had floated down in the corner of the park and was sitting in the cat tails. There was no other boat to take us out there , and you could not really walk from the shore in that part, so me and another guy started swimming 300-400 yds. Not a big deal.

Once we got closer we were able to walk and push our way through the cat tails. THe park ranger came up and drove down to shine his lights on the boat, and got out with his flashlight, he was joking with us about the gator that stayed on that corner of the park.... at least we thought he was joking (oh yea I was 14 the other guy was 15 this was a long time ago). We were about 15 or 20 feet from the boat when we heard the splash, the warden moved his light and the gator was about 15 or 20 feet from the boat too, we mad a nice triangle. I think my frined covered that last 20 feet in about one second and one step, because he was in the boat before I could move. The gator swam in the other direction, but it was something you never forget!

The jack-ass park ranger tried to write us a ticket because we did not put up the white light on the boat for the 400 yd ride back to the dock as he rode the shore line next to us.



Memory Lane>>nice.........

[maxpower220]

I grew up in FL and have skied with many gators about on the lakes. In 38 years, I have never seen a report or actually heard of any skier being bitten/attacked by a gator. It may have happened, but you hear about shark attacks or dogs eaten by gators a lot.

[bamaspiveys]

I grew up in FL and have skied with many gators about on the lakes. In 38 years, I have never seen a report or actually heard of any skier being bitten/attacked by a gator. It may have happened, but you hear about shark attacks or dogs eaten by gators a lot.


I agree, never heard of a gator attacking a skier!

[spyder]

http://www.kiteforum.tv/video/NPX_Team_in_the_Florida_Everglades.html

check out this video!

[JoeTechie]

I Grew up in south Florida and the keys. Swam, snorkled and scuba dove with thousands of sharks and huge barracuda all my life - been all over the world diving with them and they are no big deal. Moved to central Florida in my 20s and before my first ski ride in a lake all I could think about was gators. It is all what you are not knowledgable and comfortable with. They are in every body of fresh water in Florida. Some lakes much more than others (Lk. Jessup in Sanford comes to mind) People avoid those lakes and thus the population grows. Busy lakes and even just busy areas of lakes are going to have fewer gators. Stay away from the shallows and marshy areas, and you will probably never see one.... (they are there, you just won't see them ;) ) I would also say that you want to leave your bait... er.. I mean small dogs at home. Also, if you are deathly afraid - ski when it's cold. Gators avoid colder water more than us natives. And by cold I mean barely chilly to 99% of this board.

Human deaths from Alligator attacks from 1960-2007: 21
Human deaths from Shark attacks from 1900-2007: 54


Enjoy

-Joe

[moombadaze]

the guys in that video are nuts to say the least

[kaneboats]

I skied on the Wakulla River just below the wildlife preserve. It was a very cool sort of day in April and I didn't see any. I've seen a few on the Ochlocknee River while we were skiing. I've only seen one so far in 3 seasons on the Flint River above Lake Seminole. It was about a 9 footer. My daughter was scared to get in the water even though we went about 2 miles up river after we saw it. The guys in the video are absolutely nuts. I don't even want to visit the Everglades, much less try to ollie over a gator's back. Usually attacks on humans are provoked by feeding them or by intruding on nesting areas. Also, they are much more agressive during mating season than other times. Finally, gators usually sunbathe during the day and feed at night when skiers and boarders have already headed in. If you stay alert, use your head and avoid their regular areas you will not have a problem.

[RYAN]

I have only herd of a few stories here, they were all in the early am hours or dusk. A 6 ft gater was seen near small children swimming in a cove (not normally used very often) were the parents noticed what appeared to be a large log floating toward there children. The father took a closer inspection, and noticed it was more than a log. A large obj much in the shape of a bb gun was used to scare of the creature. (It is illegal to kill gaters in Texas, so this particular incidence cant told to its fullest content, let’s say a boat, rope, shovel and a large hole were used to end this story.) We normally ski in areas used some what often. There have been no reports of humans ever being attacked around east Texas lakes that I know of.

[ajsboat]

I go wakeboarding in a Creek off the St. Johns River. I seen gators in there, but they don't seem to bother anybody during the day. I have a friend thats lives on the creek, and her aunt has gotten bite twice by a gator, because she like to swim at night (don't ask why, because nobody knows why she does it). Both times they just bite and let go.
Other than that never heard of any stories with them attacking humans.

[Membrain]

This is my brother at Lake Worth in North Texas. The largest ones we’ve seen range from 6-8 ft. They normally stay up around the nature center, but do come down into the lake during the winter months when the boats are gone. The sign says not to molest the alligators. I don’t know about any of you guys out there, but that never crossed my mind…how ‘bout some of you guys over in Arkansas or Tennessee???

[K_E_N]

That is just plain rude. Insinuating that someone from Arkansas or Tennessee would molest a gator. C'mon man, they aren't related to the gators.

Just a joke. If you're from Arkansas and someone reads this for you, please don't be insulted by it.

By the way, I'm from Louisiana. We don't molest our gators, we wait until they are old enough.

[kaneboats]

I read the post above 'bout 3 times to make sure I found all the jokes in it. (Yes, I did read it myself but I'm from up north, not Fla.) My new joke is to say with a southern twang that, "I'm from Illinois" (and pronounce the "s" on the end -- no one from any part of IL pronounces the "s").

[Membrain]

Sorry I’ve been gone so long! We’ve been tearin’ in UP the last week and a half! I did learn somthin’ though this last weekend! Everyone would come up to the boat after I would turn around to go get my kid when he fell to tell me to stop doing POWER TURNS!!!

The lake we ski on sometimes gets some real DUMB ARSES on it that like to drive their boat right at the skier down in the water. I got in the habit of giving it full throttle as soon as the skier fell and make a 90 degree turn to get in between the skier and the boat headed towards us.

This was in our ’04 Mobius. I didn’t realize that doing this same thing in our XLV just pissed the hell out of everyone on shore and the other boats who were skiing too!!!

I have made some real enemies now without even knowing it!

I had a young kid around 13-15years old driving a ski boat telling me I couldn’t dive worth S$%T!!! However, he was the one headed right towards my kid in the water!

So….I just kept on doing the power turns.


I apologize to all you southerners out there for the molesting the alligators thing! But you know what, I are one too!!!!

[dtlaine]

There are dozens of gators in my lake. They typically hang out in the canals, and since there are a few islands that don't have homes, they usually stay there. I don't think twice about jumping in for boarding or swimming. Some idiot was chumming the water for catfish a couple months ago, and it attracted the gators into my canal. I actually like seeing them out there, but they had to set traps to get the curious ones out. It turns out gators don't know when the food is for fish and when it's for them. They typically eat what they can swallow whole, so an adult isn't first on their list.