John K. Flores: LDWF gator lottery is underway

I returned home from vacation recently and invariably my Michigan family — nieces, nephews, sisters and brothers — always get around to wanting to know more about alligators. I fished them commercially for 25 years, which included skinning my share and selling them to various buyers over the years.
When I relocated to Louisiana in 1984, I hunted alligators with my father-in-law. I was 28 and had no idea what I was getting in to when I married his daughter Christine, but needless to say, it sure became an adventure.
We camped overnight in his small shrimp boat along Leopard Bayou for the weekend, where he had already caught 10 out of the 19 alligators that he was allotted tags for. Being a high land hunter from Michigan and New Mexico, let’s just say I was as green as grass in every way.
Off the Leopard was another bayou called Bear Fork. We used his shrimp boat to get ourselves from point A to point B in the marsh. Bear Fork split into two narrow bayous that my father-in-law would navigate with a pirogue.
He had a couple of alligator fishing lines up the right fork and ran them with the pirogue, leaving me with instructions that if I saw anything decent to crack it to them. I had brought along my .222 Sako bolt action rifle. The rifle was fitted with a 3x9 variable scope and I used it to hunt varmints out west.
My father-in-law wasn’t gone long when I saw a 7-foot alligator swimming across the bayou. It wasn’t far from me, perhaps 60 or 70 yards. So, I took aim and “cracked it to him,” just like he said to do.
The alligator made a huge splash and flipped over dead in the water, belly up. The tide was falling and I watched the alligator float out into Leopard Bayou and disappear around the bend.
When my father-in-law got back to the boat, he said, “I heard you shoot, what’d you get?”
I told him the whole story and we fired up the shrimp boat and followed the tide out into the Leopard. We immediately saw the gator and pulled it up into the boat.
If that wasn’t enough, a few minutes later we spotted another gator roughly the same size swimming on the opposite bank and my father-in-law said, “Quick, get your rifle and crack it to him.” So, I did.
The gator did the same thing as the first. It made a big splash and flipped belly up. It was at that moment I was hooked and my Michigan family later thought I had gone crazy and fallen off the deep end. First, I married this Cajun girl and second, spent every available moment down the bayous when I wasn’t working.
There’s a certain mystique people across the country have when it comes to alligators. Just look at the program Swamp People on television. What’s amazing is, you can participate in that mystique by applying for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries public Alligator Lottery.
The LDWF is currently taking applications through June 15 for lottery alligator harvest on 22 Wildlife Management Areas, 28 public lakes, and one U.S. Army Corps of Engineers property beginning Aug. 27.
Some 1,006 alligator hunters in 51 public areas will have the opportunity to harvest 3,018 alligators across the state through the lottery. According to the May 15 press release, there is a $5 application fee and a $3.50 transaction fee to apply.
Successful applicants are also required to pay $25 for an alligator hunter license and $40 for each alligator tag allocated. The odds of drawing out for the alligator lottery are favorable.
Lucky applicants should plan ahead when it comes to what to do with their harvested alligators. Alligators can be sold whole or skinned to buyers, where hunters can utilize the meat.
Tanned alligator hides make great man-cave items or can be used to make boots or other products like belts, wallets and purses.
In other LDWF news, June 7-8 is Louisiana’s “free” fishing weekend. Each year, the department designates a weekend of fishing with no need to purchase a fishing license as an incentive for families and friends to enjoy one of our state’s most beloved pastimes. The free fishing weekend is also a great opportunity to introduce someone to fishing.
Additionally, the 2025 Morgan City Oilfield Fishing Rodeo will be held Saturday, with weigh-in beginning at 2 p.m. at the Morgan City Auditorium.
June is a great month to be out on the water having fun in the Sportsman’s Paradise. Be sure to practice boating safety and wear your personal floatation devices.
John Flores is the Morgan City Review’s outdoor writer. He can be contacted at gowiththeflo@cox.net.