The 30th alligator hunting season is underway in more than 20 Texas counties. An avid fisherman, Tommy Edwards decided he wanted to go for gator. After making it through a strict permitting process, he only got one tag. But on day one Wednesday, he brought in a whopping 10' 10" alligator.
"I feel like I'm so lucky is the way I feel ... I know people have been doing it for years and they hadn't got a good gator so I'm just very lucky," said Edwards, an Anahuac resident.
Harlen Hatcher of Beaumont has about 100 tags to fill.
"About a 7, 8 foot average is good. But you've got to take your little ones. If you take all your big ones, you don't have nothing to regulate... they eat the little ones," said Hatcher.
The owner of Gator Country isn't a fan of how hunters haul in the reptiles.
Gary Saurage said, "What I don't like is the way they do it. You have to understand, they hang a shark hook from out of the tree, the alligator goes up, he opens his gullet and swallows that hook. And all night long, for 8 hours, he's pulling against that hook."
State regulations only allow alligators to be harvested with a "line set", gig, snare or with archery equipment. Already, Tommy Edwards is planning to feast off the meat that Mark Porter's crew will process at Porter's Processing and Alligator Farm in Anahuac. It's a line of work that Porter has been in for 25 years. He's seen a shift in what is considered most valuable to hunters.
"Forever it was 'I want the hide, I want a pair of boots, I want a belt, a wallet.' Now it's, 'I want the meat.'"
Porter's processing is bracing for a busy week. Over the 20 day season he expects to process over 1,200 alligators.
