Alligators

My husband and his friends sometimes go alligator hunting in September. One of the friend's son, Jonathan, would go with them. For those who don't know how they hunt alligators, they put raw chicken on huge hooks and string them from trees. At night when the alligators feed, they swallow the chicken and then are stuck with a hook down their throat. In the morning, they take the boat out and look for downed lines, pull the alligator close to the boat and shoot it in the head. Ok, there was that one time they decided to pull the alligator IN the boat to measure it first before deciding whether to keep it or not. That's the one and only time I went to the boys' camp to check things out.

So back to my story, one day there was an alligator that had managed to get across the street into water on the other side with this line still down his throat. Rather than shoot him and have to carry him back across, Jonathan took the line and walked him like a dog. He figured the gator was so tired from fighting the line that he wouldn't have the energy to fight back. Luckily, he was right.

So Jonathan joined the Army this year and became a paratrooper. On his 4th jump at Ft. Benning on his way to getting his jump wings, an alligator was found on the jump zone, just a little 4'. Little by Louisiana standards. They wrapped him up in some blankets or tarp and got him back into the water. Jonathan was first out of the plane. When he landed, the Sergeant was yelling, "Move it! Move it! Get your gear and get out of here! That alligator is still around here!" He just laughed and said, "Sarge, I'm from Louisiana."

We died laughing when he told this story. If that Sarge only knew what Jonathan did with alligators here.