Tough Ole Gator

[1989toddm]

http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/usa-hunters-find-bullets-from-american-civil-war-in-185-year-old-alligators-hide/

[Multigunner]

Thats a very interesting animal.
I'm not so sure these musket balls were Civil War era, they mainly used the conical ball in the Enfield musket, though no doubt many round balls were used when necessary.
Civil War muskets were in common use by hunters well into the 20th century, with cast round ball used more often than not by hunters.
Still as I said these may date to the era they believe they do. I don't doubt this ol boy was 185 years old.

I've seen an old gator that was semi comatose after being shot in the head with a .30-30. He slept almost all the time and to keep him alive his owners shoveled 60 lb of chicken down his throat at each feeding. He was a huge old monster with legs like tree stumps.

At this point in time the Gator is the only natural predator that might curb the Burmese Python infestation, though the Gator sometimes loses the fight the Python can be ripped apart by the Gator's death throes.

[JSnover]

Awesome. Typical bleeding heart comments, though.
I wonder how many people that gator ate in the last 150 years...

[BrassMagnet]

Awesome. Typical bleeding heart comments, though.
I wonder how many people that gator ate in the last 150 years...

And how much valuable livestock?

[starmac]

I am curious, what kind of 50 caiber rifles did they shoot it 6 times with, and where did they hit it. That whole story sounds kind of iffy to me. 9 musket bullets around his back legs and tail, seems odd to, who in the world would shoot a gator in the tail.
All old gator poachers will tell you that if you shoot one between the eyes (the area you can usually see) and it draws blood it is dead, hurry and jump in and at least get a rope on it before it sinks and is lost, if a circle of blood does not appear on the water, don't jump in. lol

Oh yea, 22lr was generally their caliber of choice.

[Multigunner]

what kind of 50 caiber rifles did they shoot it 6 times
Most likely modern muzzle loaders, the .50 is very popular for ML hunting.



9 musket bullets around his back legs and tail, seems odd to, who in the world would shoot a gator in the tail.
Someone shooting at the Gator as it swam away?
Theres the possibility that he has fired on from a military boat with a light swivel gun. Swivel guns were often mounted on ships boats when a shore party was foraging or when patroling. A hat full of Musket balls was a common enough load. Still plenty of PO'ed Seminoles around back then, any party of Whites traveling there would likely be heavily armed. Punt guns were also in common use.

[starmac]

Possible, of course anything is possible. has anyone seen any other stories about this?

[Multigunner]

Turns out it is a hoax story.
I hadn't see Worldnet daily in many years and had forgotten it was much like the Onion, only not really very funny.


World News Daily Report is a news and political satire web publication, which may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fictitious ways. All news articles contained within worldnewsdailyreport.com are fiction, and presumably fake news. Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental, except for all references to politicians and/or celebrities, in which case they are based on real people, but still based almost entirely in fiction. - See more at: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/disclaimer/#sthash.8agmdCm5.dpuf
Sounded believable enough.

[leeggen]

Well maybe they did "powder its tail and fire another round.
CD"

[1989toddm]

Oh well, interesting I guess. Those fake news sites irritate me. Like the one that pops up at Thanksgiving time about 40 million people dead in the "Bloodiest Black Friday on record". Ridiculous. Have a great eve guys!

[Blacksmith]

Besides we know no one has shot a cast round ball or Enfield Pattern 1853 in the last 150 years.

[Multigunner]

The oldest Gator that they are certain of is 77 years old, having spent 76 years in the same zoo.
Apparently Steve erwin is credited with trapping a 140 yr old croc and several 110+ yr old crocs have been found, how age was determined I don't know.
When I was younger it was accepted that a Gator continued to grow so long as it lived and due to its ability to regenerate tissue it would live till something killed it or untill it grew too big to find enough food.
In the proper conditions I don't doubt a Gator could live a couple of centuries.

[starmac]

About the gators regenerating tissue, maybe some but apparently not all, as I have seen several large gators that have a portion of their tail missing. I would think if they actually could live for a couple of centuries, they would have found a way to document it.

[GoodOlBoy]

You know we got some great people on this board. Just today I have seen quotes from PT Barnum, and a number of other's and now somebody quotes an ol Johnny Horton song! Can't nobody say we don't know our stuff!

GoodOlBoy

[Multigunner]

I would think if they actually could live for a couple of centuries, they would have found a way to document it.
To accurately document their age they would have to have had to have lived their entire life in captivity. One gator looks much like another in the wild.
Humans are expected to live 70-80 years but some live 90 to 100 or more years, some on record as 130 or so.

The Gator can't grow a new leg or tail, but I've seen one on a gator hunting program that had a damaged paw that had grown several extra toes, and they are researching the Gator's ability to regenerate lost teeth from still active stem cells among other other things.

[MtGun44]

Not a single round of musket has, of course, been fired since
their replacements were issued. Right?

Let's see, I wonder how many thousands of rounds have been fired in
replica muskets and real muskets since they became popular again in
the 1960s? And how many each year from 1850 until then by folks
that only had an old musket?

Folks are SO stupid about ballistics. I though double ought buck until I
saw the size of the ball. But not a typical military musket, they were much
larger caliber, typically .69 or so.

Bill

[starmac]

Double ought buck in a ficticious gator, sure should do the job. lol

[jaystuw]

Heck, even I have shot round balls out of an Enfield (Parker Hale) 577 cal. , 3 band infantry musket before I found an lyman 575213 OS that worked in my gun. Worked great for short range. Jay

[Multigunner]

But not a typical military musket, they were much
larger caliber, typically .69 or so.

Bill
Most Civil War era rifled muskets were .577 to .58 caliber. Some European larger bore muskets .72 on up were used. I think the USN may have also used a .69 rifled musket at some point.
A few .54 rifled muskets were still around, they sometimes rebored these to .58.
Some Irish companys were issued smoothbores and used buck shot or round ball or buck and ball loads.
These would have been very deadly at close range but the Confederates didn't let them get that close.

All sorts of civilian hunting rifles and fowling pieces were used by Confederate militia. Double barrel shotguns were favored by some calvary.

[Wayne Smith]

Even as late as Gettysburg some Confederate units were still using smoothbore muskets and buck and ball loads. i believe, but don't quote me on this, the the Union forces were completely re-armed with rifled muskets by Fredicksburg.

[Multigunner]

Union forces were completely re-armed with rifled muskets by Fredicksburg.
The main intent of the Union in buying up obsolete European muskets was to prevent the CSA from buying them.
As rifled muskets became available in greater numbers the smoothbore weapons in Union inventory were for the most part used only in training.

A lot of the European surplus weapons bought by the Union ended up going directly into storage.
Union troops released from service at the end of the war were given the opportunity to buy their musket and cartridge belts and other issued equipment at a fraction of their value. These surplus muskets put food on the table and provided defense to pioneers headed west.

Plains indians often prefered smoothbore muskets cut down as very short carbines. They could reload these quickly while riding.
I ran across one of these in an antique shop about 50 years ago. It still had a feather tied to the sling swivel and was nicely decorated with copper tacks. I wish I'd bought it, but it was in very rusted out relic condition. Probably worth a pretty penny these days just the same.

[M-Tecs]

100% spoof site

http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/about-us/

About usWorld News Daily Report is an American Jewish Zionist newspaper based in Tel Aviv and dedicated on covering biblical archeology news and other mysteries around the Globe.
Our News Team is composed of award winning christian, muslim and jewish journalists, retired Mossad agents and veterans of the Israeli Armed Forces.
We are based in Tel Aviv since 1988 where are published more then 200,000 copies of our Daily Report paper editioneveryday.

- See more at: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/about-us/#sthash.pSrphaYV.dpuf

[Gator 45/70]

I have only had 3 Gators startle me in my lifetime, 2 While fishing that I put in the 10/11ft class.
The third I was in an S-76 in a hold position over a cypress swamp waiting for clearance to approach and land when I looked down in the swamp at what I thought at first was a fallen cypress tree, Then I realized it had a tail, legs and a head, I'm putting that one at close to 20ft, He was that big! I've never seen anything close to that monster since.

[BrassMagnet]

I have only had 3 Gators startle me in my lifetime, 2 While fishing that I put in the 10/11ft class.
The third I was in an S-76 in a hold position over a cypress swamp waiting for clearance to approach and land when I looked down in the swamp at what I thought at first was a fallen cypress tree, Then I realized it had a tail, legs and a head, I'm putting that one at close to 20ft, He was that big! I've never seen anything close to that monster since.

I believe that big one exceeds the size of the largest alligator ever measured in the US. I am not saying you didn't see it and I am not saying it wasn't as large as you believed it to be. I am only saying it is larger than any killed and measured for record.
Saltwater crocodiles are similar creatures and they grow much larger than that. Admittedly, there is more food available in the rivers of Africa and few Africans are armed well enough to hunt truly large crocodiles. There are also some rather large crocodiles in Australia.

[starmac]

Yep, You should have Tarzaned that big dude and brung him home, elsewise folks just ain't a gonna believe it. lol

[Multigunner]

heres a 13 footer
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/hunters-snag-massive-gator-la-article-1.1461027
But the interesting thing is the article says the biggest alligator on record was 19 feet long.
I vaguely remember reading of a 19 foot alligator, must have been many years ago.

[Multigunner]

Here we go.
Marsh Island Louisiana, doesn't say when it was caught or killed.

The record alligator was taken on Marsh Island, Louisiana and was 19 feet 2 inches.
http://www.alligatorfur.com/alligator/alligator.htm

[Gator 45/70]

Here we go.
Marsh Island Louisiana, doesn't say when it was caught or killed.

http://www.alligatorfur.com/alligator/alligator.htm

There ya Go!!
If any of you brave souls wish to go after this monster, He was on the west side of the Houma Navigational canal Bayou Dularge side about 6 miles below the last business buildings (Ship yard)
Good Luck!