Gator season begins with a splash

Alligator hunting season for St. Mary Parish and the rest of western Louisiana kicked off today, and one local hunter says hunting in the eastern part of the state is already off to a quick start.
The east Louisiana alligator season opened Aug. 26 and includes neighboring Terrebonne and Assumption parishes. St. Mary and lower St. Martin parishes are in the west season that started today. Hunters have one month from the start of each season “to fill their tags” or catch the quota of alligators they’re allowed. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries regulates the hunting seasons.
Sidney “Peanut” Michel, 46, of Morgan City, who began hunting in the west alligator season today, said the east season hunters say their season is off to a fast start and ahead of schedule compared to 2014 in terms of numbers and size of alligators caught.
“Hopefully, that’s going to run the same for us on the west side,” Michel said.
Michel has been alligator hunting, crawfishing, nutria trapping and crabbing full time for 19 years. At least 50 people in the Morgan City area hunt alligators during the month-long season.
He alternates helpers to go along and hunt with him during the season.
Michel has 200 tags this alligator season, which is slightly fewer than he had in 2014 due to some property he used to hunt on being sold, he said. Hunters try to fill their tags as quickly as possible to cut down on the expenses they have to incur, he said.
Plus, finishing hunting early helps hunters avoid potential storm threats from the Gulf of Mexico that could mess up their hunts, Michel said.
“Everybody wants to finish as soon as possible. I think the processor would like us to do it as soon as possible, also,” Michel said.
Michel hunts near the mouth of the Atchafalaya River about 15 miles south of the Berwick boat landing in the vicinity of the Atchafalaya Delta in a Wildlife Management Area. Michel also has permission to hunt on property right next to the management area, he said.
Michel sets his bait poles, made from willow trees, in the sand a week in advance of the season’s beginning. He goes back later to bait the poles with fish and nutria.
Michel uses some of the small nutria he catches during nutria season and freezes them to use later for alligator bait. He traps nutria for the bounty the state offers due to nutria’s destruction of the Louisiana wetlands.
Though the catch of alligators may be above last year’s catch, the price gator hunters will get in 2015 for each alligator is less than in 2014, Michel said.
In 2014, there were five “grades” of alligators that determined the price hunters could get. Those grades included set prices for alligators 4 feet to 5 feet long, 5 feet to 6 feet long, 6 feet to 7 feet long, 8 feet to 9 feet long and gators 10 feet and longer, which went for $40 per foot.
In 2015, there are only three grades to determine price, which include alligators 4 feet to 6 feet, 6 feet to 8 feet, and 8 feet and longer, which are going for $28 per foot, he said.
Last year, hunters got $32 per foot for 8-foot to 9-foot gators, Michel said.
Michel believes the reason for the lower prices is the economic slowdown, he said.
“This being a luxury item, it’s not something everybody has to have,” Michel said.
Still, there a decent demand right now for alligator meat, he said.
The price alligator hunters get takes into account both the cost of the meat and hide, Michel said.
Michel sells the alligators he captures to a buyer who then sells the whole alligator to a processing plant.
The plant, located near Loreauville, processes and sells the meat. Workers then ship the hides to a tannery in Georgia.

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com