A 13-Foot, 8-inch Alligator Taken @ Reservoir

 

After a 2-hour fight, Hunter Fiedler from left, Michael Fielder, Josh Grubbs, Ricky Martin, Jake Harris, Clint Hill, Ashley Harris, Raye Harris, and Casey Martin.

Mississippi's alligator season opened Friday and it didn't take long for one group of hunters to get tangled up with a gator on the Ross Barnett Reservoir.

"He was 300 yards away and when the light hit him, he went down," said Ashley Harris of Canton. "All we saw was eyes for about three seconds. That's the only way we knew he was there."

Ashley and his crew drove their boats to where they saw the alligator and used side-imaging electronics to locate him. On one pass the gator was suspended. On the next pass, he was resting on the bottom. The group marked the spot on a GPS and then pulled out rods and reels.

I made a couple of blind casts and got a hook on him," Harris said. "The 

the only way I could tell it wasn't a log is as soon as I hooked him he 

went about 10 feet and slid off into some deep water.

"We got three more hooks in him. All these poles have a 150-pound line on 

them and 20 pounds of drag. It's heavy stuff."

Harris, speaking Saturday after only a few hours of sleep, said time was 

somewhat of a blur, but after about an hour of fighting the alligator, he 

finally tired enough that they were able to pull him to the surface and get a 

look at him.

A massive alligator

"We didn't know he was that big, but we knew he was a pretty good one 

when we saw him on the fish-finder," said Michael Fielder of Brandon. 

"When you see one on there you know it's a pretty decent size. When we 

saw him we knew he was pretty large."

They also knew he was strong.

"We were worn out," Fielder said. "We couldn't budge him off the bottom.

"We had four lines trying to get him off the bottom and he wouldn't move. 

It was like pulling a log off the bottom. Every once in a while he'd take a 

couple of steps, but other than that, he wouldn't move."

The gator was tired enough to come to the surface, but he wasn't close to 

giving up. Fielder place another line on the gator with a crossbow and the 

gator started dragging the boat.

The fight wasn't over

"He took off and took us through some trees a storm blew down," 

Harris said. 

"He had us all tangled up, but we had two boats.

"I got in the other boat and got another line on him. When I got the 

other lines on him he really didn't go anywhere because he had so many 

lines on him and was so tangled up."

After two hours of battling the big alligator, the hunting party was able to 

secure him with two snares; however, he was so tangled in lines and limbs, 

they couldn't get him into open water with their trolling motor. 

"We had to crank up the 70-horse motor to pull him out," Harris said.

The alligator was dispatched and when they got him in the boat, 

they realized what they had.

"We measured him at 13 feet, 9 inches on the boat, but when we stretched 

him out he was 13 feet, 8 inches," Harris said. "I'm going to weigh him 

sometime this week when I get scales. 

"I think this is the biggest one to come out of the reservoir itself. He's 

going to go 600, maybe 700 pounds."

Off to a good start?

Ricky Flynt, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Park's 

The Alligator Program coordinator, said conditions varied on an opening 

day, but a good number of large alligators were harvested.

"It's just hard to tell," Flynt said. "I'm going off social media posts.

"I'm going off other officers. The conditions were pretty good. Everybody 

was seeing gators."

However, Flynt said hunters in the Delta may have experienced a setback.

"At least in the Delta, ramps are an issue," Flynt said. "The water is so low 

and the ramps are silted in. It's probably concentrating hunters where they 

have access. On social media, it still looks like some very nice gators were 

taken last night."

The Clarion-Ledger

Four MS Men Charged With Illegally Hunting Turkeys

Kenneth Britt of Wesson, Tony Smith of Wesson, Barney Bairfield of Brookhaven and Dustin Treadway of Brookhaven, face federal charges after investigators say they traveled across the country and illegally hunted turkeys.

The four are accused of traveling to Kansas and Nebraska--states where they were not licensed to hunt--and leaving trophy spurs and beards of over 25 wild turkeys.

The legal limit for killing turkeys in Kansas is two per person.

It is against federal laws to transport wildlife across state lines if killed against state law.

Britt also faces a felony of lying to a federal law enforcement officer, while Smith is accused of killing red-shouldered hawks, which is a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

if guilty, Britt faces a total of seven years in prison and a $450,000 fine. Smith faces two and a half years in prison and a $215,000 fine. Bairfield faces three years in prison and a $300,000 fine, and Treadway faces a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

The fine sportsmen and women of this state can rest assured that, nationwide, conservation enforcement agencies, along with Agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will continue working together to stop the thievery and abuse of our valuable natural resources,” Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks Colonel Steve Adcock said.

Monster Buck Bow Kill - Comes in Right Under Stand!

Jeff Kriet finally gets his shot at a monster mature buck at the Wendlant Ranch. It comes right underneath his stand where he can't even see it! When it steps out, he takes it down with his bow and makes a great shot.

My Three Dogs On National Dog Day

This being National Dog Day, I wanted to share three dogs that I have had in the last 25 years.

Teo of Moto  (Chow Chow)

Katie  (Peek-a-Poo)

Millie Jane (Dachshund)

The Dog Tails Of Millie Jane

I miss all of them so much and brought me so much joy to my life. Hopefully, one day I can have another dog with unconditional love.

The Calm Before MARCO & LAURA

Yesterday morning I took these pictures of M/V Jeffrey G southbound and M/V Lat Gonsoulin northbound on a very pretty day before MARCO & LAURA appears.

     Also, a sunken barge sticking out of the MS River.

M/V Big Valley 379 northbound towards the curve in the MS River called Delta Point. The calm before MARCO and LAURA heading towards TX, LA, and MS borders with the prediction of bad weather for the rest of the week.

Flowers For Paw Paw & Visiting Son's Gravesite

Yesterday, two of my four daughters, Theresa (Teri), Debra (Debi), and William David (Will) came to Vicksburg to put flowers on their Dad's grave.  He died on March 18, 2020.  While there we went by my son's grave to take Will by his namesake Great Uncle's gravesite.  Here are a few photos that were taken while there.  

Little Will in Debi's lap, her first grandson.  Noah James was with his Mom, Lucy, and did not come.  Will and Noah are only a year and day apart in age.

My Great Grandson Will found a small cornerstone to sit on while we were there and was in deep concentration.

I'm sure this is all new to him and does not understand what is going on at a very young age.

Will at his Paw Paw's grave.   With the ground so hard and the wind blowing, we had to put the flowers up against the tombstone that was recently laid.

May you Rest in Peace, Jesse Aaron Boyd, Jr., born August 21, 1933, and died March 18, 2020.

A Whole Loaf Of Bread

My Facebook friend, Mike Persichini took these adorable pictures of Mom teaching one of her triplet bucks that the guy (Mike) throwing out peanut butter and bread is a good guy.  

Someone commented, no jelly with the peanut butter and Mike replied that he did not want to spoil them.

It's too late for that!

Cutest thing I have ever seen!

Have to take time to rest after eating a whole loaf of bread in our great wild and wonderful Michigan outdoors!  Thanks so much, Mike for sharing.  A very uplifting picture of deer during these crazy times!

Baby Deer Walks Up To Me & Licks My Fingers!

Wednesday's Flowers

 

My Great Grandson "Tidus David" Lives In Montana

Pictures of my Great Grandson Tidus David who lives in Great Falls, Montana, and 13 years old now playing in his yard.  The picture was taken by his Dad, Ryan.

 

The last time I saw him he was only a year old but I do get to talk to him over the phone and send cards to stay in touch.

I wished he did not live so far away. I love and miss him so much! Tidus has also been to Japan and very smart in school.  I'm so blessed that I have four Great Grandsons in my life! Tidus, Ian, Will, and Noah!

My Photo Published In Hometown Paper

My photo was published in our hometown paper "The Vicksburg Post" Saturday.  It read - PERFECT SETTING: Marian Ann Love captured this image of the M/V Nashville headed north on the Mississippi River Monday beneath the two river bridges at sunset. Love took the photograph at the Mississippi Welcome Center, which is among the most popular spots in Vicksburg to get great photos of the river and of sunsets. The Vicksburg Post welcomes all photos submitted by readers and works to publish them as quickly as possible. To submit a photograph, email it to news@vicksburgpost.com and make sure to include information about the photograph and contact information. My thanks to "The Vicksburg Post" for publishing my photo. It really made my day! 

What Shot Are You Taking?

 

Turkey Hunter Nearly Trampled by Black Bear

I was out turkey hunting in Centre County PA. Things were going well. We heard gobblers while walking up in and were able to get set up and started calling. I had set up my two turkey decoys and my GoPro camera and sat down along a large log and started calling. It was not long before I heard movement in the leaves just down over the ridge that I was set up on and turned to see what was coming. I saw black movement, and hoping to see turkeys, I was startled as I realized a very good-sized black bear head was what I was seeing, just 20 yards away. I quickly froze and wondered what my next move should be. I quickly noticed that it did not have any cubs with it. Knowing that I didn't have to worry about it being a sow with newly born cubs with her, I knew I was in the clear and did not have to worry about "mama" getting upset if she noticed me. Being a news videographer for NBC during the week, I quickly noticed a great opportunity to get some video. I quickly switched my iPhone from my GoPro that I was messing with to video and started rolling. I was feeling great, getting some great video and then he stopped. I never expected him to spook from the decoys, let alone come blazing by me just 6 feet away. Needless to say, I was shocked by his reaction to the decoys. For a brief moment I was not sure what to do, but hoping that he would not notice me, I did what I always do behind the camera, followed the action. We did continue to hunt the rest of the morning and I was able to call a Tom in and saw him briefly but as Turkeys often do, he picked up on something and would not close the last 10 yards of distance and give me the opportunity of a shot. By Colton White

Kip's Two Photos of Bucks!

My new Facebook friend, Kip Cotter took these two pictures that look like a painting.  What a beautiful picture of bucks in an opened field.

Kip is from Mount Pleasant, Michigan but lives in Canton, Michigan, and founder of Laird Creek Deer Cooperative.  He also has a website called, Kip Michael Imagery.  It looks like the bucks are having a bachelor party in this photo.  Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures with us and I'm so glad to be your friend.

Flowers Up-Close

No. 9 Bites The Dust!

My Facebook friend, Kareen Beinhauer of Alpine, Texas, a.k.a. "The Hog Queen" killed No. 9 of 179 total last Friday night.  Here is her story in her own words and also with the help of her dog, Jack finding it.  My congratulations to Kareen!

She got the one on the far right!

I was out by 10:30 last night. I kept dozing off and all of a sudden (about an hour later) that sounder was there. But for some reason, my motion-activated lights weren't going off. I only had light from one and it wasn't much. I kept looking through my scope but it was hard to see. I finally thought I could see good enough and took my shot but when I went to look there was nothing down and no blood so I thought I had missed which really pissed me off. So this morning I go to get my SD card and I am walking around but didn't think I would find anything. I see Jack eating something and I thought he was eating grass but as I got closer I could see it was a hog. He was pulling the hair out as fast as he could LOL. Medium-sized sow and I shot her in the shoulder. The coyotes had already been on her but there were no buzzards hanging around. That made me very happy so that's 9 for the year and 179 total! 

Way to go Kareen!  So proud of you!