Sponsored by David Mills of Team Strutn’ Ruttn’ Reeln’ and Gene Turner Jr. of Team Turner Loose. And Access Tonneau Covers, ThermaCELL, Grim Reaper Broadheads and BowTube.com.
After Coltin Mills skinned my alligator he and David rolled it up.
Florida Equals Bugs – When you hunt gators in Florida you’re gonna fight more than alligators, you’ll have to defend yourself from hordes of Florida mosquitoes. You can waste lots of money on fancily packaged mosquito sprays that will get your skin slimy and probably do darn little in the way of running off mosquitoes.
Back mosquitoes away from you with a ThermaCELL. Turn it on and mosquitoes go away, period. It is a phenomenal product that repels flying insects. To ThermaCELL
Watch Your Step – The next thing you need on a gator hunt is a good flashlight. At night you need to see where you are going. Swamps and marshes have more things than alligators that you absolutely do not want to step on. A few years ago I had a conversation on an airplane flight and the subject of flashlights came up. He praised the SureFire by StreamLight so impressively that I soon purchased the LumaMax model. The light lasts longer and is 10 times brighter than a D-Cell flashlight. It has both spotlight and wide angle modes. It is a remarkable flashlight for hunting; whether tracking deer or looking for alligators. It costs more than the junky, cheap flashlights I’ve owned over the years but it is totally worth it. To StreamLight
Light On Your Head You need a light that follows your line of sight. Finding your arrow’s nock in the dark is not easy. Neither is placing your arrow on your arrowrest and finding your string loop with your release. A good head light is a big help to you. We used the Energizer TrailLight 6 LED Headlight. It is bright and stays that way for 19 hours. It is the best I’ve ever used and you can get it at any Wal-Mart. To Energizer TrailLight
See Better Far Away Binoculars are a big help gator hunting. If the gator is in the water you usually can only see its head. The distance between its eyes is an indication of how mature the gator is. On this hunt I used NIKON PROSTAFF 7 binoculars. They are 10×42 and I like that size because I can hold it steady by hand. To NIKON
Stuff On The Bow I used a Cobra Boomslang bowsight with a rheostat for the pins. The bow was an Alpine Fireball with an Alpine arrowrest and bowquiver. My release was my favorite, a FLETCH HOOK from Jim Fletcher Archery. Designed for string loop shooters it is smooth and responsive and I have it adjusted perfectly for the way I shoot.
Bow Fit? I cranked my bow down for turkey season but added 10 pounds for this gator hunt. To be sure I was toned up for the additional weight I got a BowFit (heavy weight model) and drew it several times every day. When it came time to gator up, drawing my bow was nice and easy. To BowFit
Traveling With Lots Of Gear Putting a lot of gear in the back of your pickup is an open invitation to possible theft when you stop to eat of stay in a motel overnight. I know because I’ve had it happen on trips. That’s why I have the Access Vanish roll-up tonneau pickup bed cover from AgriCover. Indeed, out of sight is out of mind. And it protects my gear in stormy weather and saves on gas. To AgriCover
Holding Things In Place I like to fasten things in the bed of my pickup down so they don’t shift around. The handiest thing for this is the awesome Rope Ratchet. It has hooks on the ends and adjusts and tightens down just right. It is a great product and can be used to help drag your gator to your truck after you get him. To Rope Ratchet
Keep Your Feet Dry Chances are that when you gator hunt you will have to step in water and so bring a good pair of waterproof boots.
It’s Gonna Rain You may have heard about “Florida Showers”, that’s because it rains briefly (or longer) nearly every day. You need a light weight rain suit. Any rain proof suit will do. But I prefer and use the Patagonia Torrentshell jacket and pant rain suit. It uses Patagonia’s exclusive H2No that is designed for the most severe, wet weather conditions in the world. When you zip this jacket up, close the cuffs and pull the pants up you are done with getting wet. It’s waterproof, durable, lightweight and stuffable. And the H2No is breathable also. It’s the best rainwear made. To Patagonia
In The Spotlight: You need a good Handheld Spotlight. David Mills gets his from FoxPro, it’s the LightForce ENFORCER 170 STRIKER. It switches between Cordless or a 12-volt plug. You can run it from your truck or
David said, “It has the best beam of any light on the market. It is surprisingly light. The battrery pack straps over your shoulder and you don’t get fatigued toting it around like you do with a bulky Q-Beam. It has a dimmer switch which dims the light down so you don’t scare the animal off. It also has a attachable red lens. ” To LightForce
A Gator Call???: David uses a FoxPro Hellfire portable call. It is a remote controlled call. It’s very portable, you can put it by the water and operate it from a distance. It has plenty of volume too. And the handheld remote enables you to switch to any call you want to use. To FoxPro
To Bowhunting.Net: Alligator Bowhunt 2012 Home Page
The 2012 Bowhunting.net Alligator Bowhunt is sponsored by:
Team Struttn’ Ruttn’ Reeln’ on the web. And on Facebook.com/TeamSRR
Access Tonneau Pickup Bed Cover
Protect your gear with an Access tonneau cover. Easy to install and use, most durable made, sleek looks and value priced. You simply can’t find a better roll-up tonneau cover!
ThermaCELL
It runs off biting insects, period. Mosquitoes and blackflies will never ruin your hunts again. Never.
Grim Reaper Broadheads
Designed for enhanced penetration. Watch ‘Em Drop with Grim Reaper’s tough and accurate mechanical and fixed blade broadheads.
BowTube.com The #1 Bowhunting and Archery video site. Over 1,000 archery and bowhunting videos.
