Show ABOUT A ro M habits and how they ar A hunted timid Somo tim thab B me bome ferocious man baters oze work tu lo which five wera killed so go great has boen been the tha demand of fai fashion hion of lato lat eyears years for alligator oldna that thai in some parts parta of the south the hunting of these animals an I 1 mals formis form quite a profitable industry hidu stry men band themselves together iu in couples and in companies of half a s doon doen provision their beaw for a weeks or a mouths trip and seek tho the wilder mud aud more secluded streams and bayous so thorough arc such hunte hunta and BO crafty mud and cunning aro the hunters that a locality that previously contained from ton to fifty gators will at the close of a hunt be either cither totally do de populated lateL or at best possess but one or two cautious wary old fellows that aro rc next to impossible to get et a view of to say nothing of a near enough approach for a hot baiot this mode of systematic hunting haa bas had a tendency to malce make the alligator allig extremely rare in many sections of the Countr country and to forever drive them away from some they are arc queer uncanny brutes and a few iacca in regard to thorn thom may prove interesting to bein begin with stariea a of alligators measuring fourteen and sixteen wet in length may safely be put down as exaggerations agge rations I 1 doubt if such a one exists twelve feet is a tremendous size and rarely vory very rarely they ruu run to twelve and 4 halt half I 1 have measured alligators ia aumer ablo able and fully ninety ciet per ey cent ceat run irom from nino to lo 1111 feet ea ko 10 11 9 scares is ons att ettin r th 1 ayt myth hoei cI beer ee that a reward of live five hundred dollora for one of this size has been unclaimed for the last twenty years the part of the ida sada used for commercial purposes pur poises is cut from a line along the side just where the heavy scales bogin mud and includes tho the sides and belly the back being bein so 80 tough ua au to be utterly orly worthless aud aud almost im pervious to a raflo ball in fact tho the two vulnerable points are arc the eyes and just behind tho the fure fore log while a ball linking g his I 1 1 i 3 coat co a t of arin armor i or in any aby but a direct line will glance oil as I 1 if irow irom a metal plate although doni denizens zeus of the water thoy have the most abject horror of ra yam 1 n and no sooner loes does the first faint sprinkling manifest itself than ins ing from froin tho bank or log they seel seek dry quarters beneath tho the surface on warm f funny bunny daya day a buoy bask on oa the I 1 banks for yours but evou abes W 14 c cloudy it is ULl unusual usual to goe one ani AM a rule they confine themselves to ta what nature has provided for food occasionally casio nally varying their diet with a haray doer or call calf but at timos times they become man inan voters and are ar tou thou terrors to alt all like the tiger lavi having ault tasted human flesh they prefer it to every tin cb aud and with wat watchful haw eyo envy all who come w within reh reach at timos the tao coLu community org organisms organises izes ses and od institutes institute a a regular siege which woner or later enda iu in cap capture casturo turo it was tuy my pleasure in the winter of V 88 together with a frieida to io bo more or les les intimately with a party of allig alligator huntus on tho upper st johua john river iu in floda aud d upon one or two oc occasions casious to poto pap in ia some remarkable haute hunt we lva abc alpod on cu a little crock creek beccu beneath ith group of pol a mile or moro more from tho rivert aud and for some past bwl bad imea investigating vesti gating iho ibe bird life of th our rounding rou freoa alligators wre were pr per ticul arly numerous aud and their roar roa rings mars and bellowing could be 14 1 4 hoard on htiu nights from creeks sud aad boughs sloughs five fite miles distant one dark dight just av aa we were about to turn in a bright ai liht 19 ut came suddenly around the baud sud and a L loot boat oot with thice men mea armed aed and equipped for I 1 gator ator sho otin pulled up to our camp they proved to lc be just out from Vo lurla and an accident happened happeny hap pent d to their coffee can they had come coine up to borrow of us they informed us ua of their choir luter inter on oi of remaining in the neighborhood for some time and extended a cordial invitation to pin join them in the chuse there are two modes of alligator hu hunting frat and best of all Is ia or fire jacking second by floating in the daytime for the first a strong mf reflector lector light is placed I 1 ed in the bow bov of the boat and provided a with a dark alide or door the man lus 1 who is to shoot for the evening sits directly be hind it whilo while hl hb s companions propel the boat tho the light flashing fla full jr in the roi mul dinall s face appears to blind bind lim him aud malce make him insensible to all i danger but the slightest 0 proc ii the t 1 ia bat is is to broue ti nearer and nearer the boat creeps until tho distance is 13 a minimum when the rifleman leman ril a careful aim pours a murderous mur dorous discharge iati iut j the taw most available ava I 1 flable port part of his body those killed at night are pulled out on the beach and d skinned ss 1 cuned tho follow ing day clay while those killed in tho daytime are arc usually skinny on tle the spot tho the boond method of floating con fists of stealing softly within range ranc of a sleeping gator ator by day it is a diff difficult abing thin to 4 and oo on the whole it Is usually clumsy in appearance appo arance they requires got ot over the ground with remarkable ro wess progress hiir in lon lone ceapa under thew kircum tho the best beat thing is isto to tako to a tr tree sud call for help dac apo cao can olao also bo made by quickly caro care bio beang bakez to isca out of re reach h of 0 thor ther tail no mw man laii haa any busi alone alloo in the holau ho ca sever flever touti toll sit lt abr s moment be homay may need help aud that toot too whoa miles from froia ouy avy hurban tx bo IQ ing aud and whore where an otheir bunter way may totne om epou his bloschin blos ehin bonefo to tell the iho we tale this is ia why two 1000 in variably huoi together in the iho amat of the south ancl nd why BO few rious riou washington atay |