I watched this big gator leisurely paddle around the inlet hoping it would get a little closer so I could get a decent shot but it never did. I ended up shooting with it quite a ways out from me and also shooting with the sun at a bad angle. This gator looked to be about 9 or 10 feet long from nose to tail.

Sinister Submersible, Alligator mississippiensis by Larry Mc, on Flickr

[lesmore49]

Nice pix. When I see an alligator such as this one, although I whine about living in a cold country (Canada) we don't have any dangerous reptiles like this. But then we do have wolves, the occasional Cougar and up north Barren Ground Grizzlies, Polar Bears, etc....and of course they can be dangerous too.

[Larrymc]

Nice pix. When I see an alligator such as this one, although I whine about living in a cold country (Canada) we don't have any dangerous reptiles like this. But then we do have wolves, the occasional Cougar and up north Barren Ground Grizzlies, Polar Bears, etc....and of course they can be dangerous too.

Thanks, My Friend, its a bit of a lousy photo but it was what I thought was the best display of the gator. They can be dangerous when confronted and they can cover a lot of distance really quickly. I tend to stay off of stream or lake banks where the visibility is limited especially along the water line. They are so prolific in our area that the state has a registered controlled hunt every year to thin the population along the Pearl River in central Mississippi. Wolves, Cougars, Grizzlies and Polar Bears Yikes! I guess wherever one lives there are possible dangerous animals of some sort ours happen to be snakes and reptiles. Thanks for the visit!!

[dipo 1]

I have fished all over Florida and southern Mississippi and have seen many, many Gators, the standard method I have used to estimate length (learned from my father) is start at back of nose bulb, bump and estimate the length from there to the eyes, in inches for every inch estimated equals one foot of total length. Ie 12 inches equal 12 foot. Don't know how accurate that is but my Pops swore by it.

[Sailor]

A cool shot, Larry. We've got plenty of these characters around here, and I've been able to photograph a few of 'em over the years. Some months ago, I saw small, young one laying by the bike path I was riding. There were a couple of people there (who drew my attention to the gator), and they had called animal control folks, who are well practiced in getting these critters back where they belong.

Jer

[Apet-Sure]

In one of his 'Crocodile Hunter' nature documentaries, I remember Steve Irwin telling soldiers in Florida "a 6 foot alligator can kill you. A 10 foot alligator can EAT you!" If I had been watching it, I would be hoping it never got closer.

[Larrymc]

I have fished all over Florida and southern Mississippi and have seen many, many Gators, the standard method I have used to estimate length (learned from my father) is start at back of nose bulb, bump and estimate the length from there to the eyes, in inches for every inch estimated equals one foot of total length. Ie 12 inches equal 12 foot. Don't know how accurate that is but my Pops swore by it.

Yep, that's pretty much the standard method of estimating size on Gators around here too. Use the distance from the center between the eyes to the nose bulb.

[Larrymc]

A cool shot, Larry. We've got plenty of these characters around here, and I've been able to photograph a few of 'em over the years. Some months ago, I saw small, young one laying by the bike path I was riding. There were a couple of people there (who drew my attention to the gator), and they had called animal control folks, who are well practiced in getting these critters back where they belong.

Jer

Thanks, Jer, I would wager that there are very few lakes, streams and wetland areas south of DFW that don't have a few gators inhabiting them. Where I lived as a kid, the Mississippi Delta region didn't have many in the 50s and 60s but now since they are a protected species they are everywhere.