Gary Dowdy

USA – Rome, GA

This hunt had all the ups and downs a hunter can handle. Myself and three of my friends went to the same location on the Ogeechee River two weeks prior, but the weather put an end to our hunt. I returned a second time with a local man named Jim West. With only one week remaining in the season, these gators had been hunted hard. The area also sees some pretty heavy human traffic. We downsized the lights we were using and used a dark-colored boat the last night. The moon was very bright, and the white boat we used the previous night was no doubt betraying us. The moon was also effecting the tide, making for higher and lower than normal tide. We had many shot opportunities on smaller gators and a few shots on some very large ones. With it being 4:30 A.M. and the last day of our hunt, I was about ready to "through in the towel." That's when we spotted an alligator which appeared to be about 6-7'. Upon taking the shot and the gator exploding for parts unknown, my float bounced off the deck where it laid and wrapped around the handle of my AMS Big Game retriever reel. The gator jerked me and the boat hard left. They young guys in the boat with us were screaming, "Let him go, let him go". A fact of the matter was, I didn't have him, he had ME! After a lengthy fight and not being able to get a shot with my pistol, we taped its mouth shut and severed its spine with my Emerson folding knife. I'll never forget this moment, EVER!

Muzzy products have never let me down, and proved much tougher than this 9' foot gator. They're not just Bad to the Bone, but through the bone, the scute, and the scale!