Gator hunting applications being accepted in South Carolina
The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources has begun accepting online applications for this year’s alligator hunting season.
The forms can be found on the agency’s website, www.dnr.sc.gov/.
A nonrefundable fee of $10 is required to apply for hunting on public lands. The charge is $15 for hunting on wildlife management areas. Aspiring hunters also can apply at walk-up counters in DNR regional offices in Charleston, Clemson, Columbia and Florence.
If selected in a random drawing, an additional $100 fee is due through the online process from successful applicants.
An estimated 100,000 alligators inhabit South Carolina from the midlands to the coast. Last year hunters harvested 312 with an average length of 81/2 feet. Observer News Services
Briefly
▪ Participants in last weekend’s 7th Annual Meatfish Slam based at Georgetown, S.C., experienced fine catches. The winning wahoo weighed 50 pounds, the best dolphin 35 and the top blackfin tuna 32.8. A party on the Earl E Bird scored the best aggregate of the three species, 801/2 pounds. Leading the junior anglers was Will Keelin with a 29.4-pound dolphin. And tops among the women entrants was Ellie Hopkins with that blackfin of 32.8. Proceeds from the tournament benefited a children’s charity.
▪ An Oklahoma angler, Paul Easley, has caught the biggest fish ever in the state’s waters, an alligator gar weighing 254 pounds. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlfife Conservation certified the Lake Texoma catch, which was 8 feet long with a 44-inch girth. The giant gar was released.
Catches of the week
▪ An 8-pound largemouth bass from a farm pond at Jefferson, S.C., by Lamar Wingo of Indian Trail.
▪ A 56-pound wahoo off Hatteras Village by Kristen Fajarod of Eure.
▪ A 45-pound grouper off Hatteras Village by Hudson Gevin of Sedley, Va.
▪ Mostly channel catfish totaling 42.77 pounds by Kevin Custer and Michael Hinson to win an NC-Cats tournament at Lake Hickory. Largest fish of the event was 10.36 pounds, caught by Chris Farley and Dennis Leonard.
▪ A blue marlin estimated at 300 pounds boated and released off Ocean Isle by a party fishing from the Big Whiskey charter boat.
▪ A 30-pound king mackerel off Ocean Isle by local angler Bill Campbell.
This story was originally published May 6, 2015 at 8:12 PM with the headline "Gator hunting applications being accepted in South Carolina."