This question came to me while I was watching ‘Swamp People’ on the History Channel, but it’s not about the show. I think I understand how it works.
They head out into the swamp in a boat and put up poles with rope lines with hooks with chicken meat on them. So far, so simple. The meat is dangling a few inches above the water, and the hunters head off somewhere else to place more bait. There is a streamer at the top of the pole so they can find it later.
If an alligator takes the bait the pole will bend almost parallel to the water. When they return they grab the rope line and ‘hand over hand’ pull the alligator up next to the boat where it thrashes and spins for a while until they finally shoot it.
What I don’t understand is how they anchor the line into the mud. If a 900 lb alligator wanted to get away I don’t see how 1) the line would hold and 2) whatever was anchoring the whole rig would hold.
So what’s the trick?
The rope is tied to a tree, isn’t it?
Yeah, in that environment I’d just tie the line off to a tree. If it was in more open water some sort of mooring might be in order, but it’s pretty simple to come up with something that’s more or less immobile. Old train wheels and cement blocks come to mind, but they’d probably sink into the soft bottom over time. Maybe a mushroom anchor?
As far as the line holding, well it’s pretty easy to get really strong, thin rope. Here’s the first place I found (in about 7 seconds) that offers 1000-lb test parachute chord. A thousand feet for 150 bucks.
Keep in mind that for the most part the gators they catch will weigh at most 300 lbs, and the vast majority will be far less than that.
Here’s a link to the Florida state alligator hunting orientation and training manual. It describes what ways are legal to hunt alligators in the state of Florida. FWIW, catch and release of alligators is not allowed as the capture will often kill the gator anyway. I was surprised that you can take any gator over 18 inches (tip of snout to end of tail). FWIW, the record length for a gator taken in Florida is 14 feet 3.5 inches, which weighed 654 pounds. The record weight for a gator was 1043 pounds.
Warning: PDF
http://myfwc.com/media/1412243/Alligator_TO_manual_2011.pdf
Tying the line to a tree makes sense… they just never showed that step. Thanks!