The once endangered alligator is now a valuable resource for tourism, leather products and gourmet food.
Each year, gator hunters get 30 days to fill their tags, so knowing where to go and how to hunt them is crucial.
“Alligators like to lay up under willow trees … so we look for spots that are a little bit open, you know hanging limbs from which you can set from places where an alligator might lay in the sun,” Land Manager Howard Callahan said. “That's what we're looking for, anyplace you think there's not going to be a lot of difficulty getting the alligator out.”
Alligator hunting isn’t as dangerous or dramatic as it’s usually portrayed, but when a line baited with chicken goes down things can get a exciting.
“First thing we do is pick up a gun and the second thing we do is we like to use a hook to grab the line cause you grab a line with your bare hand it could pull out -- you know, burn your hand, drop the line -- so we maneuver in there try to get a position before you're ready to shoot,” Callahan said.
After you catch and kill a gator, pretty much every piece of it is used.
Alligator season is officially open, but remember, you’ve got to have tags, special license and it’s only available through a landowner or lottery process, which won’t take place again until next year.