# Surprised duck hunter shoots 11-kilogram alligator in Wisconsin river



## Rae Jean (Sep 23, 2007)

Published: Monday, October 1, 2007 | 2:51 PM ET
Canadian Press

FARMINGTON, Wis. - Ed Long thought he was shooting at a snapping turtle, but got a surprise when he pulled his trophy from the Milwaukee River: a metre-long alligator.

Long had been in the river Saturday hunting for ducks. "At first, I thought it was a turtle tail," he said. "The it turned and came back at me. I seen the eyes come out of the water, but my brain didn't click. This is Wisconsin. There's not supposed to be gators in Wisconsin."

When the reptile submerged again, Long fired and stunned it. He called to his cousin, who prodded the 11-kilogram animal with a stick and then ran when it moved.

"We both thought nobody is going to believe us," Long said. "We made a decision to bring it back dead or alive, and more likely dead."

The animal appeared to have died from a shot to the head. The cousins dragged it to a field and then went to their uncle's home for help bringing it in.

"I'm still just absolutely 100 per cent shocked," said Long's uncle, Herb Sagan. "You've got a better chance of shooting a 30-point buck in Wisconsin than a gator."

A Department of Natural Resources warden said they had broken no law in removing the invasive species.

Long, 31, of Greenfield, is calling taxidermy shops about preserving the alligator.

"I'd like to have it mounted," he said. "Or at least get a belt or wallet out of it."

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/071001/K100102AU.html


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## cowgirlone (May 9, 2002)

Wow! That would be scary! I wonder how far north they live.


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## Rae Jean (Sep 23, 2007)

Herb Sagan, of Farmington, Wis., holds Sunday, Sept. 30, 2007, the four-foot, 25-pound alligator his nephew, Edward Long, of Milwaukee, shot while hunting near the Milwaukee River near the Sagan home in Farmington.

sorry don't know how to post a photo right yet.


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## cowgirlone (May 9, 2002)

Cool Rae Jean! Thanks for the picture!!
Makes me wonder where the mama is.


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## kwooten (Feb 3, 2005)

Yep - people are real ----s round here too, shooting everything they can 'just because it's there'. Shooting turtles ... because ? I don't know. Met a feller out for a nice walk the other day on TVA land, shooting birds and critters out of trees and leaving them on the ground. I asked him why and it was because it gets him out of the house and enjoying the country. YAY ! 

11kg alligator ? Scary ? I've known cats bigger than that.


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## Rae Jean (Sep 23, 2007)

yeah hope there's not more of them in there. yikes


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## CGUARDSMAN (Dec 28, 2006)

looks like a cayman


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## PyroDon (Jul 30, 2006)

Most of the time when something like this if found its been released by an owner who thought it would make a pet .
Back in the 70s and 80s baby gators and caymans were sold in many pet stores. I had one when I was 12 that got to be a little over 3ft long. 
It starved its self to death one winter when temps got too low and our furnace went out . But not before breaking every aquarium we put it in as it grew.  They wont survive winter temps very far north of the gulf . 
Years ago a joker on Grand lake in OK stirred a lot of attention by putting some small sharks on peoples trotlines, Made for some fun news but was totally bogus


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## Hillbillybob (Jul 30, 2007)

We have had them found in several lakes here also that someone has turned loose. They make quite news scare for a bit sometimes. One of our Southern lakes had parana here in the state.

People buy all kinds of pets and get tired of them then turn them loose.

What are you going to do, some people are stupid.
Hillbillybob


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## dcross (Aug 12, 2005)

I can't believe they called it invasive As if it would have made it to spring!


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## Micahn (Nov 19, 2005)

CGUARDSMAN said:


> looks like a cayman


naaa thats a baby gator. Have one sitting about 40 feet from me right now about the same size lol. Anything under 6 to 8 feet I would not worry about. But the ones over 10 feet are the ones you really have to be careful of as they are the ones that can eat you.


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## moopups (May 12, 2002)

Being native Floridian, I have never seen an alligator with side stripes, that is a released cayman or crocodile, neither of which would have survived your winter. The narrow jaws are a dead give away, gators have wide snoots. About an inch in width per foot of body length.

When did WI convert to the metric system?


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## Rae Jean (Sep 23, 2007)

It's from the Canadian press, Moopups.


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## huntress4203 (Feb 21, 2006)

[

11kg alligator ? Scary ? I've known cats bigger than that.[/QUOTE]

Thats about what I thought when I saw the pic. Some people have to kill just to kill. Heck, he might as well have just picked it up.

Glo


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## suburbanite (Jul 27, 2006)

Poor thing. Someone's lost pet.


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## sugarbush (Jul 15, 2007)

I would be willing to bet the guys who shot it released it as a publicity stunt.


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