On the Horizon...with derrick and cherise: Gator Fest 2011!

OK, So I am running a little late on this blog, but better late than never, so here it goes...
A couple weeks ago I met up with my good friend, pro staffer, and editor of Bayou Bucks magazine Matthew Debnam. Matthew and I got to be good friends working together at Bowtech through all the good times and bad. After we both left Bowtech, we said we would try to do a hunting trip each year together to try to keep up. Last year, we conquered spot and stalk bow hunting antelope in Wyoming on public land and this year we were looking for a little something different. Each year Cherise’s Dad gets 4 alligator tags for his place in Tivoli, Texas, and that is where Gator Fest 2011 began. Matthew drove down to Texas and we were off to the swamp. The first day started off well with Matthew smoking a good 6 ft gator with his Bowtech but things quickly went down hill from there. The gators started getting slim so we decided to take a lunch break. While taking lunch (in the middle of nowhere) we sat in the truck for a little AC away from the mosquitoes and had all the gear behind the truck. About 10 min later we saw a truck drive up quickly (first person I have ever seen there) and we jumped out fast yelling stop but it was too late. The guy that works the property had ran over Matthew’s bow ruining the top cam. After all that we broke out the 7mm from Bison Barrels and decided since we were on private land and the gators were being really spooky we would shoot one. We got in the John boat and begin looking for a gator. After a while, we saw one about 150 yards away and I layed prone in the John boat and smoked the second gator of the trip. After that it got really slow and we decided to set some baits for the tags we had left and call it a day. We headed back into Rockport to stay at the in-laws house and after cleaning the gators we had all the good seafood restaurants were closed so we settled on a nice burger at Whataburger and then crashed for the night in some much appreciated air conditioner! The next moring we got out there early and did a little duck hunting (1 duck) before getting on the gators again. We saw we only had caught one gator on the bait lines, but we decided to take my bow and try to get one more before it got too hot. About 10 min later, I was on a gator and we had another one down with the Bowtech. He ended up being the smallest at about 5 ft. We then went back to our bait to see what we had caught. I knew right away that it had to be a good gator as I had set the bait about 20 inches above the water. And sure enough, we had the trophy of the trip with solid gator at about 8’2”...wrapping up the Gator Fest 2011. In Florida, 8' might not be much, but in Texas, that's not a bad size at all. We were excited to have a successful hunt and some great footage for the show! The conditions were pretty miserable as we didn't get any relief from the Texas summer heat (so Cherise ended up being pretty ok with the fact that she didn't make this trip :) Here are some pics from the weekend....