Gator Gals:

12-foot Lake Seminole colossus bagged first night of Florida’s annual alligator hunt

A few weeks ago we featured a City of Chattahoochee employee rescuing a small, downright cute juvenile American alligator from the yard of a local residence, into which the little bugger had wandered, uninvited. A gator has made our front page once again, but this time the specimen in question is decidedly more, er…substantial? Plump? Grand? 

Put simply, the 12-foot crocodilian is a behemoth – a veritable monster among dinosaurs. But you needn’t flowery, descriptive language to drive the point home. Just have a look for yourself – in the photo above, courtesy of Antlered Doe Outdoors. 

Posing alongside the three-yarder are none other than the babes that beat the beast: North Florida renaissance women (and presumed distant cousins of Animal Planet star and famed reptile wrangler, the late Steve Irwin) Jennifer Edwards, Crystal Gainey and Lindsay Kiefer. Under a starlit sky and haunting August moon, Edwards – aided by fellow adventurers Gainey and Kiefer – hauled in this leathery giant from the shadowy depths of Lake Seminole like a seasoned pro. It was the first night of Florida’s annual alligator hunt – August 15 – and the catch was no doubt a wise, old elder of his Lake Seminole tribe – if not the “Lizard King” himself (hold the angry emails – yes, I realize alligators are NOT lizards and only distant relatives of Squamata;can’t a guy allude to Jim Morrison without ruffling herpetological feathers?). Some commentators on social media, however, balk at the notion that this 12-footer may have had (cold) royal blood coursing through his gator veins.

“I’ve seen bigger ones on Lake Seminole,” posts one skeptic. Similar claims pop up everywhere the above photo is shared, it seems. To all the Lake Seminole gator one-uppers out there: The News-Herald & Sentinel challenges you to put your money where your mouth is! Send us your best photographs of Lake Seminole’s colossal crocs (Crocodilians, that is – if you come across a true “crocodile,” a call to Fish & Wildlife is almost certainly in order)! Email pics to: editor@prioritynews.net. We’ll publish some of the best shots on our Sports & Outdoors page. This an “honor system challenge” – we trust our upstanding readers to kindly refrain from Photoshop augmentations or passing off big gator pics from other water bodies as being from Lake Seminole. 

Lastly, while the aforementioned Edwards/Gainey/Kiefer-Steve Irwin connection is speculative and tentative at best, it is a fact that the latter two – Gainey and Kiefer – are both team members at acclaimed regional history/travel/outdoors/misc website TwoEgg.tv And the pair didn’t hit the water the night of August 15 just to enjoy a leisurely Lake Seminole cruise, while lending Edwards a gator-hauling hand. Thankfully for outdoors fans, Gainey and Kiefer were on assignment! Watch out for TwoEggTV’s video program on the hunt that landed the big one – coming soon at TwoEggTV.com. 

Bold babes bring beast in boat: hard to say, really hard to do. But Edwards and her fellow adventurers Gainey and Kiefer pulled off the feat like seasoned pros. A video feature documenting the thrilling night hunt will soon be available to view at acclaimed regional history/outdoors/travel/misc website TwoEgg.tv. (Photo courtesy Antlered Doe Outdoors)


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