The "Alligator" Story (see Oleg, I finally posted it).

[FUD]

A number of people have been asking me for more details with regard to the "Alligator" story -- I've even received a few e-mails asking about it. I never posted it as one complete story (until now) but referred to bits & pieces of it in some of my posts. For those that are interested and missed it the first time around, here are highlights from that incident:

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... I live right along the Everglades and a little over half a year ago a gator made his/her way into my backyard and went after my little one (the munchkin weighed about 25 pounds back then). I fired all ten rounds from my Smith & Wessonn 4013TSW (which was loaded with Cor-Bon 135gr and Remington 180gr Golden Saber alternated every other round) at it. Not sure how many connected as I was shooting with one hand and I was running away with the baby in the other arm. Didn't kill it but must have caused it enough pain to back off and give me a chance to get into the house. Called the Sheriff's department and when the deputy arrived (with a shotgun), he found blood but no gator ...

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... On a more personal note, my daughter wouldn't be alive today if I wasn't armed in my backyard when an alligator made a dash for her (they usually like small targets under 50 pounds in size and back then she weighed only about 25 lbs. so she more than qualified) and I emptied 10 rounds of .40S&W into him -- I don't know how many hit their mark as I was point shooting and didn't use my sights (hell, I didn't even know what to aim for, I just pointed at the head and fired as quickly as I could) but I drew blood and caused him enough pain to make him back off long enough for us to get to safety ...

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... The whole thing shuck me up quite a bit (especially since it involved my daughter's life) and made me realize [1] how quickly ten rounds disappear when you're shooting widely; [2] how important it is, especially in a panic situation, to use your sights (which I didn't do); and [3] how extremely difficult it is to quickly hit a moving target in a life & death situation when split seconds count. Ever since then, I've had an obsession with gators and I've changed the way that I practice when at the range. Instead of taking my sweet old time firing at a target 25 yards away, I now bring it in closer (25-50 feet) and try to empty the magazine/cylinder as quickly as possible while keeping the hits within the X-ring (or close to it) ...

Ideas for improvement against future encounters are welcomed -- a fence around my backyard has already been installed.

Share what you know, learn what you don't -- FUD

[This message has been edited by FUD (edited June 29, 2000).]

[DorGunR]

FUD,
Thank God the little one is OK.
Man, that is one scary story.

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"Lead, follow or get the HELL out of the way."

[Don Gwinn]

Yeeee.....creepy. Glad you did the right thing (and you did, point-shooting or no) and glad you could. I don't carry a weapon on me at all times so I couldn't have. I think it's about time to get a pistol that I can use to fix that. Thanks, FUD.

[Oatka]

Scary story. I have a grandson of that poundage, thankfully in Utah.

I used to live in the panhandle of Florida and the Fish and Game folks were ALWAYS pulling gators out of the swamp (the developers called 'em "green belts").

The paper had a story that when they opened up one gator, he had 14 dog tags in his stomach. Thankfully, no small human bones.

[dZ]

Unless you have a 40mm morter, Gators are hard to panic one shot stop due to their distributed nervous system. There is a golf ball sized brain running the head section but the spine has control nodes too. These guys have been around a long time with out any OS upgrades. Glad to hear you have a fence up!

Glad to hear the little one was under Daddys watchful eye!

dZ

[Erik]

Thanks for posting this- it drives home the realization that the way one typically trains may not remotely resemble the situation at hand.

[Ottergal]

Yikes! Thank God the little one is safe...and you prove once again that we can never be too careful or too watchful...

<note to self: keep eye out for gators while in FL in Sept>

[Oleg Volk]

Anyone read DeCamp's "Gun for Dinosaur"? His character comments that even a head- or a heart-shot lizard can be a menace for a while...but breaking its hip (on a two-legger) or shoulder (on a croc) would stop the charge. Not sure how much damage a .40 would do to a gator shoulder but it should be a good target (a miss would hit some other body part).

[Apple a Day]

FUD,
Okay, so you may not have stopped the gator in its tracks but you accomplished the most important goal- getting the little one to safety. Give yourself a high five, bub.
I'd think the fence would be more effective at keeping the gators away than a handgun. An ounce of prevention and all that. Do you have a dog? A dog might help alert you early and/or distract an alligator so you have more time to evacuate the kid(s) and take careful aim. Just a thought.

[JHill]

I read somewhere(some statistic) that said there is a better chance that you would have an encounter with a gator in FLA. than some crime attempt. Anybody else read similiar?

[DorGunR]

I'm not sure that having a dog would help, gators have been known to turn over small fishing boats just to get to a dog that was aboard. Scary huh?

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"Lead, follow or get the HELL out of the way."

[Ledbetter]

FUD, Way to cheat death!

[dinosaur]

Oleg; The only chance anyone would have is if they distracted me with a beer.

[Art Eatman]

Whether or not one likes the "Gamey" aspects of IPSC, it DOES teach you to get on target very fast, and deliver hits--very fast. Same for IDPA. Further, there's an amazing amount of adrenalin brought about from competition, and "the clock".

As FUD learned, there can be a benefit from learning to function during an adrenalin rush.

My pistol range setup has three targets side-by-side, and three smallish steel targets spread out. The overall deal is a 90-degree arc, with my usual distance being 10 yards on the first three, and ranging to 12-15 yards on the steel. In practice, I always run through at least one box of ammo going for the six targets as fast as I possibly can.

Another game is to see how many hits I can get on my Pepper Popper before it falls. I can usually hit it three times; four is my best...

DVC, Art

[Seronac]

Whoa! Thanks for posting that, I was wondering, too. So glad I don't live in 'gator country! (No place for 'gators in Utah!)

Good job, though, saving your little one; and putting up the fence. My hat is off to you.

I would recommend a dog, too. But don't get too attached to it, since it might also become 'gator fodder! Maybe a really BIG dog!

And a good thing to remember at handgun practice: Aim and empty!

Good thing you were right there.


<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JHill:
I read somewhere(some statistic) that said there is a better chance that you would have an encounter with a gator in FLA. than some crime attempt. Anybody else read similiar?[/quote]

The way I heard it was, given the generally law-abiding ways of concealed permit holders, in FL you're more likely to have a run-in with a gator than to be a victim of a crime committed by a concealed permit holder (not by the population at large).

[Gino]

IMHO, we are just as likely to be attacked by an animal as by a human. I'd rank dogs as the most likely possibility, even over a Bad Guy.

We spend so much time concentrating on defense against BGs that it's easy to forget animals. And they tend to be much harder shots...

[William R. Wilburn]

Saints preserve us!

I can hear the wheels spinning in C.R. Sam's head already:

An El Presidente style shoot where you start hands up facing away from a rusty tin shack. At the whistle you run around to the back of the shack, scoop up a forty-pound, squirming, bleating, pygmy goat in your off arm. With your strong hand you draw and fire, engaging a charging, armour-plated, self-propelled lawn mower while retreating into a nearby mine shaft. Must reload without putting the goat down. A direct hit on a two-inch gong connected to a kill-switch on the mower terminates the exercise.

OK, C.R. Sam. I got the goat AND some good spam recipes. No. You can't eat the goat after we're done.

[George Hill]

Dang...
I'ld put gators in the DINO class.

There are some things that are just too creepy - 10 million year old reptiles are one of them.

I'm thinking 45-70.