relic hunter attacked by alligator

[newnan man]

Good story and every "airboater" I've ever met was a little bit crazy!

 

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[monsterrack]

We have a lake house on lake Concordia La. we use to swim and ski all the time there, but the gators have gotten so bad that we have taken 6 out in the last year sunning on our lower deck. My favorite artfact spot has a bayou right next to and I have had them come up on me while walking the bank's. Then you have the wild hogs, bear's, ferral dogs and just about every kind of snakes other than Boas, Python, but they say they may get this far.

 

[Flipperfla]

My vote for Dumba$$ of the year. Living in Fl there are just certain things you just dont do. Myakka?snorkeling?..thats one of them.

 

[dognose]

Yea that is a good video.

My mom and step dad lived for 35 years at Lake Walk on the Water by Lake Wales. Way back when he purchased his first airboat he made the mistake of starting that bad boy while it was parked in his driveway. He only made that mistake once.

It like I told my wife about the Farmall; Never start it unless your sitting in the seat with your feet ready and know for sure its in nutral. That bad boy takes OFF as soon as you pull the start lever is pullled when in gear.

 

[Tpmetal]

I'm not particularly fond of the weather, lightning and monsters that live in Florida. We have an occasional copperhead here (haven't actually seen one in 30 year), and black widow spiders and bees. No gators, no moccasins, no fire ants, no killer bees (especially the ones from Saturday Night Live), no boas, rattlers only in the wilds, basically fewer smokeythecat chompers.

i am with you there, the south has some stuff that makes me remember not to hate winter...

 

[Tpmetal]

Fresh water means Gator , leaches , flesh eating bacteria, Amebas

not in my area.... Here it means bass, beavers, and eagles.....they tell me buffalo zoo released a bunch of hellbenders in the area as well, still never seen one though.

 

[Flipperfla]

Here are some gator shots from our adventures. A couple weeks ago while exploring the St Johns River, near Lake Jessup we came across the grand daddy of them all. Fricken thing was HUGE! Had to be a 14 footer, 2’ + girth. Tried to get in close to get a good pix and he shot off a 4 foot bank, and hit the water coming straight at us. Scary moment.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Wow...Florida is no place for this mountain boy! Hurricanes, snakes,
alligators, crocodile's, spiders, bugs...nope, not for me.

We may have bears, cougars and wolves, but dangerous encounters
are very few. A rattlesnake on this side of the Cascades is extremely
rare, and only a couple spiders you need to watch out for.

Ya just have to tolerate eight months of winter....

 

[smallfoot]

A few from the Oklawaha River...

 

[outlaws15]

Those are awesome pictures.

Here are some gator shots from our adventures. A couple weeks ago while exploring the St Johns River, near Lake Jessup we came across the grand daddy of them all. Fricken thing was HUGE! Had to be a 14 footer, 2’ + girth. Tried to get in close to get a good pix and he shot off a 4 foot bank, and hit the water coming straight at us. Scary moment. View attachment 1930400 View attachment 1930401 View attachment 1930402 View attachment 1930403 View attachment 1930404 View attachment 1930405 View attachment 1930406

 

[islamoradamark]

Here in the keys we keep an eye open for crocodiles my wife doesn't like it when they come by the house and say hello

 

[Shorewalker]

There are some interesting/concerning posts on the Florida fossil Facebook pages about this. This individual has a YouTube site showing him petting alligators on the head - now taken down. There are other encounters shown on his videos. The narrative has been called into question. I have seen these and a lot of reckless behavior was demonstrated.

 

[Flipperfla]

Hey Smallfoot, Found these on the Oklawaha south of the 314 bridge. Bushwhacked in during low water. Looks like a square 10’ dike system with drains. You can see canals dug like it was a steamboat port or dock system. I have researched all the Ports that run north from Silver river but nothing south. There are several to the south. They are about the size of a football field.
Turtle pens? The trees that have grown on the “inside” of the dirt walls look young so it was probably open in the day. Any ideas?

 

[smallfoot]

Flipper those are cool shots. Not sure what they might have been. Might have been a still site. Little too far north to be something connected to the phosphate mining that occurred near the Withlacoochee area south and west of there. May have been related to moving timber out too(but looks too small and positioned wrong to the river)). Cool find! Was that a privy made out of a culvert?

 

[smallfoot]

Did you find any pilings at the river edge?

 

[Flipperfla]

Flipper those are cool shots. Not sure what they might have been. Might have been a still site. Little too far north to be something connected to the phosphate mining that occurred near the Withlacoochee area south and west of there. May have been related to moving timber out too(but looks too small and positioned wrong to the river)). Cool find! Was that a privy made out of a culvert?

The culverts were at the walls of the dikes, stood up on end, looked like some sort of drain system. That’s why I think they might have been large ponds. I have chirp sonar and found no evidence of piers, pilings or dock but the one has a loop canal dug right to it off the river. One old topo I have showed a building at the corner of the dikes but I didn’t find any ruins. Here is an old map of the Steamboat Ports……..nothing to the South of Silver River

 

[smallfoot]

The culverts were at the walls of the dikes, stood up on end, looked like some sort of drain system. That’s why I think they might have been large ponds. I have chirp sonar and found no evidence of piers, pilings or dock but the one has a loop canal dug right to it off the river. One old topo I have showed a building at the corner of the dikes but I didn’t find any ruins. Here is an old map of the Steamboat Ports……..nothing to the South of Silver River View attachment 1930642

I'm thinking staging area for timber. They couldn't collect a raft in the river because it's fairly narrow. The canals give a way to get them to the river from the staging area maybe. There's an old saw mill in an adjacent property here that had small dug canals from the woods around me to where the mill was. Easier to float logs than drag them thru the woods.

 

[smallfoot]

Did you happen to cross the old RR berm on your way to those places? There was a Railroad that ran from Silver Springs roughly parallel to the river over to Palatka that was used for transporting timber. It was the Oklawaha Valley Railroad, formerly known as the Ocala Northern Railroad. Some signs of that still exist.
Some old photos of log rafts from earlier times:

 

[Flipperfla]

I'm thinking staging area for timber. They couldn't collect a raft in the river because it's fairly narrow. The canals give a way to get them to the river from the staging area maybe. There's an old saw mill in an adjacent property here that had small dug canals from the woods around me to where the mill was. Easier to float logs than drag them thru the woods.

Very possible, good theory. Ask around, Let me know if you come up with anything else. Thanks!

 

[Flipperfla]

Did you happen to cross the old RR berm on your way to those places? There was a Railroad that ran from Silver Springs roughly parallel to the river over to Palatka that was used for transporting timber. It was the Oklawaha Valley Railroad, formerly known as the Ocala Northern Railroad. Some signs of that still exist.
Some old photos of log rafts from earlier times:

Didn’t see a RR berm.