New pair of Alligator shoes please

So the start of a crazy week and I've promised to get back into blogging.. I must be mad...but I do have a ton of subjects to get too and some great photos to share.

No.1 on my list was to inform you all that it is time once again to shell out your $272 ($1022 for you out of townies) for your annual alligator harvest permit.

Days are numbered for a few of the alligators in my county. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Com-mission is gearing up for the state's annual alligator harvest from Aug. 15 to Nov. 1.

Imagine this bad boy (girl) at your back porch door!

Nearly 6,000 thrill seekers are expected to pay for a license to kill up to two gators each.

Poor things right?... well not really... they have no predators and the FWC handles about 100 to 150 calls a day from around the state about nuisance gators.

Routine where the alligator population is 1.3 million.... yes I said that correctly ...1.3 million. Imagine San Diego inhabited solely by Alligators... eeeek

Trappers are only expected to kill 400 in my county.. last year 5800 were killed state wide.

Hunting is not as easy as it sounds. First, people will be stalking mostly in the dark since the hunt hours will be from 5 p.m. to 10 a.m. And secondly, no firearms or baited hooks are allowed; just lures, gigs, harpoons or other things with retrieval lines attached.

You can go with this guy if you fancy your chances....

Still want to give it a shot? (well not literally as you can't use a gun...)

Over the past eight years, only 70 percent of the harvest tags issued have been filled meaning there are either a few unlucky or missing hunters

What do you do with a gator if you get one....You take it home and you either clean it yourself, or you take it to a processor and they do it..... gross... imagine hanging that beasty above from your garage door!

Although $272 for a license to kill two gators sounds like a lot of money, some hunters quadrupled that investment a couple of years ago when Hurricane Katrina hit. There was a depleted supply of alligator hides coming back into the commercial market, most of which came out of alligator farms in Louisiana. Florida gator hunters a couple of years ago were getting $35 or $40 a foot for some quality alligator hides. You get maybe two 10-footers, that's $800....

Today however alligator farms are back in business and demand is down because alligator products are a luxury item and people aren't buying a lot of luxury items these days.

Me, I'd turn mine into boots... because I'm never going to get my hands on $14,000 for a pair of these beauties.

Manolo Blahnik alligator boots, at a whopping $14,000. I'll be making home-made ones!

I'm normally a lover of all creatures (except crawly ones), however when you live in Florida you realise that the rogue ones need to be removed for people's safety.

What would you make from you gator hide... or have you 'unfriended' me for suggesting such an awful act... ?

ps. I'm not going hunting if you are wondering...

Alligators kill larger prey by grabbing it and dragging it into the water to drown, biting and then spinning or convulsing wildly until bite-size chunks are torn off. Even juvenile alligators execute a death roll when presented with chunks of meat. My hand looks too much like a chunk of meat. I'll let these two lovelies take the strain.. just bring me the boots when you are finished lads!

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