Spencer Strub writes: The one with pretty eyes almost got Curtis “Rebel” Rageur. All alligators' eyes are like cats’ eyes, marbled and iridescent, lined by the tapetum lucidum that flashes in the night. This particular alligator, however, had unusually beautiful eyes. (Editor's note: Some images in this post are graphic.)
Matt Eich / LUCEO for Once Magazine
Rageur couldn’t help but stop and stare. The catch had been relatively simple: no bayou-bank scramble, no reaching under the boat to free a stuck line, only a hard pull, a quick haul to lift the alligator from the water into the boat, and a single gunshot to the head. The gator lay prone and still, dead enough.
Matt Eich / LUCEO for Once Magazine
Rageur turned, breaking his eye-to-eye reverie to attend to the other side of the boat. With his legs splayed over the alligator’s mouth, he noticed the alligator start to move. “When they start moving around in the boat,” Rageur says, “you get nervous.” The alligator leapt upwards, but Rageur leapt faster, saving his legs and other vitals.
Matt Eich / LUCEO for Once Magazine
Jaws closed on air. Rageur drew his handgun and fired again. And again. This experience isn’t entirely uncommon: Rageur says that an alligator that looks dead may revive, even after being shot in the head. He has had to shoot alligators as many as eight times to keep them down. “It gets a little hairy at times,” Rageur admits.
Matt Eich / LUCEO for Once Magazine
Bodies of recently caught alligators line the bottom of the boat. Julius Gaudet, 62, and Rebel average nine gators a day but this day landed thirteen.
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