OUTDOORS
East Pass tides
10 DAYS until the Destin Fishing Rodeo
Saturday: Low, 11:15 a.m. Sunday: High, 12:26 a.m.; low, 12:34 p.m. Monday: High, 1:05 a.m.; low, 1:46 p.m. Tuesday: High, 1:50 a.m.; low, 2:54 p.m.
Water temperature
84
GOT GATOR THE DESTIN LOG
SEPTEMBER 21-24, 2013
www.thedestinlog.com
B8
SPECIAL TO THE LOG
Chris Wagner, along with Andy Block and Doug Wagner, hauled in a 12foot, 9 inch gator and weighed it in at Fishing Fleet Marina in Destin. The gator weighed 583 pounds.
TINA HARBUCK | The Log
Jimmy Parris and Chris Bent hoist the 10 1/2 foot gator onto the scales Tuesday afternoon at HarborWalk Marina. The gator tilted the scales at 345 pounds.
Parris, Bent get moment of fame with alligator By TINA HARBUCK
654-8440|@DestinLogTina
[email protected] For Jimmy Parris, seeing the reaction of the crowd that his 10 1/2-foot gator drew on the docks Tuesday afternoon was almost as much fun as pulling it out of the bay. Parris, along with buddy Chris Bent, both of Santa Rosa Beach, hauled in a huge gator in the wee hours of the morning Tuesday and brought it down to the scales at HarborWalk Marina to see how much it weighed. “This is just as much fun,” Parris said as he saw folks gather around snapping photos with their cell phones as the gator was hoisted up on the scales. “I guess this
is my five minutes of fame.” The gator tilted the scales at 345 pounds. Even a couple of days after landing the gator, Parris was still reeling with excitement. “I feel like I could run for county commissioner and win,” he laughingly said Thursday morning. “It felt like I was a rock star!” The two guys went out Monday evening about 8 o’clock in search of a gator. However Parris said, “We knew where we were looking. We’ve seen a lot up there before.” Parris and Bent, who have four gator tags between them, were not giving away any particular spots, but did say they were on Choctawhatchee Bay in Walton County.
Hunting for gator at night is a bit ominous. “All you can see is red eyes” on the water, Parris said. They hooked one early in the evening, but lost it. A little after midnight they saw the big one. “We had to run up on him twice and try and cast,” Parris said. At one point, “I happened to look behind us and saw a little wake and tossed out at it, and we were hooked up,” he said. Parris snatch hooked the gator on a spinning rod with 65-pound braided line. Bent was able to get another snatch hook in him and they fought the
See PARRIS B7
Full Pull crew lives up to its name with 583-pound gator By TINA HARBUCK
654-8440|@DestinLogTina
[email protected] After three years of trying to land the big one, the Full Pull guys snatched it up over the weekend. “We’ve been trying to kill it for three years,” said Capt. Chris Wagner, who was hunting gators along with Andy Block and Doug Wagner. The three along with other family and friends fish throughout the year aboard the Full Pull. “We saw it three or four weeks ago, so we decided to go and try it Saturday,” Chris said. They not only tried, but they got what they went for — a 12-foot, 9 inch 583-pound gator. “It was just a really big nasty alligator,” Chris said. Hunting at Nancys Cut on the 18-foot flats boat near the Choctawhatchee River delta, they spotted the prized gator. It was about 8 p.m. when they shot it with a crossbow. “We had it on for about an hour before I could get a snatch hook in him,” Chris said. “It ripped off all the line on the buoy. It was running all around the river for about an hour.” Using a cobia rod with a snatch hook, they got a second line on the gator. “It went to the bottom,” Chris said. About a half-hour
Showing off their prize gator, front to back, are Chris Wagner, Andy Block and Doug Wagner. later, they were able to get a pier gaff in it which allowed them to “put some more heat on it,” Chris said. However, “the gator made a big roll and swirl and got off the pier gaff,” he said. The gator had straightened the hook and got off. So they shot the gator with another crossbow. “We finally got a harpoon in it and got it under control and killed it with a bang stick,” Chris said. “We were coming up on three hours before we got it …” “It was one of the most amazing battles I’ve been in,” Chris
added. Because he was too big for the boat, they drug the gator back to the docks and used the truck to pull it out of the water. “We rolled it like a Tootsie Roll on to the finger dock, then back on to the boat,” he said. “It was quite the spectacle.” They weighed the gator at the scales at Fishing Fleet Marina Sunday morning and it topped out at 583 pounds. “That’s our biggest one ever,” Chris said. Last year they got a 9-footer that weighed about 200 pounds.
THE HUNT
Chris Bent, left, and Jimmy Parris show off the jowls of their gator. Parris says they plan to “cut it up and eat it.” Then maybe “make my wife a bikini and me some house slippers.”
Alligator hunting season runs from Aug. 15 through Nov. 1 and can only be done between the hours of 5 p.m. and 10 a.m. Gator harvest permits are drawn by lottery, and with each permit comes two tags which allows the hunter to snag two gators. The state of Florida issued 6,363 permits this year, second only to the state of Louisiana, according to Stan Kirkland of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Outdoor | Sports
September 21-24, 2013
Destin Log | B7
Meigs Wildcats scratch Destin on the gridiron By TINA HARBUCK
654-8440|@DestinLogTina
[email protected] After 13 minutes of no-score football, the Meigs Wildcats came on strong to blast the Destin Marlins 46-0 in middle school football action Thursday evening in Shalimar. With 4:58 left in the second quarter, Meig’s Jack Childers broke loose for a 40-plus yard run to the end zone to put the Wildcats on the board. Meigs was good for the two-point play and a 8-0 lead. Destin got the ball back and before they could get anything going, Meigs’ Chris MacGuey picked off a Brady Ooten pass and ran it back 30-yards for the score. MacGuey also ran in the twopoint play and Meigs led 16-0. On the Marlins next possession, they failed to gain any positive yardage and had to punt. With the ball at the 50-yard line, Lincoln Studley broke loose for a 50-yard scamper to the end zone. The two-point conversion attempt was stuffed by the Marlin defense. On the Wildcats next possession, Destin’s Callahan Phillips dropped the quarterback for a 5yard loss. Meigs fumbled on the next play, but Studley picked it up and ran it in for a 45-yard score. The two-point try failed. Meigs
TINA HARBUCK | The Log
Destin Coach Demetris Stevens gives instruction on the sideline during a water break in the second half of play. Right, Destin Marlin Dylan Moore takes a break on the sideline after making a big hit on defense. led 28-0 at the half. At the start of the third quarter, Meigs continued to outdo the Marlins with Jacob Pulliam scoring on a 65-yard run. On the Marlins first possession of the third, Ooten connected with Jacob Edelman for a gain of 9 yards. Two plays later, Ooten hit Nick Sherer who picked up 14 yards on the play for a first down. Four plays later, Destin was punting the ball away.
Late in the third quarter, Meigs started a drive from its own 45yard line and managed to score on a 28-yard run by Childers at the start of the fourth quarter for a 40-0 advantage and the start of a running clock on the game. In the fourth, Destin picked up a first down on a bit of a trick play with Ooten picking up 29 yards. Two plays later, the Marlins fumbled the ball away. Studley scored once more for
BlueGreen Landscape sinks Legendary Marine By TINA HARBUCK
654-8440|@DestinLogTina
[email protected] Billy Roof knocked in five runs to lead BlueGreen Landscape in a 26-2 blowout of Legendary Marine in the Men’s Recreational Softball League at Morgan Sports Center in Destin. Roof slapped an in-thepark homer and two doubles for five RBIs. Landscape started strong with 15 runs in the first and then eight in the
second inning. Jake Grace hit four singles for Landscape, while Harry Mandel ripped an in-the-park homer, double and a single for four RBIs. Travis Lampert and Matt Kuka each hit two singles for Legendary, and Randy Royall connected for a double. • Unique Audio Mopheads 22, Ivey League 10 Both teams put up four runs in the first inning. In the second, the Mopheads pulled away with 11 runs.
Steve Rivera hit five singles for four RBIs for the Mopheads. Justin Chaknis tripled and hit two singles for an RBI, and Brandon Patzig clobbered three home runs for eight RBIs. Shayne Bryant tripled and doubled for Ivey League. Rick Ivey hit two doubles and Frank Owens hit two singles for an RBI. Jarod Hane and David Carlee each smacked home runs for Ivey.
REBEL, REBEL!
SPECIAL TO THE LOG
Sandpiper Cove’s resident Rebel, Carole McManus Cloud (center) with daughter Christy Cloud Phillips, at the Texas end zone with sons Austin and Travis both Longhorn alumni. Cloud is the head cheerleader for a huge Ole Miss alumni base here in town and attended the coaching conference held recently at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa.
PARRIS from page B8 gator for about an hour. “He went out and got into deep water and he just wouldn’t come up off the bottom,” Parris said. “We’d pull him up and he’d go back down. He’d come up every once in a while and blow a bunch of air out and scare both of us. “We finally tired him out … put another hook in him and then hit him with a bang stick. We hit him twice with a bang stick just for good measure. That was it. He was
done. Then our work started.” The two tried to figure out the logistics of getting a 10 ½ foot gator on a 15-foot aluminum boat. “We couldn’t get it in the boat,” Bent said. “It was too heavy, so we drug it back to the dock.” Last year, Bent had the gator tags and they snatched an 8-footer. “We’ve got three more tags,” Parris said. “We’re going back when we rest … it was a long day.”
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the Wildcats on a 63-yard run. Meigs had the ball for two On the ensuing kickoff, Sherer plays and time ran out. returned the ball 35 yards. The Up next for Destin is a 6:30 Marlins failed to gain a first down p.m. game Thursday at home and turned the ball over. against the Lewis Falcons.
BIG CATCH Tennessee anglers on the Twilight with Capt. Robert Hill came in late Thursday afternoon with a huge catch. They had three or four big triggerfish, one weighing about 8-pounds, a half dozen amberjack and some big mingo. TINA HARBUCK | The Log
