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Published: March 10th 2008
I have been working for the University of Florida since 2006. My work focuses on exotic species, however I am constantly working on a variety of additional projects such as the one I am about to share. This past week I found myself living out of a trailer with four of my co-workers in Flamingo, Florida. Flamingo is located in the southwestern-most region of mainland Florida, and is accessible by car via the main park road of Everglades National Park. We were in Flamingo with the sole purpose of catching, measuring, and releasing American Crocodiles (
Crocodylus acutus). My boss Dr. Frank Mazzotti and his research team have been conducting studies on American Crocodiles, among many other projects, in South Florida for the past 30+ years. Everything mentioned in this blog was done legally and under research permits.
The story begins Tuesday afternoon when I met my friends Matt, Jem, and Jeff in Flamingo with high hopes of catching some massive crocs. We had been talking of planning a croc camping trip since last summer. However, if we were going to catch the largest crocs we could find then we were going to need some major equipment. Not many
massive crocs have been caught in Florida due to the fact that they are so difficult to work with and extremely powerful and potentially dangerous animals. So, from September to December Matt spent designing and building two croc traps. The designs he used were taken from traps he used while working with saltwater crocodiles (
Crocodylus porosus) in Australia. Two separate designs were eventually built: one shore-based net trap, and one floating cage trap.
Our daily schedule was to go out in the motor boats in the evening to catch crocs with nooses, and to go out to check the traps in the morning. The night catches usually got underway about 5pm and lasted until the wee hours of the morning (2-3am). The morning trips started about 7am and went until about noon if there was no crocs in the traps, or 2-3pm if there were crocs in the traps. With a schedule like this we pretty much had to catch sleep whenever we could manage, even if it meant sleeping under a tree in the shade for awhile in the mid-afternoon. Our lack of sleep also lead us to downing an energy drink every afternoon, which itself lead
to the formation of an AA of sorts for energy drinks (those things have to be bad for you). But if an energy drink company wants to sponsor us let me know!
Back to the story- when I arrived Tuesday afternoon we immediately began to prepare the boats for the evening catch. Upon arrival I was told that I was going to be the lucky charm for the night. Matt, Jem and Jeff told me that they were having terrible luck catching anything at all up until this point. The first few days of the survey had already passed and they had one small croc to show for it. On top of that, they realized that vultures were stealing the bait for the net trap, which meant that no crocs would be attracted to it. So when I got there Tuesday they pretty much told me that I had to be their lucky charm for the coming days. I hoped they were right because I really wanted to catch some crocs too!
On the way out that night we all had high hopes. To get out to our survey site from Flamingo it took a good
45 minutes in the motorboats, followed by a few hours of paddling the canoes through the shallows. The habitat where we were going was a mixture of mud flats and mangrove islands and forest. As we first pulled into the East Cape Canal, our first survey site, the sunset cast beautiful colors across the waters surface. We all had a good feeling about the night. However, our optimism was quickly cramped as we were swarmed by an army of noseeums and mosquitos. And this isn't just a few biting bugs, this was absolute mayhem. But we dealt with it by dousing ourselves in bug spray and by putting on our bug jackets.
Once on our way again we eventually reached the point where our motorboats could no long run due to the shallows. At this point we tied off to the mangroves and put our canoe and porta-boat in the water. The rest of the night we would have to drudge our way through the muddy waterways. Almost immediately we spotted a large croc laying out on the shore, mouth gaping and all. We couldn't believe that this thing remained on the shore as we pulled up in
our boats. We were just a few meters from it. Matt slowly moved toward the croc with the noose in hand shocked that it wasn't moving. Then, just as he got next to the croc, it jumped into the water, never to be seen again. So close! This first encounter really got us excited for the rest of the night. As we took off again we anticipated seeing eye shine from the crocs around that first corner; but unfortunately we had no such luck. An hour or so went by of paddling into small canals only to be met by impenetrable mud. We hadn't even made it to our desired survey location at this point, so we decided to pause in the mud for a minute to discuss our plans. After a few minutes of sitting in our boats stuck in the mud, surrounded by pure darkness and the sound of crickets and frogs, we decided to attempt another canal.
When we eventually made it to the entrance of the second canal we were hopeful that we would be able to make it further into the interior. However, we found ourselves stuck in the mud again after only
a few meters of paddling. Could this really be happening? Here we were on the third day of the week long croc survey and we had only caught one small croc. We had been so excited to catch this area because we expected so many crocs. Afterall, we had caught, marked and released hundreds of hatchlings in this same area roughly a year earlier. To say the least we were pretty down at this point in the night. However, just as we were going to give up for the night and head home we spotted an eyeshine! Yes, finally! Jeff and I pursued the croc by canoe while Matt and Jem tried from the porta-boat. After a few failed attempts we were scared that the croc wouldn't give us another chance. In many cases crocs will disappear if you miss the first time around. But, eventually Matt and Jem were able to corner the croc up against the mangroves and noosed it perfectly.
We were all pretty excited to finally get a croc, albeit a small one (≈1.2m). After tiring the little guy out a bit we pulled him up to the boat and took all of our
measurements. The croc ended up being a new capture, which is good for the study, but not exactly the size class we were looking for. But, it was a croc and it did get our hopes up again. After releasing the croc we decided to turn around to head back to the main canal due to the amount of mud we encountered in all of the smaller canals. At this point it was probably around 11pm and we were questioning returning to the motorboats to retire for the night. We felt good enough about the night and new that we had at least another hour of travel until we would be back at the boat ramp. We all concurred that it would be smart to head home, so we packed up the catch kit and began to head back to the boats. On the way back to the boats we looked for more eyeshine, but to no avail. By the time we eventually got back to the trailer in Flamingo we were all pretty beat and fell asleep within minutes of finishing our one celebratory beer.
We woke up at 7am, a bit tired, but ready to find
a massive croc in one or better yet both of our traps. We jumped in the boats and motored the 45 minutes to the first trap site. To get to our first trap we have to maneuver through a few sets of roped buoys in the boat; an extremely difficult and dangerous task when the tide is ripping through. But after we successfully passed the buoys without loosing anyone overboard we were ready to find a croc in our net trap. Along the canal on the way in there were many signs of crocs on the shore, but we never caught one out basking. As we pulled up to our net trap we were all a bit disappointed when we saw not only that the trap was empty, but also that the bait was gone. The day before Matt, Jem and Jeff saw a number of vultures posted nearby; likely the culprits of our situation. We jumped up on shore reset the trap and put new bait in. We also attempted to alter the set-up a little so that the vultures could not reach the bait from the outside of the trap. After everything was reset, we took off in
our boats to check the floating trap.
After maneuvering through the buoys yet again we made our way over to the floating trap. We were all ready to see a large croc sitting in the trap. No more than two weeks earlier our team caught a huge croc in the same floating trap out in the boat basin in Flamingo. So we were pretty excited about our chanches of getting another one in this location. As we motored around the last turn before the trap we were all silent in anticipation. But as soon as we got a glipse of the trap we were all let down by the sight of the trap door still stuck open. At this point there was nothing we could do so we turned around to head home to Flamingo for an afternoon nap. We weren't going to give up that easy so we turned our thoughts to our night survey. Hopefully then we would catch our monster croc.
On the way back home we almost had a chance to snag the monster croc that lives by the floating trap. We were on our way out from checking the trap when
we saw him swimming on the waters surface. We all couldn't believe how big he was. We immediately got out our catch kit in hopes of catching him in the water, but we weren't even able to come close before he ducked under the water. The rest of the afternoon was spent sleeping under the tree in front of our trailer. The trailer was probably 20 degrees hotter than the temperature outside, so I opted for the grassy bit right outside.
Later in the afternoon, as the time for the nightly catch grew closer, Mike showed up. Tonight we were going to have 5 people on hand for the catch so we were hoping for some fun. If any time we were going to catch a bunch of crocs, tonight should be the night. When Mike showed up we told him that he was now going to be our lucky charm. We still had only caught two crocs the entire week. I should mention that almost immediately after Mike showed up he was given an amazing nickname for the week. We were sitting around eating waiting for the nights catch, all sharing random stories, when Mike told us
a story of his herping days in California. Well I guess the story goes that one day Mike and a friend were out herping for some rattlesnakes when a dirty trucker pulled over and was acting a little weird. Mike went up to the guy and asked if there was a problem, and the guy sitting in his car said that this was a truckstop that truckers liked to use when they were horny (meanwhile the guy was sitting in his car rubbing himself). Right then and there Mike's nickname became 'Truckstop'. The rest of the week Truckstop was to be our lucky charm for catching crocs.
When the time came we all jumped in the boats to head out for the nights catch. We were all in high hopes on the way out, glad to have the crew together for a catch. We decided to try to catch a different canal tonight in hopes that we wouldn't find ourselves stuck in the mud flats. When we arrived at the entrance of the canal we all jumped in the smaller boats and paddled out. We ran into a bit of mud on the way in, but we did
see a pair of eyes shining just in front of us. We worked our way over to the eyes and were surprised to see that it didn't move too far. The mud flats actually worked to our adantage because the croc couldn't dive down. We moved in and snatched the first croc of the night right there. No problems. Less then an hour and we already had a croc!. Once again not a huge croc (≈1-2m) but Truckstop was already producing for us!
We took off to get some more crocs. I think I remember at one point Truckstop promised 12 crocs that night. We were all hoping he was right. We took off again down the canal to get some more crocs. No more than 20 minutes later and we already saw another pair of eyes shining on the surface in front of us. We moved in for the catch. It was a fairly small croc, but we were out for anything we could get our hands on. As we moved into the shallows where the croc was sitting we got stuck in the mud. Matt and Mike were going to have to move in closer in
the canoe because the porta-boat couldn't make it. They moved in and were just about to snag it when the croc backed out of the noose. Matt was upset that he didn't get it but then the croc poped back up. Matt went for another shot, but again the croc snuck around the boat and disappeared. We decided to move on and find some more crocs since the night was still young.
Just around the corner from where we were chasing the smaller croc we saw another pair of eyes. We moved in and Jem was ready on the bow for the catch. It was going to be a tough snag because the croc was hiding under a large mangrove branch. Jem went for her first shot and the croc back out of it. The croc was a larger croc, so we thought that it was over. Usually these crocs only give you one shot. But surprisingly the croc poped back up. After not one but two more attempts Jem eventually snagged it and we got our second croc for the night. When we were tiring the croc out on the rope we all thought that the croc
was only a little bigger than the previous two we had caught. But as Matt and I tried to pull the croc up into the boat we were all surprised to see her size. After a bit of a struggle we got her in the boat and sat her on the seat. She was a pretty healthy looking girl and still had a bit of a kick to her. We layed her out and worked her up on the boat, taking length, width, and weight measurements.
After we released the croc we headed out to find another. If Truckstops prediction of 12 crocs was going to hold true we had our work made out for us. We continued onwards. Surprisingly we were able to make it quite a bit further down the canal than we all thought. There were many spots where we had to dig our way through the mud in the boat, but overall we were moving along fairly nicely. Awhile passed with no eye shines, but we pressed on, checking all of the outcrops in the mangrove forest maze. At one point during the night our boat was paddling through the shallows, with me on
the bow waiting to catch, when a mullet jumped out of the water and smacked me in the throat. It surprised the hell out of me, and send the rest of my boat into hysterics. Onwards we pressed.
Eventually after much searching we hit the end of the road. The canal we were on continued to get shallower and shallower to the point that we couldn't move any further. We decided to turn around and re-check all of the side canals. On the way back we ran into Mike and Matt in the canoe and Matt told us that a mullet just flew out of the water and hit him in the face. I was happy to hear that I wasn't the only one.
We met up and checked a few more side canals where we saw a number of eye shines, but all of the proved to be out of reach due to the thick mud flats. Both boats made our way back to the main canal and started the journey home. On the way back we caught another eye shine on the side of the canal. We moved in for the catch, with me
on the bow with the catch pole. As we pulled up to her I saw that it wasn't going to be an easy catch because she had her head in the vegetation. I gave it a shot but she back out of the noose and ducked under. Surprisingly she popped back up to give me another shot, but again she backed down as we approached. At this point we all decided that this croc was likely the same croc we had caught earlier in the night. She was about the same size and she was acting the same way. So we decided to bag the third attempt and head home. Afterall we had finally had a night where we caught more than one croc.
In the morning I was going to head home right away so I could get back to the office to be available for the intern who is counting
Lygodium spores for us, but the guys talked me into stay for checking the traps. They didnt exactly have to twist my arm to get me to stay. Plus, if I decided to stay I would be able to bring one of the boats back to
Fort Lauderdale for them. So I decided to stay and check the traps. We all had breakfast then jumped in the boats to check our traps. On the way out we were all hoping that the vultures hadn't stolen our bait again. After making our way through those damn buoys yet again we made it to our net trap. When we got there we were depressed to see an empty trap. No croc! But, it wasn't like any of us were really expecting anything to be there. On the bright side, the bait was still there; along with the vultures sitting on top of the trap. We drove a little further up the canal to see if we could spot any crocs then turned around to head out to check our floating trap.
On the way in to check the floating trap we ran into a number of fishing boats sitting in the canal. They all had to wonder why we all so dirty. I don't think any of us washed our pants throughout the week because they would just get dirty again. After passing the fishing boats we made our way around the last bend before the
flaoting trap and couldn't believe our eyes. Was the trap really closed? Jem and I looked at each other in awe. I think the trap door is closed! Could we really have a croc in there finally? We pulled the boat closer and closer to the trap waiting to see what was waiting for us inside. Just when we got close enough we all saw the crocs head at the same time. It was finally the massive croc we had been waiting for!!! None of us could believe it. At this point I don't even remember exactly what happend, but I do remember jumping and screaming like a kid in a candy store. We were all laughing and hugging each other, ready and excited for what we were about to do.
We pulled the boats up to the trap to get a better look at the croc. Seconds after we docked the boats on the shore we were completely engulfed by noseeums. None of us were ready for this diurnal attack and we immediately fled the scene like the Knights of the round table running away from the French screaming 'Run Away, Run Away' in Monty Python's Quest
for the Holy Grail. We couldn't believe how bad they were at this point in the day. They were by far the worst we had seen this trip, and not at a very good time at all for we need every ounce of concentration we had for dealing with such a large crocodile. We jumped in the boats and drove away to gather our wits and come up with a game plan. While we were away planning we tried to call a ENP employee to see if they wanted to come out, but our SAT phone wasn't working that well.
After we put on our bug jackets, at least those smart enough to bring them along (not Matt and I), and covered ourselves in bug spray we made the journey back to the trap. When we got there Matt, Jem, and Jeff jumped onshore to put the first two nooses on the croc. Mike and I stayed on the boat helping out and taking video and pictures. After the first nooses were on we were ready to open the trap door and release the croc to let it expend some of its built up energy before working it
up on the shore. When the croc came out it was still pretty calm and relaxed, but after a few flicks of the noose that thing went buck wild. It started death rolling and swinging its head back and forth. Once out of the trap and seen in its full glory this croc looked even bigger! None of us could believe the size of this thing. And boy was it strong! the croc went on thrashing on and off for at least five minutes before we could even think of pulling it towards the shore.
After we tired the croc out a bit we started to pull it over to the shore where we had planned to work it up. Pulling the croc over to the shore was no easy feat either! As we made our way over to the shore we could see that the croc was missing some teeth and had some narly scute marks. This thing was large and had some years of experience. We were eventually able to get him close to the shore where we brought him up to the boat to add an additional noose and tape his mouth shut before handling
him. After that was complete a few of us jumped on the shore to help drag him up into the mud. The mud on the shore was about knee deep which made moving around quite difficult. Eventually with the help of all five of us we were able to pull this monster of a croc up onto the shore in the mangroves.
Once we had the croc up on the shore he actually put up very little of a fight. He cooperated perfectly the entire time we were taking measurements. While taking measurements every once and awhile we would all stop and look at this dinosaur we were sitting on. We were all trying to guess his total length. In the end he ended up being just shy of the monster of a croc that our team caught a few weeks prior. Still the fourth largest croc (12 1/2ft) ever caught in the past 30+ years though. After we were done taking all the measurements we all got a quick photo with the croc and then prepared to release it. We all jumped on the boat and then pulled the final noose off to finish the process. We
back off in the boat to leave the croc alone, all taking our last good look at the amazing animal we had just had an amazing interaction with. A few minutes after we backed off in the boat we looked back and the massive croc had already disappeared back into the water.
On our way back out to the main canal we saw how much of a mess we were and decided that it would be smart to stop at a near by beach to wash us and the boat off before driving into the boat ramp back at Flamingo. At this point we were all still in awe over what we had just done. When we arrived at the beach we saw that Mike and Matt in the other boat were taking pictures of something on the beach. We hurried over to find that there was another adult croc sitting on the beach. Surprisingly the croc didn't move when we pulled up in our boat. Mike and Matt told us that there was a second and larger croc on the beach when they pulled up, but that it had taken off into the water. We all pulled
up on the beach to get a few nice pictures of the croc that stayed on the beach. After we had our pictures we all looked at each other and said "hey, why not catch this one?" So even though our boat was a mess and our catch ropes were in a knot from the last guy, we proceeded to prepare for another catch. None of us thought that the croc on the beach would stay there the whole time we were preparing to catch it, but it did! So we pulled up to the beach to get a noose on it, and it was easy as cake. Matt just pulled up and placed the noose over the crocs neck.
After the crocs mouth was secured shut we all jumped up on the beach and started our measurements. None of us could believe our luck. We thank Truckstop for that. Since this croc was a little smaller and we had a beach to work on we were able to get some detailed close up pictures that turned out pretty good. When we were done with our work and had all of our pictures we took off the nooses
and released her back in the water. We couldn't have been happier. We were also extremely beat at this point. After two adult croc catches our bodies were done pumping adrenaline for awhile. We were ready to head back to the boat ramp to clean up and take a nap.
Once back at the ramp we all brought the boats over to clean them. One of our boats was absolutely covered in mud. The deck that used to be white was now a solid brown color, and our gear was thrown all over the place. When we finally finished cleaning we all went back to the trailer to relax. After talking about what an amazing day we had just had we all pretty much fell asleep mid-sentence. We were exhausted! After an hours nap we woke up and prepared the boat for the return drive home. We all said our good-byes and I took off home with the boat. The entire drive home I was replaying all the great memories we had made the past few days. Our experience that week in south Florida was one that I will never forget, and I have the pictures to prove
it!
* I would like to thank everyone involved in this wonderful week of work. Not only did we catch some amazing animals, but we also got to spend it with some amazing friends!
**Thanks to Jem and Mike for a few of the photos shared above.
***To read more about research done by our group see: http://crocdoc.ifas.ufl.edu/index.htm
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Janet
non-member comment
Crocs
Ryan....I enjoyed this Croc expedition blog very much. Your Florida adventures always bring back memories of my growing up years there. I loved going out into the Everglades..so quiet and beautiful, especially the grassy waters. Many times I've seen men trying to constrain gators or crocs, with ropes or prods, getting them in and out of trucks or cages, so I know how strong they are and how FAST. Congratulations on all your good work!!