AmericanAlligator_AAAAAHHH_Riley_Glynn_BrownwoodTX_10July2006_Reel4102.mp3

Glynn Riley [00:00:00] One time I had to catch alligators, when I was down at Liberty. And so I've got a brother-in-law that's fascinated with reptiles. And he knew I was catching alligators sometimes, and he wanted to come go with me. So we came down and we loaded up, and went down to this catfish farm.

Glynn Riley [00:00:24] They had these ponds where they fed those catfish every day. And they had what I call creep feeders. They had a deal out over the water with a lot of feed in it and it had a rod run up through the bottom with a paddle that extended down into the water. And catfish would bump that paddle and agitate the rod and the food would fall out.

Glynn Riley [00:00:43] And there'd be a big mass of catfish there, feeding, and a alligator'd just come cruising through with his mouth wide open and get a load of catfish, you know, and turn around, and come back. So, they had an alligator, two or three or four or five, in this pond - pretty big pond.

Glynn Riley [00:00:59] So my brother, Randall Brown, and I went down there in a 16-foot flat-bottom, as a Cajun would say, "aluminium" jon boat, and with a trolling motor and whatnot on it.

Glynn Riley [00:01:14] And so I had this little headlight that you put on your head up here. And it had a little square six-volt battery in my hip pocket and the wire had been frazzled and broken, so it was kind of short, got two little terminals with a screw, you know.

Glynn Riley [00:01:28] So we caught one little alligator, and tied him up. And the way you did that, we'd take inner tubes and cut big rubber bands, you know, just across the inner tube, catch the alligator, and pull his back feet up, and then you walk down his back and mash his head down.

Glynn Riley [00:01:42] So, we were in the boat, and I saw a big red eye and I said, "Randall, there's an alligator. And so, he's running the trolling motor. And I said, "Okay." I got a shovel handle with a coyote snare on the end of it and a rope tied to the thing so if I drop it.

Glynn Riley [00:01:55] And anyway, I'm up on the front of the boat, and I said, "Okay", I said, "We're getting close." I said, "Cut the motor." And we go silently gliding up to the alligator. And I loop the alligator.

Glynn Riley [00:02:12] Holy cow! I couldn't hold that alligator. It was jerking and carrying on, and jerked that shovel handle out of my hands and went to the bottom. And of course, I had a line on it. So when the thing kind of calmed down and I pulls him up to the boat. And it's laying right beside the boat like this, and I can see that it is longer than half the length of that boat.

Glynn Riley [00:02:39] So, but it was very calm and I told my brother-in-law, I said, "Randall, I'm going to, I'm going to tie its feet while it's in the water here."

Glynn Riley [00:02:47] And so I reached over, got the back feet, and the alligator threw its head up on the side of the boat and just rolled over in there with us.

Glynn Riley [00:02:56] And business picked up!

Glynn Riley [00:02:58] So, so I retreated to the front of the boat, and with the only light, which had a short wire and I had to kind of hold my head back. And I hollered at my brother-in-law, "Pull his head to the back to the boat!"

Glynn Riley [00:03:09] And all I could hear of him was he was falling, "Oh, my ribs! I hit them on the motor!" And this and that and the other, you know.

Glynn Riley [00:03:09] And the alligator opens his mouth about this wide, and says "Haaaaah."

Glynn Riley [00:03:24] So, I'm backed up just as far as I could get. I had one foot here, and one foot here. I was about to abandon ship. And I hollered at my brother-in-law, I said, "Damn it, pull his head around to the back of the boat!"

Glynn Riley [00:03:35] And the alligator said, "Haaaaaah!"

Glynn Riley [00:03:36] And about that time, the alligator starts to turn around to go to the back of the boat, but he went over the side, and we didn't get eaten up.

Glynn Riley [00:03:51] So we went on and got him. He was nine and a half feet long. We got it out on the bank and I tied it up and took it out.

Glynn Riley [00:03:58] And so my brother-in-law was a big Rotarian and he had, you know, those folks, Lions and what not, they've got to have a speaker. So he wanted me to come to Mexia and talk to his Rotary Club, which I did.

Glynn Riley [00:04:14] And the first thing when I got up there (I had to pay for my meal before speaking), and the first thing some gentleman in the audience says, "Tell us how Randall saved you from the alligator!"