SILVERHILL, Ala. — Alexis Booth has dreams and aspirations just like any other 17-year-old girl.

Having recently received a high school diploma, the Robertsdale native and resident has plans to attend Genesis School of Cosmetology in Daphne and is hoping to go on to study business administration, probably at Faulkner State Community College, she said.

But Alexis Booth has another aspiration that probably couldn’t be further from the minds of most girls her age. She wants to go after a big gator, one bigger than the 12-footer her father, Roger Booth, bagged three years ago.

“I am excited,” she said, “and a little nervous.”

Like her father three years ago, Alexis was awarded a gator contract for the Mobile Bay area in the Alabama gator hunting season which begins this weekend.

Gator hunting in Alabama is done by lottery ticket. Tickets are purchased for $6, then are drawn from however many are sold. For every ticket drawn, the owner of the ticket can bag one gator.

Out of 9,000 tickets sold this year, Alexis is one of only 125 lucky few to get a contract.

“I purchased 100 tickets this year and didn’t get a contract,” said Roger Booth. One the 50 tickets Alexis purchased was drawn for the contract.

Roger Booth, owner of Roger Booth Vinyl Siding and Windows, hunted gators in his youth and was lucky enough to get a gator contract three years ago, the second year gator hunting was once again allowed in the Mobile Bay area.

“We’ve been breem fishing for years as a hobby, and she (Alexis) is used to seeing big gators come up beside the boat,” he said. “But this is a whole different story. This is hands’ on.”

When gator hunting was again allowed in Mobile Bay five years ago, Roger Booth aquired a 28-foot party barge and modified it specifically for gator hunting.

“It has a big opening in the middle that allows us to bring the gator up and measure it,” he said. “It has railing on either side to prevent the gator from slipping out the sides, but it is open in the back, so we can slip the gator out if it’s not the one we want.”

Gator hunting in Alabama is very different from what people might be used to seeing in the Louisiana swamps, popularized on the television show “Swamp People,” Booth said.

“You’re not allowed to leave bait for the gators,” he said. “You can use a smart hook, shoot it with a crossbow or snag it with a snatch hook. We use 16-foot surf rods with 90-pound test.”

The last several feet of line is double braided 90-pound test.

“What you’re hoping to get weighs somewhere between 600 and 800 pounds,” Roger Booth said. “It’s like chasing a big fish.”

Once the gator is snagged, it will be hauled in using several ropes.

“We have to tie it off with several ropes, because once the gator realizes there is no escape, it will go into a death roll,” he said. “It will justs start spinning faster and faster until the ropes either snap or it gets free.” Booth said when he bagged his big gator three years ago, they tied it off with six ropes. Only one rope survived to get the gator on the boat.

As the holder of the ticket, Alexis is required to be on the boat, and, although she is not required to haul the gator into the boat, she will be on hand to deliver the kill shot with a .44 caliber weapon Roger Booth dubbed the “bang stick.”


Roger Booth’s big gator, which they named “Big Henry,” is mounted and hangs at Mom and Pop's Restaurant in Silverhill, where Roger and Alexis Booth met for an interview on Wednesday.

Gator season officially opens Friday night and hunters are allowed to scout until Sunday night along Mobile Bay and its tributaries north of the Causeway. Hunters will be allowed to scout again beginning at sundown next Friday, Aug. 19 and the tags must be filled by sundown on Sunday, Aug. 21.

“it’s really the only time we’re allowed to scout gators and not be hastled,” Roger Booth said. “We’ve seen some pretty big ones down on Fort Morgan and in Gulf Shores. Hopefully they will rotate it around and open those areas up for hunting in the near future.”

As for Alexis’ hopes for her first big gator, “Big Henry” officially measured in at 12-feet, 5 1/2 inches. She’s hoping to bag something over 13 feet.

“That ought to be big enough to get some good boots and a belt made,” she said.