{"id":2242,"date":"2024-03-21T16:30:46","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T16:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/?p=2242"},"modified":"2024-03-21T16:30:46","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T16:30:46","slug":"tennessee-teen-catches-gator-on-a-swimbait-stuns-game-warden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/?p=2242","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee Teen Catches Gator on a Swimbait, Stuns Game Warden"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The 16-year-old angler reported the catch to a local wildlife officer, who assumed it was a joke at first<\/p>\n

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Posted on Mar 20, 2024 6:48 PM EDT<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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16-year-old Justin Wyrick shows off the gator he caught from Norris Lake ; Tennessee wildlife officer Rick Roberts holds the gator by the snout. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officer Rick Roberts got an unusual phone call around 5 p.m. on Monday. The caller said his younger brother had caught an alligator from a lake north of Knoxville. And because there are no wild alligators in East Tennessee, Roberts thought he was joking.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was off duty when Tower Wyrick called me and said his younger brother Justin had caught an alligator at Norris Lake,\u201d Roberts tells Outdoor Life<\/em>. \u201cI know them both, and I thought at first it was a joke. But I could get there in about 15 minutes, so I got in my truck and took off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts arrived there soon enough and saw that the brothers weren\u2019t kidding after all. Justin, 16, still had the alligator pinned on the ground and was holding it just behind its head.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Wyrick and Roberts with the gator, which measured around four feet long. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe gator was lethargic, likely from the cold weather we\u2019d been having,\u201d Roberts says. \u201cSo, it was easy to handle. It didn\u2019t wiggle much or try to bite.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two brothers told Robert\u2019s they\u2019d been bass fishing from the shore at Norris Lake near the Highway 33 bridge. Justin said he hooked the roughly 4-foot-long gator on a swimbait. He then fought it for 30 minutes before he finally landed it on the bank.<\/p>\n

Read Next:<\/strong> The Best Swimbait Rods of 2024, Tested and Reviewed<\/a><\/p>\n

Roberts called another TWRA wildlife officer, Jason Lankford, who was on duty at the time. They waited for about 30 minutes for Lankford to arrive. In the meantime, Roberts got some electrical tape and wrapped it around the gator\u2019s toothy snout.<\/p>\n

\u201cInitially I thought it was a caiman, because I\u2019d had calls about those previously,\u201d Roberts explains. \u201cWe learned later that it was an alligator that we feel certain someone had released into Norris Lake.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Another game warden helped transport the alligator to a nearby zoo. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When officer Lankford arrived at the scene he was just as shocked as Roberts. He then transported the reptile to Little Ponderosa Zoo<\/a> in Anderson County. Roberts says it\u2019s being held there temporarily until it can be relocated, although it\u2019s unclear where they would take the gator.<\/p>\n

Read Next:<\/strong> Alligator Frozen Stiff in Icy Pond Isn\u2019t Dead. It\u2019s Just Brumating<\/a><\/p>\n

Alligators are classified as exotic Class 1 wildlife<\/a> in Tennessee. These species are considered dangerous to humans and can only be possessed by someone with the proper permit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen a lot of things in over two decades of being a Tennessee wildlife officer,\u201d Roberts says, \u201cbut that\u2019s the first alligator I\u2019ve seen in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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The 16-year-old angler reported the catch to a local wildlife officer, who assumed it was a joke at first Posted on Mar 20, 2024 6:48 PM EDT 16-year-old Justin Wyrick shows off the gator he caught from Norris Lake ; Tennessee wildlife officer Rick Roberts holds the gator by the snout. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2242","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gun-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}