Quick iguana shot in Puerto Rico

does anyone have a map to the open hunting areas? interested to see where it is legal to hunt. 

i am on Belaire also, & while i see a ton of crittters, i see very few dead in the canal. i won't advocate throwing them in as a way to dispose of them, but a lot just flop & are in the water since they are right on the edge of the canal. next one i pop i am going to tie it off to the dock & see what happens.

BTW- we saw a croc in the canal just south of Caribbean a couple weeks ago. only about 3', but hopefully he will develop an appetite for the little green monsters!

Florida Game and Wildlife has a website. You can see State-sanctioned areas. If you are on you private property shoot away with safety still in mind. If you're by the ocean I guarantee sea life will enjoy an iguana feast. The beauty of it is these creatures are close to the ground so most or all shots are toward the ground. absorbing any missed shots. 

this was a new one for me. i knew they were loose in S Fl. but had not seen one. a couple days ago my mail lady asked me if i had seen the big black lizard in the yard. i quizzed her for more details but she was just sure it was black & big........ & no i had not seen it. but by her description i wondered if it was a tegu. sure enough, on my return home this afternoon, i had some iguanas in the yard. after i picked off the first one, this guy charged into sight. i anchored him quick having not seen one before. cool skin pattern but one ugly mofo........ i am sure there are more around somewhere. it is getting to be a regular exotic wildlife show around here............

Geko?

no. it is close to 3' long. this is no gecko............this is a tegu. more trouble for the ecosystem if they have established a breeding colony.......... i saw a show on Nat Geo lst year that they had escaped in Fl City.............. the trappers were being very cautious with these.

OK, tegu are vicious mofos. Bad hombres. 

When you trim out a protein in your house before cooking, where do you throw the castoffs? In the trash, right? And those are righteous animals, who died for our table, not invasive vermin. I put them in a trash bag and off to Mt. Trashmore they go.

Also, I too saw the alligator in the canal but the Marlin bridge. Not a croc. Big difference. I'll bet that guy would feast on iguanas.

that tegu was a very different animal. kind of scary & very fast!! hope we don't start seeing more of them!!



did a little test yesterday & tied off a dead guana & tossed it in the canal to see how fast it would be disposed of. he sank but he floated up today all gassed up. looked like a turtle had chewed on a leg but he was definitely on his way to becoming a floating "stinker" i think the current just carries most of them away prompting the thinking that they would never float back up. proper disposal is needed cause if a bunch of people start cleaning out their back yards by floating them, someone is going to complain. it is a big step being allowed to dispatch these guys like this & we don't need any negative ammo for the PETA folks to embrace. 

i haven't seen a gator in the canal for months, but the lizard we saw was definitely a croc. not surprising since there are several big girls out in the marina.......... our crocs are very different than a gator & are pretty shy considering their size & reputation. 

OK, I believe you on the croc. Most folks can't tell the difference and don't even know there is one. That said, and alligator is a zillion times more likely than a croc to be in the Bel-Aire canal. But it's not impossible at all. They do prefer brackish water, and this ain't that.

I suspect that if you go to the flood control gate at Black Point after a heavy rain when they've been lowering the canal level, you will find a ton of dead lizard on the surface. Yuck. I really love this canal and want to protect it. Do you have a boat in the canal? I saw a guy in a pontoon boat a couple of weeks ago that was going along and popping lizards from it. I like it and want to join his navy.

the crocs have really made a comeback & i have seen them in places you wouldn't think they would be. last year there a big female that dug a nest right beside the road in ENP above Paurotis Palm lake. i stopped & took some photos cause there were some seriously stupid people taking selfies & getting way too close.

i wish i still had my boat in the canal. since SFWM closed the ramp, it is such a PITA to have to call them & spend the day trying to get in or out. i haven't seen the guy in the pontoon navy. there are several pontoons that i see but haven't seen anyone popping greenies. there used to be a bunch past all the developments towards BPM which would be ok, but sniping in someone's back yard could be a problem. there was a guy in the keys a while back that they called SWAT on cause he had a scary gun on the canal & was shooting guanas..........

It's just as well it stays closed. Keeps people out of my back yard that shouldn't be there.

Dead Iguanas do float after they sink for about 8 to 24 hours.

When you wack them toss them in immediately. The bigger the better. The more they are dead on land it seems the float more. The bigger ones sink. Smaller ones hit and miss. No worries if the water is deeper than 4 feet, come back and you'll see the critters feasting on them. Most of the time, they get dragged down. In my lake, they are gone within the hour. Still, if you leave them on land away from the street, nature will take care of them. I killed 2 on land in an open area, the kills where on the other side of a canal so I could not retrieve them. No worries, Nature gladly takes them back, hence why I have a disdain for throwing any creature in the garbage (except rats). Here is Nature at work.

Now, that is really not good for us pellet gunners. What a real "poophead" SAFETY FIRST...please

Thanks for the link Papi_Yosh. I will make a new posting so its more noticeable.

I have been shooting since I was 8 years old. My father was all about safety, yet he said for every 100 there is always at least one idiot. This is that case here. ALWAYS check where you are aiming and shooting. Preach this all day and we will still have idiots.

not good! what a DA!

i know that on my canal they will float up within 24 hours. i tested it. popped & dropped one on 30# into the middle .............we have plenty of turtles & who knows what in there now. but the next morning he was floating. all gassed up & ready to stink. we need to responsibly deal with the ones we kill. i know it is the circle of life but do you really want the buzzards to take a liking to your neighborhood? 

Buzzards will come if the area is light on traffic and chow on iguanas. Better it's in the water they won't stink up the place and something in the depths will feast on it for sure.

I have a huge snapping turtle on my canal and boy he likes the iguanas, I think he is my pet now..

Circle of Life. Nature takes care of its own. It's a wonderful thing.