Hunters may get skinned

TAMPA - Buyers of luxury items are holding back at a bad time for hunters in Florida's annual alligator season who want to peddle the hides to pay for their hunt.

A number of the people who get the annual hunting permits use money from the skins to cover the cost of the $271 permit and a guide if they use one, said Steve Stiegler, biologist with the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission alligator project.

The recession has taken a major bite from the hide market, which is dominated by four buyers in Europe.

"People who have previously recouped their cost by harvesting the alligators will have a hard time this year," Stiegler said. "It's going to matter to some people."

A few years ago, hunters might have gotten $55 to $65 a foot for an alligator hide, said Allen Register, owner of Gatorama and a member of the Florida Alligator Marketing and Education Committee.

Two 10-foot alligators could easily have covered the permit cost and maybe the price of a guide.

About 10 percent of last year's hunters hired a guide, which can cost $500 to well over $1,000.

This year, a hunter might get $10 a foot, and that would be for a perfect hide, Register said.

The recession that started in this country and spread to Europe sapped the appetite for alligator skin belts, wallets, purses and boots. Tanneries have enough hides in stock to last a year, he said.

"Not so good would be an overstatement," Register said. "The hide market is all but gone. I have not sold a hide since the middle of last year."

The state's annual alligator season will start Saturday and run for 11 weeks through Nov. 1.

This year, about 5,000 people gobbled up 6,300 licenses. Each license is good for two alligators.

Licenses for anyone not a Florida resident cost $1,021.

The state also issues a hunting permit for $61.50 that allows the hunter to take along a helper.

Stiegler said biologists set quotas for the number of alligators that can be taken from the areas where hunters are allowed.

The average gator killed in the 2008 hunt was 8 feet, 5 inches long.