HOUMA, LA (AP) — Alligator hunting season is officially open in the eastern part of the state, but prices are way down.
Hunters and processors says the current prices for alligators are $20 per foot for a 9-foot or longer gator, $17 for 8 feet, $13-$15 for 7 feet and $13-$14 for 6 feet.
Greenwood Gator Farms and Tours owner Tim Domangue tells The Courier the prices are about 30 percent down from last year.
Prices peaked in the late 1980s at over $40 per foot, declined to $7.50 per foot in 2009 with the recession and then settled at $29 per foot in 2013 and 2014.
Domangue says the low prices are discouraging some hunters from going after the bigger alligators because they know they will still be there in the future if and when the prices go up again.
