Registration for Alabama’s regulated alligator hunts opens at 8 a.m. on June 2, and hunters across Mobile and Baldwin counties will be competing for the largest block of tags in the state.
The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources will accept online applications until 8 a.m. on July 8. A total of 260 Alligator Possession Tags will be distributed across five hunting zones, with a $22 administrative fee to apply. Applicants may register once per zone. The tag itself is free, but selected hunters and their assistants must carry valid hunting licenses while in the field.
Who Can Apply
Only Alabama residents and Alabama lifetime license holders who are at least 16 years old may apply. Lifetime license holders remain eligible even if they have moved out of state.
How Hunters Are Selected
Tags are awarded by random computer draw, one per selected hunter, and are non-transferable. The draw uses a preference point system that improves the odds for people who apply year after year. Skipping a year — or being selected and accepting a tag — resets that accumulated preference.
Applicants can check their status after noon on July 8, and those selected must confirm acceptance online by 8 a.m. on July 15. Alternates are notified afterward to fill any openings. Anyone drawn must complete an online alligator training course before accepting hunter or alternate status. A hunter drawn in more than one zone must choose a single location, and the forfeited slot goes to an alternate.
South Alabama Zones and Dates
The Southwest Alabama Zone carries 100 tags, the most of any zone. It covers private and public waters in Baldwin and Mobile counties north of Interstate 10, along with waters in Washington, Clarke and Monroe counties east of U.S. Highway 43 and south of U.S. Highway 84. The Coastal Zone covers Baldwin and Mobile county waters south of Interstate 10. Both run from sunset August 13 to sunrise August 16, and again from sunset August 20 to sunrise August 23.
Elsewhere, the Southeast Alabama Zone has 40 tags across eight counties, the West Central Alabama Zone has 50 tags in Monroe County north of U.S. 84 plus Wilcox and Dallas counties, and the Lake Eufaula Zone has 20 tags in public state waters of the Walter F. George Reservoir.
Harvest Rules
Each tag holder may take one alligator during the season. An eight-foot minimum length applies in the Lake Eufaula Zone; there is no minimum in the other zones. Baiting is prohibited. Every harvested alligator must be tagged immediately with the temporary possession tag and reported as directed for that zone, with the permanent tag issued after the hunt by Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division staff.
Hunting hours run from official sunset to official sunrise in the Southwest, Coastal, Southeast and West Central zones. The Lake Eufaula Zone permits both daytime and nighttime hunting. All state hunting and boating regulations apply.
A Conservation Turnaround
The American alligator is the largest reptile in North America, capable of exceeding 14 feet and 1,000 pounds. Unregulated harvesting for meat and hides pushed the species toward collapse in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Alabama is believed to have been the first state to protect alligators, outlawing unlimited harvests in 1938. Other states followed, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the species as endangered in 1967. The alligator was removed from that list in 1987 and populations have expanded since.