Florida duck hunter attacked by gator in Everglades

Lesson learned: when you are duck hunting in the Florida Everglades and you think you see a log, you probably shouldn’t kick it. Instead, you should get back into your boat and paddle away. At least that’s what Krit Krutchaiyan should’ve done last Friday. Instead, Krutchaiyan was airlifted to the Broward Health Medical Center with a flesh wound in his thigh courtesy of the floating log, which happened to be an 8’ to 10’ long alligator.

The incident occurred on Friday afternoon at the Holey Land Wildlife Management Area in the Florida Everglades. Fortunately for Krutchaiyan, he wasn’t hunting alone and his hunting buddy, Robert Gautier, was able to push their kayak between Krutchaiyan and the alligator as a sort of shield.

"He was trying to get out," Gautier told ABC Channel 10. "It's just a shock to see it happen live in front of you. It's a little [b]it startling."

The duo was in waist deep water when the alligator attacked. Luckily, two off-duty firefighters were hunting nearby. Paul Burton and Michael Donadio heard the commotion and rushed to help.

"When I got down to him, his leg was opened up pretty well. Probably some eight inch lacerations to his upper thigh," says Burton, who quickly tied a tourniquet around Krutchaiyan’s left leg. "You could see the extent of the wound. All the meat inside the leg coming out."

Krutchaiyan seems to have gotten off pretty easy, considering how the alligator attack could have played out. In fact, the laceration isn’t too serious and, barring infection, he should make a complete recovery.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are in charge of the investigation. Gautier says the pair has hunted in that area for years without any prior run-ins with alligators.

“In a way, it was really scary because you know you're in the alligators' environment,” Gautier told the Sun Sentinel. “You know they're all over, but they tend to go away when they see humans because they don't associate us with food.”