Lake Lavon being public, yeah, it's no hunting. As I understand the gator hunting laws, the bait must be firmly affixed to private land. You can take them in public water, though.

Also, we're a little bit north for this guy's range. That's another reason he lived to get so big. If you really wanted to hunt one, you'd do it further south. Where they're thicker.

A gator isn't a croc. It's main evolutionary advantage is, apparently, that it can live in more extreme climates. It'll survive a north Texas winter and a croc won't.

It isn't nearly as active a predator as a croc. It would be doing a disservice to say you have to trip over one before it'll kill you. They're little more active than that.

You wouldn't want to step on one, that's about it.