One day, Braxton got a call to remove a big gator from a farm pond in Jackson County several miles outside Marianna. Even though the gator was 9 feet in length and estimated to weigh at least 300 pounds, he figured it would be a pretty typical trapping operation -- go out on the lake well after dark, paddle up to him, gig him, play him down, kill him and be home before midnight. About the only thing that went according to plan was he and Enfinger went out after dark.

"We put the boat in about sundown and waited a couple of hours before we went out," Braxton recalls. "We spotted him right away on the surface. David eased me right up to him, but that's when things went wrong. I stuck the gig in him in the soft part of his hide between the head and front leg like you should and he took off."

What happened next almost ended in a catastrophe. The gig head was supposed to stick in the gator's soft tissue and come off when the gator fled, trailing a small nylon rope and buoy. Trappers then ease up on the buoy and rope, and try to get the gator to the boat where they put a noose around the jaws and head. But this time the gig head did not release.

With the gig stuck in the gator and Braxton holding onto the pole, the gator bolted and in less than a split second pulled Braxton off the bow into the darkness in a froth of churning water almost on top of the gator.

"I don't know how he didn't bite me, but I couldn't get back in that boat fast enough," he remembers. "That wasn't where I wanted to be."

Braxton said he and Enfinger eventually killed the gator and he was every bit as big as advertised.

On another occasion, Braxton and Enfinger were out attempting to remove a gator that had been hanging around some docks and residences. That night, Enfinger was on the bow and Braxton was the boat operator.

It was well after sundown when they spotted their quarry. They were both busy getting all their tools into position when Braxton picked up the bang stick, removed the safety and made only a short move, when the bang stick hit something and discharged, striking Enfinger at point-blank range.

The bang stick held a single 12-gauge shotgun shell with No. 4 shot. The pellets struck Enfinger in the chest, face and arm. Braxton immediately got Enfinger back to the boat landing and to a hospital in Pensacola. Doctors removed what pellets they could and discharged him. It was a narrow escape Braxton said he would never forget.

If you look at just the last 10 years in Florida (1998-2007), there have been 166 alligator attacks on residents and visitors. If you tracked down the survivors, I'll bet the majority of those who were bitten or attacked probably had no idea they were in harm's way up until the attack. They were people going about life when the unexpected happened. They were doing such things as trimming plants near the water's edge, retrieving golf balls, walking their dogs, swimming, fishing, and a dozen other things.