There’s about a many gators in FL as there are feral hogs. They are in every drainage ditch and pond. I’d take one in a heartbeat if I knew I could get away with it. The truth of why they comedown on you so hard is the state wants that revenue from selling tags to harvest gators.
Then they should triple the number of tags. The only thing that argues against an expanded season/ bag limit is that so many Florida yahoos can’t tell the alligators from the endangered American Crocodile. Expanded seasons in areas where the croc isn’t known could get numbers under better control. If I know Florida rednecks, this is far from an isolated incident.