Alligator Ron finds joy in hunting, conservation
For Ron Bergeron, the spring turkey season gives him an opportunity to relax and rejuvenate from a hectic week of running his several dozen businesses, his duties as a board member of the South Florida Water Management District, his role on the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, his philanthropic efforts and, most importantly, his dedication to protecting the Everglades.
When the season opens in South Florida on March 6, “Alligator Ron” will be in the woods at his ranch north of the Big Cypress Preserve with family and friends, trying to lure in a mature wild turkey gobbler by imitating the calls of a hen turkey.
Sometimes, the realistic yelps, clucks and purrs that the former rodeo cowboy makes on his mouth call bring in more than he could have hoped for.
“Last year, we were hunting and I’m looking out at big prairie for turkeys and then I look through the bushes at a little shoreline of a lake, and I’m saying to myself, ‘That cap rock is brown and in the shape of a panther.’ And I keep looking at this rock, then I look back out in the prairie at some turkeys, and I was just so curious that a rock could look nearly identical to a panther,” said Bergeron, who was 20 yards away. “So I got down on my knees and I looked through the brush and the panther moved his head about a half inch. And I said, ‘Oh my God, there’s a panther!’
“The panther stood up and looked at us for about 10 seconds, and we filmed it going into a cypress swamp. It was absolutely breathtaking. Seeing one of the most endangered species on the planet was more satisfying to me than even if I got a turkey.”
One of Bergeron’s keys to getting a turkey is knowing the landscape so he can set up in the right place. He likes to be at a pinch point, which is where the terrain narrows between open areas such as prairies, so any gobbler traveling between a cypress head or pine island is within shotgun range.
Another essential is learning how to sound like a hen on mouth, slate and box calls, as well as knowing “when to call and when not to call.”
“If I yelp and they gobble, and I keep yelping and they keep gobbling, but the gobble is not getting any louder, that means the turkeys are trying to bring the hen to them,” Bergeron said. “In nature, in most cases, the hen goes to the gobbler. The only time you can reverse that is when gobblers have no hens. Then they’re vulnerable to coming your way.”
For hunters like Bergeron, of Weston, the challenge of trying to trick a mature gobbler is rivaled by the sights and sounds of the spring woods during turkey season, which runs through April 11 south of State Road 70 and March 20-April 25 in the rest of Florida.
His ranch, like many places where Osceola turkeys thrive, also is home to black bears, bobcats, white-tailed deer, wild hogs and alligators — an encounter with one of the reptiles is when his nickname changed from “Dynamite Ron.”
A lot of that wildlife is featured on his social media — @alligatorronbergeron on Instagram and alligatorron on Facebook — and his alligatorronbergeron.com and savetheglades.org websites.
“Being a Gladesman, that is one of the most beautiful cultures, to be in God’s landscape,” said Bergeron, who grew up in Davie and first ventured into the Everglades as a young boy with his grandfather on his airboat.
“Even with all my success, I never lost the culture of the Gladesman that I was raised in. I’m very thankful my grandfather taught me about how important the environment is.
“Being raised in that environment and being with nature, it just brings me peace. That’s why I spend half my life trying to protect the environment for future generations.”
Former governor Charlie Crist recognized Bergeron’s efforts by appointing him to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and he was re-appointed for a second five-year term by Rick Scott. During that time Bergeron was the agency’s Everglades point man and worked tirelessly with state and federal officials to improve the flow and quality of water in the River of Grass.
Not long after Gov. Ron DeSantis was elected, he appointed Bergeron to the water management board, where his knowledge of the Everglades is having an even bigger impact. Reservoirs and stormwater treatment areas have drastically reduced the levels of phosphorus in agricultural runoff before the water enters the freshwater ’Glades and, hopefully, with Bergeron’s help, Everglades National Park, Florida Bay and the Florida Keys.
Bergeron also is working with marine artist Guy Harvey on a program called Seagrass to Sawgrass.
“To save the ocean, we’ve got to save the Everglades because all of our water, the quantity, the quality, the timing and the distribution, affects our estuaries and the Gulf and the Atlantic and Florida Bay,” Bergeron said, adding that the Bergeron Wildlife Foundation and the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation want to create an educational program for schools.
“The way I look at it,
I’ve been a very successful businessman, but making a difference for others while I’m here is very important to me. That’s why I spend all the time to do this.”
But even “Alligator Ron” needs a break, which is why he’ll be in the turkey woods every weekend this season.