The Linger Lodge opened in 1948 as a camp for hunters and fishermen when Manatee County, Florida was mostly wilderness. Today, the Linger Lodge Restaurant is located next to an RV park and most of the wilderness has been converted into subdivisions. Since 1968, the restaurant has decorated its walls with interesting taxidermic mounts of the local wildlife. This restaurant has an interesting menu with uncommon items, including alligator chowder, frog legs (cooked 3 different ways), and smoked mullet. I had the alligator chowder–it would’ve been an excellent dish, if they would’ve cut the salt by half. My daughter had fried catfish, and I helped her finish it. They were nice crispy filets.
Alligator chowder. Someone needs to tell the chef to cut down on the salt.
Alligator bites served as an appetizer. Alligator tastes like veal. An occasional bite might taste gristly. Alligator is lean, but a bite that has fat on it usually tastes a little fishy. We all liked them but then again everything tastes good when it is fried.
Most of the taxidermic mounts on this wall are diamondback rattlesnakes. There is 1 adult cottonmouth. I can’t identify the snake in the bottom right corner. Maybe it’s a variety of garter snake, but I can’t find a match in my reptile guide book.
They have many mounts of bobcats. This was a skinny long specimen.
The big turtle shell in the middle must be some species of sea turtle. I think the rest are from river cooters.
Bear skin rug. I doubt this bear weighed more than 150 pounds.
Fox squirrel, coyote, and raccoon. On 1 of my future trips to Florida I hope to find a state park where fox squirrels are common.
I estimate this large mouthed bass weighed 7-9 pounds. It was almost as big as a 10 pound bag of potatoes.
Look at the size of this diamondback rattlesnake.
This alligator was probably about 10 feet long.
Surprise. At the bottom of this display case are the backbones of either/and mastodon or mammoth back bones. Above it look like pieces of ribs.
GeorgiaBeforePeople 
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