Dustin Dockery, Texas Parks and Wildlife game warden, top right, operates an air boat during the 8th Annual Wallisville Lake Veteran Gator Hunt, Sept. 29, 2023. Chambers County Emergency Medical Technician, Ashton Callaway, top left, sits next to Dockery, and combat-injured veterans, from lower left to right, Lucas Hancock, Lee Diez, and Vincent Askew, scan the bayou as they check lines for alligators. This year’s hunt included six veterans and gave each one the opportunity to harvest three alligators a piece. The Wallisville Lake Project is a large area (23,000 acres) of protected wetlands, swamp forest, and bottomland hardwood forest created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for salinity control, navigation, water supply, recreation, and fish and wildlife enhancement. The project stretches along both sides of the Trinity River and both north and south of Interstate Highway 10 about halfway between Houston and Beaumont, Texas.