I've heard accounts of three hunting dogs in this area nabbed by gators, but not in the winter while hunting snipe. I don't know if gators actively feed in the winter but I don't want any of my dogs to prove a point one way or the other. The bigger threats where I hunt snipe are water moccasins. I know of one dog, a Brittany, killed and a Lab seriously injured by snakes while hunting snipe in the same area. The Lab that was not killed was later cut up pretty bad by a wild hog. Hogs, snakes, gators...pick your poison.
As far as table quality, I consider snipe to be my favorite table bird as far as taste goes, cooked rare to medium rare, especially ones drawn and plucked which leaves a tasty fat layer between skin and meat. No, Geo, they don't taste like liver on a stick.
Here's a limit of snipe cleaned by using the melted paraffin method more commonly used on ducks:
