Some of you may have caught 'Into the Crocodile's Lair' on SBS a couple of weeks back where brave adventurers claimed they were likely to be the first people ever to dive with crocodiles.

That statement caught the attention of David Lee, a long-time local who said he and his friend, New Zealander Gary Duff, were risking their lives diving with crocs four decades ago.

"One bloke gets up and says 'I'm the first person in the world to dive with crocodiles I believe,'" Mr Lee said of the TV show. "I thought you're a bit late mate, we did this years and years ago in the early seventies.
 
"We did it for a bit of fun, and a bit of madness I suppose to go with it."

Mr Lee was working as a professional crayfish diver at a time when hunting crocodiles was legal, and would venture into crocodile territory with his mate to relieve their boredom.

"We were so fit we couldn't sit still, we were jumping out of skin so we'd jump in a dingy and head across to the back of Horn Island and see if we could catch a few crocs, just little ones about three foot."

On one occasion when the weather was inclement, the pair ventured to Escape River on Cape York.

"Me and Gary went up the river in a ten foot tinny and Gary said 'what do you reckon we go and dive the deep holes for crocs? We'll take it in turns.'

"We got to this hole and there was a (crocodile) track wider than this (stretches his arms out wide). He said 'I'll do this one' and I said righto!

"We had a 303 power head on a stick about six feet long. Down he goes, free diving about 20 feet deep.

"Down he goes and the next minute I hear a 'boomp', that's all you hear (the noise of a discharging weapon underwater), and the next thing this huge crocodile comes out of the water and its jaws were going crash, crash!"

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After reloading twice more the pair overcame the crocodile Mr Lee estimated to be 19 feet long, or so they thought.

Not long after dragging the crocodile towards the bank, Mr Lee was prompted to open the crocodile's jaws for a photo opportunity when he noticed the crocodile had blinked.

"The croc turned towards me Gary jumped vertically out of the water and landed on top of the croc and took off. My escape route was into the scrub as fast as I could."

They ultimately killed and skinned the crocodile that was missing a portion of its tale.

Mr Lee remains adamant hunting crocodiles should be made legal once again, and supports the move by the Northern Territory to introduce a trial where 50 large male crocodiles will be made available for hunting.

"I think they should be culled. Those crocodiles eat anything with a heartbeat. And they're dangerous, they're so sneaky.

"I think anything over two metres they should be able to knock off," he said.