A monstrous alligator has been branded “nightmare material” and has set a new state record for sheer size and mass after it was captured.
A group of Mississippi hunters set a new state record by capturing the gator, measuring over 14 feet long and weighing over 800 pounds. It was hauled in by a group of hunters on the Yazoo River on Saturday from the Yazoo River.
People are allowed to hunt the gators at specific times to keep numbers down in the state, especially near residential areas and after complaints about pet dogs being eaten.
According to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, the gator’s total length was 14 feet 3 inches, with a belly girth of a whopping 66 inches. On the scales, it registered at 802.5 pounds.
This dwarfs the previous Mississippi record for longest gator, which was 14 feet and under 766.5- pounds back in 2017.
“Nightmare material!” one woman commented on Facebook. Someone else wrote: “Good grief that’s a monster.”
The four lucky hunters – Tanner White, Don Woods, Will Thomas and Joey Clark – landed the catch on just the second day of alligator season in the state. Don described the seven hour struggle to reel in the monster reptile as “mentally exhausting.”
“We hooked him eight or nine times and he kept breaking off,” he said, “He would go down, sit and then take off. He kept going under logs. He knew what he was doing. The crazy thing is he stayed in that same spot.”
In the end though, the hunters prevailed with what is surely one of the most massive gators ever captured. Mississippi’s public alligator hunting season opened August 25 and runs through September 4h. The state first began allowing limited gator hunting back in 2005.
Alligator hunting is regulated in Mississippi with a limited hunting season due to the need to properly manage and conserve the alligator population.
Hunting is only allowed during this period and requires a special permit issued by the state’s Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. The seasonal restriction allows alligators to breed, nest, and raise hatchlings during the summertime peak of their activity and reproduction.
Alligators were once endangered, but have made a comeback in the southern US due to conservation efforts. Their populations are now stable enough to allow limited, regulated hunting
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This article by Lucy Williamson was first published by The Mirror on 27 August 2023. Lead Image: The alligator was 14 feet 3 inches long, breaking the previous Mississippi record of 14 feet 0.75 inches. (Image: Red Antler Processing/Facebook).
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