Massive alligator captured in Mississippi is new state record; âNightmare materialâ

By Mike Stunson, The Idaho Statesman (Tribune News Service)

Giving off major “Jurassic Park” vibes, a creature captured in Mississippi broke the record for the longest alligator ever captured in the state.

While its length — 14 feet, 3 inches — is astonishing, so too is its mass. The alligator captured on the second day of Mississippi’s hunting season weighed 802.5 pounds with a belly girth of 66 inches, according to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

The previous record came in 2017 when a group bagged an alligator that was 14 feet, 0.75 inches and weighed 766.5 pounds, according to Super Talk Mississippi News.

The department said the record alligator was harvested Saturday, Aug. 26, by the foursome of Tanner White, Don Woods, Will Thomas and Joey Clark. Red Antler Processing said the hunters found the monster in the Yazoo River.

“Nightmare material!” one woman commented on Facebook.

“I can’t even start to imagine something out there that big,” another commenter said.

It took the group seven hours to land the alligator onto their boat, Woods told the Clarion Ledger. He called the outing “mentally exhausting.”

“We hooked him eight or nine times and he kept breaking off,” Woods said, according to the outlet. “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.”

Alligator hunting season in public waters is from Aug. 25 to Sept. 4 in Mississippi. The state first offered alligator sport hunting in 2005.

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