Hunters recall 'pandemonium' on their boat after capturing record breaking 14-foot alligator
The Mississippi hunters with their record-breaking catch
Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks
A group of hunters have recalled their “pandemonium” after capturing a record-breaking 14-foot alligator.
Tanner White, Don Woods, Will Thomas and Joey Clark caught the 14-foot 3-inch reptile during Mississippi’s certified annual hunting season.
The male alligator, which weighed in at nearly 365 kilograms, was hoisted from the Yazoo river.
It had previously destroyed most of the equipment on the boat in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The male alligator, which weighed in at nearly 365 kilograms, was hoisted from the Yazoo river
Thomas, a 43-year-old lawyer from the Magnolia State, told The Washington Post: “It was pandemonium. It was chaos.”
He added: “When you have an 800 pound animal on the end of a fishing rod, and he’s coming up and he looks like a beast, everybody is kind of going crazy, and your adrenaline is pumping.”
Thomas also revealed the hunters put a noose around the creature before shooting it with a shotgun.
Woods also said: “We hooked him eight or nine times, and he kept breaking off.
“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.”
The group were particularly excited when they realised the animal’s enormous size.
The decision to use a noose is in accordance with state laws on hunting.
It had previously destroyed most of the equipment on the boat in the early hours of Saturday morning
However, the longest alligator ever recorded measured at 15 feet and 9 inches in Alabama.
Mississippi began offering seasons of alligator sport hunting in 2005.
The Magnolia State introduced the season in an attempt to manage their population.
More than 950 hunting tags were awarded in a state-run lottery system for this year’s 10-day season.
There are around 30,000 alligators across the whole of Mississippi.
The amphibious reptiles are particularly known for residing in the central and southern parts of the Magnolia State.