https://www.geek.com/news/hunters-catch-colossal-13-foot-alligator-in-mississippi-river-1802822/?source

Two hunters caught a giant, 13-foot male alligator in a Mississippi river on August 30. (Photo Credit: Jarrod Davis / Facebook)

Two Mississippi hunters recently caught an enormous, 13-foot male alligator that may break a state record.

Jarrod Davis and Derrick Saucier were enjoying the opening day of alligator season in Mary Walker Bayou, a river located in Gautier, Mississippi, on August 30, the Clarion Ledger reported. At approximately 11:57 a.m. local time, the pair noticed the massive alligator swimming in the water. According to Saucier, the giant reptile was well known by locals in the area.

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“He was a nuisance. He’d eaten a few pets,” Saucier said. “One of the trappers hooked him a month ago. I could still see the scar on him where the hook came out. People had been chasing him for years.”

At around 12 p.m. CDT, Davis and Saucier hooked the big animal and spent a hour and a half trying to capture it. According to Davis, the alligator dragged them across the river back and forth and almost jerked him out of the boat three times. The hunters were having trouble getting the reptile in their boat and had to tow it to a nearby boat launch to get help.

“We tried to get him in the boat with four men and couldn’t do it,” Davis explained. “Finally we gave up and decided to pull him on the bank. It took six men.”

The alligator, which measured 13-feet, 6-inches long with a 72-inch girth and a 48-inch tail base, could break a state record for the heaviest male alligator taken in Mississippi’s public waters. The current state record is 822 pounds for a previously captured alligator that was about 13-feet-long and had a 65-inch girth and a 48-inch tail base.

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