longest alligator of mississippi
The longest alligator ever caught in Mississippi was killed by hunters in the Yazoo River. According to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP), the record-breaking monster was 14 feet and 3 inches (4.34 meters) long and weighed 802.5 pounds (364 kilograms).
The previous record for the “longest male alligator taken by a permitted hunter in Mississippi” belonged to a 14-foot, 0.75-inch-long (4.29 m) animal that was killed in 2017 by hunters close to the western city of Natchez. It measured 4.29 m in length and weighed 766.5 pounds (347.5 kg).
10-day alligator hunting season
During Mississippi’s 10-day alligator hunting season, which begins on the last Friday of August each year, hunters managed to capture the new record-size male on Saturday (Aug. 26), according to the MDWFP.
“It was a calm night,” Donald Woods, who participated in the hunt, told Clarion Ledger, a Jackson, Mississippi news outlet. “We saw a lot of 8-footers, 10-footers, but that’s not what we were after.”
Around 9 p.m. local time, the hunters noticed the enormous alligator and managed to hook it. However, it took the team seven hours to capture and kill the animal. “We hooked him eight or nine times, and he kept breaking off,” Woods claimed. “He kept getting off, so it was more mentally taxing than anything else.”
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Hunters were amazed by…
The hunters were unaware of the size of the alligator until they lifted it aboard their boat. “We were just amazed at how wide his back was and how big the head was,” Woods said. “It was surreal, to tell you the truth.”
The coordinator of the MDWFP Alligator Program, Andrew Arnett, was informed by the team and measured and weighed the animal before declaring the new record. At Red Antler Processing, a facility in Yazoo City for the processing of wild game, the hunters posed with their catch.
Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis), which are widespread in Mississippi, are native to the southeastern United States. Alligator hunting and capture outside of the hunting season is prohibited and requires a special permit from the MDWFP. In order to spread out the hunting pressure among adult and young animals, permit holders are allowed to take two alligators that are over 4 feet long (1.2 m) and one that is over 7 feet long (2.1 m).
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The record
The largest alligator in America was a 15-foot, 9-inch behemoth that was captured in Alabama in 2014 and weighed 1,011.5 pounds (459 kg). The sex, age, and habitat of the animal all affect the alligator’s growth rate. Male alligators often develop bigger and faster than female alligators, but rarely reach longer than 13 feet (4 meters).
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