Photo from the Bolivar Commercial.
How many men does it take to kill a 700 pound gator?
Four, apparently.
At least that was the case for Tom Grant, of Miss., and his three friends, who pulled an all-nighter to nab their 697.5 pound state record gator, according to Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks. The four men started tracking the gator near midnight, hooked it three times and eventually shot it with a 20 gauge shotgun. The hunt, which took place on private land in Issaquena County, lasted about an hour and a half.
It was the second state record gator killed in a week span, the other coming from Mike Cottingham of Arkansas and weighing in at 1,380 pounds.
“We didn’t realize what we were dealing with until we actually got him shot and had a chance to kind of take a breath,” Grant told the Bolivar Commercial. “Then, we realized what we had especially once we got back to the boat landing and was trying to figure out how we were going to get him loaded up and get him back to the camp.”
According to MWFP, Grant’s gator beat out the previous record killed by Brian Jackson by seven pounds. Jackson killed his gator in 2011 in the same county, also on private land, where gator populations continue to thrive.
“The recovery of the American alligator in Mississippi from an endangered species to a population that now has reached levels to sustain hunting is a true wildlife conservation success story,” according to Ricky Flint, MWFP Alligator Program Coordinator. “This is not the first record to come from Issaquena County and probably will not be the last.”
Only time will tell, but until then, Game & Fish will keep you posted on the latest.
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Maryellen Mara-Christian
Maryellen Mara-Christian killed a 1,025 pound gator in South Carolina in 2010. The gator was 13-feet, 5 inches long, which may be a record but game officials in South Carolina do not keep records of killed gators.
Tom Grant
Tom Grant killed his Mississippi state record gator in September of 2012, weighing in at 697.5 pounds and stretching out to 13 feet, 1.5 inches. Grant and three other men killed the gator in Issaquena County, which is where the previous state record (690.5 pounds) came from.
Mike Cottingham
This Arkansas behemoth weighed in at 1,380 pounds and was 13 feet, 3 inches long. It is the current state record holder. Mike Cottingham had to have several other men help him hoist the state record gator on shore.
Tres Ammerman
It took Tres Ammerman of Orlando, Fla., nearly two hours to reel in this mammoth gator, which weighed 654 pounds and broke the state record in length at 14 feet, 3.5 inches. The Florida record for weight belongs to the 1989 hunter who killed a 1,043 pound gator at Orange Lake.
Chad Jones
Chad Jones killed this 680 pound gator in Mississippi, just 17 pounds shy of Tom Grant's 2012 state record.
Keith Fancher
Keith Fancher killed this 838-pound, 14-foot-2 inch gator on the Alabama River in 2011. The massive gator literally broke the scale when state officials tried to weigh it.
Tim Stroh
Tim Stroh, 19, from Florida, killed this 12-foot, 3-inch, 800 pound gator in 2011. He reported that he hauled it up near his boat with a standard bass fishing rod and then shot it. He showed off his gator with his girlfriend.
Brian Jackson
Jackson killed his 2011 Ole Miss gator in the same county that produced the current record holder (Tom Grant, 2012). The gator weighed in at 690.5 pounds—seven pounds shy of the new record holder.
John Baxter
John Baxter killed this gator in Arkansas, which made him the state record holder at 13-feet, 1-inch and 680 pounds in 2010. Mike Cottingham beat his record in 2012 by two inches.
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10 Biggest Gators You've Never Heard About
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