{"id":1532,"date":"2023-08-28T14:50:59","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T14:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/?p=1532"},"modified":"2023-08-28T14:50:59","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T14:50:59","slug":"hunters-catch-mississippi-state-record-alligator-after-7-hour-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/?p=1532","title":{"rendered":"Hunters Catch Mississippi State Record Alligator After 7-Hour Fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"incArticle\">\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Donald Woods and his buddies were determined to catch a big gator on the opening night of Mississippi\u2019s alligator hunting season.\u00a0By early the next morning they had done just that. In fact, Woods and his crew landed a massive alligator that measured an official 14 feet, 3 inches and weighed 802.5 pounds. It\u2019s the longest alligator ever caught on record in the state of Mississippi, beating the previous record by more than two inches.<\/p>\n<p>Woods and his buddies were hunting on the Yazoo River in the western part of the state on a calm evening on Aug. 25. They passed up some smaller gators before finding a giant.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?height=476&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Ftanner.white.5205%2Fvideos%2F303959458982030%2F&amp;show_text=false&amp;width=267&amp;t=0\" width=\"267\" height=\"476\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe knew he was wide,\u201d Woods told the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarionledger.com\/story\/sports\/outdoors\/2023\/08\/26\/mississippi-alligator-hunters-land-new-state-record\/70689512007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Clarion Ledger<\/a>. \u201cHis back was humongous. It was like we were following a jon boat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By about 9 p.m. they got a hook into the gator and the battle was on.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Depending on your hunting area and local regulations, there are a variety of methods for alligator hunting. You can spot and stalk them on shore and shoot them with a rifle, you can bowfish for them, or you can snag them with giant treble hooks and fight them to the boat on heavy tackle. When you get the reptile to the boat, you shoot it in the head or bangstick it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Woods and his crew were using the last method. The biggest and most elusive gators will dive under logs and other cover to get the hooks pulled free.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-default\" data-dimension=\"landscape\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Taping the state-record gator from nose to tail. <i>Tanner White, via Facebook<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWe hooked him eight or nine times and he kept breaking off,\u201d Woods told the Clarion Ledger. \u201cHe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The hunters fought the gator through the night, snapping several rods and burning out reels. By 3:30 that morning the massive alligator was finally starting to tire, and the crew got him to the boat by 4 a.m., seven hours after they first hooked him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just knew we had a big alligator,\u201d Woods told the newspaper. \u201cWe were just amazed at how wide his back was and how big the head was. It was surreal, to tell you the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-default\" data-dimension=\"landscape\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/uploads\/2023\/08\/28\/giant_misssissippi_gator.jpg\" alt=\"The new giant gator out of Mississippi.\" class=\"wp-image-258807\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The hunters after an all-night fight for the new record gator. <i>MFWP<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After such an epic battle, Woods says that he just might retire from chasing giant gators. It\u2019s unlikely he\u2019ll ever catch a bigger one\u2014no one in the state of Mississippi ever has.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read Next: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/hunting\/processor-finds-ancient-relics-in-gator\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mississippi Processor Finds 8,000-Year-Old Relics in the Belly of a 750-Pound Gator<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-alligators-in-mississippi\">Alligators in Mississippi<\/h2>\n<p>There are several states in the South that have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/story\/hunting\/ways-to-tag-your-first-alligator\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">alligator hunting seasons<\/a>. While <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/conservation\/900-pound-cattle-eating-gator-killed-in-south-florida\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Florida<\/a>, Louisiana, and Texas often get the most attention, Mississippi puts up some giant gators.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdwfp.com\/wildlife-hunting\/alligator-program\/the-recovery-of-the-american-alligator-in-mississippi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks<\/a> estimates that there are 32,000 to 38,000 alligators and about 408,000 acres of alligator habitat in Mississippi.\u00a0The average size of alligators in Mississippi is larger than alligators sizes reported from Florida or Louisiana, according to WFP. In some survey areas, more than 20 percent of alligators counted were more than 10 feet long.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The state has a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdwfp.com\/wildlife-hunting\/alligator-program\/public-water-alligator-hunting-info\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> highly regulated alligator hunting season<\/a>, which started in 2015. Gator hunting is only allowed under a special permit. The state typically has about 1,000 available permits each year.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&amp;version=v3.2\" id=\"facebook-js-js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/hunting\/mississippi-record-alligator\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Donald Woods and his buddies were determined to catch a big gator on the opening night of Mississippi\u2019s alligator hunting season.\u00a0By early the next morning they had done just that. In fact, Woods and his crew landed a massive alligator that measured an official 14 feet, 3 inches and weighed 802.5 pounds. It\u2019s the longest [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1532","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gun-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}