Mississippi hunters have killed the longest alligator ever found in the US State. According to the Mississippi Department of Wildfire, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP), the record-breaking animal measured 14 feet and 3 inches long and weighed 364kg. The alligator was captured in the state's Yazoo River.
According to USA Today, the fight to catch the alligator lasted from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. Hunter Donald Woods told the media outlet that the group had seen "a lot of 8-footers, 10-footers" but were chasing something bigger.
"We've been hunting these things a long time," he said.
The fisherman said that the had no idea how large the alligator was while trying to catch it.
"We knew he was wide," Mr Woods said. "His back was humungous. It was like we were following a Jon boat.
"We held onto him a while, until 10 or so. He broke my rod at that point.
"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," he added.
The hunters said that the fight was mentally exhausting. "He dictated everything we did. It was exhausting, but you're adrenaline is going so you don't notice it. It was more mentally exhausting than anything because he kept getting off."
After fighting throughout the night, the alligator finally started tiring. "We were down to pretty much down to those two rods and reels at that point."
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 weighing 766.5 pounds (347.5 kg) that hunters captured in 2017 near the western city of Natchez.
