Mississippi hunters capture longest alligator in state history

(CNN) — A group of Mississippi hunters have broken the state record for the longest alligator ever captured in the state with a 14-foot-3-inch reptile weighing just over 800 pounds.

Hunters Tanner White, Don Woods, Will Thomas and Joey Clark of Red Antler Processing, a game processing and hunting store, worked together to nab the huge gator, according to an August 26 Facebook post from the company.

The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks confirmed in a social media post the 14-footer had broken the state record for “longest alligator harvested.”

The group captured the record-breaking reptile in the West Central Alligator Hunting Zone, according to the department. The 802.5-pound behemoth also had a belly girth of 66 inches and tail girth of 46.5 inches, the department said.

Alligators can be found across Mississippi, according to the wildlife department’s website. Hunting the reptiles for sport has been permitted in the state since 2005, with different laws applying for hunting on public and private waters.

A total of 776 alligators were captured in Mississippi in 2021, the latest year with data publicly available. And the average length of one of those gators was just under 8 feet – around half the length of Red Antler Processings’ record-breaking capture.