The Mississippi gator record has been smashed three times in just one week, with the latest record breaking alligator being the heaviest and longest ever caught in the Magnolia state. The massive creature weighed in at 741.5 pounds, and measured a touch over 13 feet long.
Dalco Turner needed all the help he could get from two hunter friends who accompanied him. It took the three men over an hour to catch the record breaking gator. Turner spoke to the Clarion-Ledger about the catch, “He broke three lines, and I had the only hook that stayed in him the whole time.”
He spoke about that fact that the hunters didn’t think the alligator was big enough to be worth catching, “We passed it by the first time,” he said. “We really didn’t think he was big enough to go after.”
There must be something in the water in Mississippi, which is also known as the hospitality state, as there have been two previous record breaking gators caught this month. On September 1, Beth Trammell caught a 723.5 pound alligator in a canal.
But just one hour after the canal gator was found by Trammell, Ricky Flynt from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife confirmed that another massive gator, had been found in the Mississippi river and snared by a brave UPS driver, Dustin Bockman from Vickburg. That massive animal was an astounding 727 pounds in weight.
Bockman spoke to Gulf Live about his lucky catch: “He broke all the lines we could put in him. Finally put a snare on him and got him up high enough and put a shot on him. All in all probably took us four and a half hours to catch him from the first time we saw him.” The happy hunter then continued: “We’re going to cook it for sure. There’s plenty for me and everybody else.”
The Mississippi gator record may well get broken again, as this season seems to be full of oversized alligators in Mississipi. But what about Bockman’s comment that he wanted to cook and eat the animal? Do you think that it was a bit off? Share your thoughts in the feed below.