Two Florida Men Hunt Alligator Weighing More Than 1,000 Pounds
OutdoorHub Editor: Keenan Crow 11.02.20
A Florida man made news headlines over the weekend, after encountering an alligator behind his home that weighed more than 1,000 pounds and measured just over 13 feet long.
Corey Capps said his ‘problem neighbor’ has been living in the Apalachicola River behind his home in Blountstown for the past three years. And after a handful of encounters, he was finally able to seal the deal on the beast.
“Three different times in the last two months, I’ve been back there fishing, and he’s stalked me. So me and him, something was going to give between the two of us,” he explained.
According to CNN, Capps said he spotted the 1,000 pound monster while on a boat ride with his wife. He had been sunning on a riverbank along the water, and Capps thought he might have a good chance at going after him. So he called up a buddy, Rodney Smith, who had state-issued gator tags in his possession.
The next day, Capps and Smith went out in search for the gigantic animal, and sure enough they located him in the same spot he was in the previous day.
“We went out and harpooned him.. and we didn’t realize – we knew he was big, but not as big as when we pulled him up that bank. Across the top of his head was 16 inches wide,” Capps said.
Capps also added they were only in 12 foot boat, which made hauling the enormous 13 foot alligator all the more difficult. He said the whole ordeal of getting him back to shore lasted well over three hours.
Once that was done, they took the gator to the town recycling center and had it weighed. The gator tipped the scales to 1,008 pounds, which falls short of the Florida state record, but is still ginormous.
“He’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen,” Capps said.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the record for the heaviest gator caught in the state of Florida is a 1,043-pound male from Orange Lake in Alachua County.
Capps said his plan is to have the gator’s front legs and impossibly large head mounted on a wall in his house. He sold the remainder to a processing business in Tallahassee.
