Huge Alligators Smash Mississippi Records

Two record-breaking alligators have been caught in the state of Mississippi within days of the opening of the gator hunting season.

Dustin Bockman – a driver for a courier company – caught his 727lb (330kg) alligator in the Mississippi River in Claiborne County.

The huge animal broke the Mississippi weight record set only an hour earlier by another catch.

Mr Bockman described the struggle he and his fellow hunters had while trying to pull the wounded animal into their boat.

“All and all (it) probably took us four, probably four-and-a-half hours to actually catch him from the first time we saw him,” he told WLBT.

“And then another four hours trying to load him in the boat, and (we) finally just gave up and called for help.”

Mr Bockman’s animal weighed 727lbs (330kgs) and measured 13ft 4.5ins in length.

The alligator exceeded the weight of a gator caught by hunter Beth Trammell earlier on Sunday.

Ms Trammel’s alligator – which was caught in Issaquenna County in the Yazoo Diversion Canal – weighed 723.5lb (328kg).

The current Mississippi state length record remains unbroken at 13ft 6.5ins.

That alligator was taken on the Pascagoula River in 2008.