One of the largest alligators ever caught has been captured in Mississippi and hunters plan to devour the 800-pound monster

Mississippi’s 2024 alligator hunting season got off to a flying start when a team of six hunters captured one of the largest monsters ever caught in the state.

The 14-foot-long, 800-pound alligator was captured in the Yazoo River, which stretches more than 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) through Mississippi and Louisiana.

The group stood proudly with their catch for photos, and all six were needed to support the lifeless creature.

The annual hunt began last month and is scheduled to run through Sept. 9, with participants vying for prizes of “wallets, belts and food,” according to state rules.

More than 3,700 people are participating in the 2024 hunt, with an average of five to six people on each team.

The rules state that permit holders can harvest up to two alligators over four feet long, but only one can be over seven feet.

The largest alligator ever recorded measured 19 feet, two inches long and weighed more than 2,300 pounds when it was captured in Louisiana in 1890.

However, the most recent monster was captured in Arkansas by Mike Cottingham in 2021.

Cottingham claimed the beast was 13 feet, three inches long and weighed 1,380 pounds.

The largest Mississippi, killed in 2023, was about three inches larger than the one caught this year.

The team, which included Megan Sasser, braved torrential rain to capture the 60-year-old beast.

In a social media post, Sasser said she and her team were “still over the moon” after catching the reptile last Friday.

“We rode through a monsoon for over 3 hours…crushed 2 poles, survived the barrel of death multiple times, moved everything in the boat and still managed to bring this monster home,” she continued.

Brandi Robinson, also a member of the winning team, said the giant alligator was spotted 250 yards from the boat.

“Everyone immediately had their eyes glued to their binoculars! It was a big accident and we all knew it,” she said, as reported by The State.

The boat slowly moved toward the giant creature and the team waited about 45 minutes for it to surface before wrestling with it for about an hour.

It’s unclear exactly what tools were used to capture the alligator, but hunters can use anything from hooks to harpoons and even firearms.

The six-person team loaded their catch onto the boat and took it to a local meat processing company, Red Antler.

“Over the last five years at Red Antler, we’ve probably processed about 3,000 alligators, and we’ve only had two that were over 14 feet in length,” Shane Smith, owner of Red Antler Processing, told McClatchy News.

The team took most of the meat home and donated the rest to Hunter Harvest, a nonprofit that donates hunted and harvested meat to families in need.

Sasser also shared a photo of herself and the alligator on Facebook, where her friends called it a “monster.”

However, not everyone was thrilled to see this giant catch.

One Facebook user commented: “This alligator must have been at least 50 years old to have grown this big. It’s such a shame. It’s a beautiful animal.”