Gulf States Hunters Killing Huge Gators
CAM Staff
Alligator season was very good for some hunters in the Gulf States this year. Mississippi gator hunters broke multiple state records in a 24-hour period early in the Aug. 28-Sept. 7 public water season, and a huge Alabama alligator is a new record for Lake Eufaula.
At presstime, with the public water season closed and the clock ticking on the Sept. 21 close of the private lands season in Mississippi, 974 hunters had reported a total of 970 alligators harvested. About 46 percent of the gators harvested were longer than 7 feet in length.
But the granddaddy of them all was 14-footer taken by Kenny Crechale, of Morton, Miss. Crechale’s gator, which actually stretched the tape a quarter inch past the 14-foot mark, was Mississippi’s first ever 14-footer. It weighed 826 pounds and also broke the state record for weight. Crechale was hunting with Ronnie Clifton, of Petal, Miss. on private land on the Mississippi River’s Davis Island. He shot the alligator with a rifle, which is legal during daylight hours on private land.
Crechale’s big reptile broke the record, and it also must have broken the hearts of two other hunters. Earlier the same day, Clayton Gibson, of Natchez, Miss., took an 822-pound animal that was the heaviest to date, and Angelia Rivers harvested a 13-foot, 7 ¾-inch alligator that held the state record length for less than 24 hours, according to The Associated Press.
Another Mississippi alligator, killed by Craig Jones, of Mendenhall, Miss., wasn’t quite as big, but it was still a significant gator, especially from a biologist’s perspective. Jones’ 319-pound female alligator bested the previous mark for heaviest female by 24 pounds. It measured 9-feet, 11-inches, which is short of the length record for females of 10-feet, 2-inches.
A couple weeks earlier, over in Alabama, an enormous specimen was harvested on Lake Eufaula that should set a record for the lake. At 920-pounds and 13-feet, 6-inches in length, it is a lake record as well as the second largest alligator ever killed in Alabama. Jeff Gregg, of Birmingham, his 15-year-old son and Scott Evans, of Center Point, Ala., took the animal on Aug. 14.
According to The Dothan Eagle newspaper, a state wildlife biologist estimated the gator’s age to be between 40 and 50 years old. Alabama’s largest alligator to date was an enormous 1,011-pound, 15-footer killed on the Alabama River last year.
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