A giant 13-foot-long, 680-pound alligator was captured by a group of fishermen after as many as 20 years of trying. Robert Hennis, his son Joel, Rev. John Benandini Jr., and Tommy Strawn got hold of the reptile on September 28, pulling it out from Turtle Bayou, near Anahuac in Chambers County, Texas, Bluebonnet News reported.
“We have been trying to get this gator for 20 years. Every year, a week before the [hunting]season, we will see him, and then we won’t see him again until after the season is over. This time he bit the wrong hook,” Joel said.
Four 800-pound paracords were used to pull the alligator up to the surface. The animal broke two lines, trying to free himself.
The bayou mullet used to catch the beast was kept behind Robert’s home. Most of the meat harvested from the reptile was brought to Porter’s Processing, a wild game processing farm in Anahuac. It is reportedly being donated to local church parishioners.
Joel and his father took around 10 pounds of meat from the animal’s jowls. They will have a full-body mount made of its carcass.
When is the alligator hunting season?
The highest alligator populations in Texas are found along the eastern portion of the Gulf Coast between Houston and Louisiana, according to the website Alligator Hunting. “However, a good number of alligators can also be found along the coastal prairies down towards Corpus Christi, as well as scattered gators throughout east Texas that are associated with rivers and major creek drainages. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department estimates that over 250,000 wild alligators reside in the state,” the site states.
{{/usCountry}}The highest alligator populations in Texas are found along the eastern portion of the Gulf Coast between Houston and Louisiana, according to the website Alligator Hunting. “However, a good number of alligators can also be found along the coastal prairies down towards Corpus Christi, as well as scattered gators throughout east Texas that are associated with rivers and major creek drainages. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department estimates that over 250,000 wild alligators reside in the state,” the site states.
{{/usCountry}}In Southeast Texas, the alligator hunting season runs from September 10 through 30. “Also, effective on September 1, 2005, an alligator hunter’s license is not required to hunt alligators in Texas. Under the terms of House Bill 2026, enacted by the Texas Legislature and signed by the governor, the alligator hunter’s license is abolished and hunters may take alligators under any hunting license except the nonresident spring turkey license or nonresident banded bird hunting license,” says the website.