A big one: Louisiana hunters catch 800-pound alligator

SPOKANE, La. — This is quite a gator tale.

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Hunters in eastern Louisiana caught an 11 1/2-foot alligator on Wednesday that weighed 800 pounds, WAFB-TV reported.

The huge reptile was caught at Lake St. John in Concordia Parish, according to the television station.

Nathan Gauthier, of Nathan’s Marine, told The Democrat newspaper that the alligator was ratchet strapped to the side of the hunters’ camo Havoc boat. Some people originally believed the gator weighed 400 pounds, but it was much heavier.

“He was so big. I helped get him in their truck, and you could feel the weight,” Gauthier told the newspaper. “You see it on TV, but being there and trying to do it were two different things. They were so glad to see me. They were down here for the week and had some other smaller gators in the boat. It was just so big -- it was huge.”

Gauthier and the boaters reportedly struggled for two hours before finally lifting the alligator into the boat, WAFB reported.

“This is why you don’t swim in Lake St. John,” Gauthier said in a video posted on Facebook.

Gauthier said the men took the alligator to Marksville for processing, The Democrat reported.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries does not keep state records for harvested alligators, but they have length data for yearly harvests for the past 50 years, according to the newspaper.

“Over the past 50 years several 13- and 14-foot animals have been harvested,” Jeb Lincsombe, the agency’s alligator program manager, told the newspaper. “Currently, there has never been a 15-foot alligator documented in Louisiana.”

“I’m glad this gator is gone from Lake St. John. I seen this gator last year when I was out test-driving a boat,” Gauthier told WAFB. “This is something I will never forget for sure. There still some big ones out there on Lake St. John.”

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