1,025-pound, decades-old alligator slain [VIDEO] | News | Berkeley Independent

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1,025-pound, decades-old alligator slain [VIDEO]

Published Friday, September 17, 2010 6:23 PM

By Dan Brown
Berkeley Independent

photo by Dan Brown

Dan Brown

The 13-foot gator was captured on Wednesday.

Maryellen Mara-Christian had her sights set on landing a good-sized gator but nothing this big.

“I was hoping for something around ten feet,” she said. “We never imagined landing something like this.”

“This” was bigger than some boats: a 1,025-pound alligator measuring over 13 feet.

“We come down here every year to hunt gator and fish for the big catfish,” Mara-Christian said in a shaky voice that would suggest one too many cups of coffee.

Hauling in a 1,025-pound alligator will do that to a person.

“Look at me … my hands are shaking,” she said as she filled out address information for a copy of The Independent once she returns home to Fitchburg, Massachusetts. “This is such a rush.”

The gator was a male and approximately 60-75 years of age, according to Black’s Camp guide Kevin Davis. Most females top out at 11 feet in length and males at 13 feet. Officially the big gator measured 13-feet, 4.5 inches long and tipped the scales at 1,025 pounds.

“It’s the girth,” Davis said. “Nobody’s seen girth like that on an alligator.”

“The taxidermist scales only went up to 800 pounds,” said Mara-Christian. “We had to take him somewhere else.”

Mara-Christian and her husband, Mark, who is a bear hunting guide in Maine, left shortly after 8 a.m. from Black Fish Camp in Cross on Wednesday.

“We hooked him on three rods and reels first, then two snatch-harpoons and one muzzle snare,” said Davis. “It took over two hours to bring him in.”

Davis said the gator was caught on the Diversion Canal near Black Cut.

Davis added that he thought the state record might be in the ballpark of 14 feet.

“This could very well be a lake record for sure,” he added.

Davis said he’d never pulled one this big out of Lake Moultrie.

“I’ve never seen anything this big before,” he said.

Allan Weiss, Davis’ partner at Black Fish Camp agreed.

“I’ve been running this lake for a long time and I’ve never seen anything that big.”

The South Carolina DNR does not keep record statistics on alligators primarily because of the inconsistency in measuring length.

For the complete story see the Sept. 22 edition of the Berkeley Independent.

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