A missing foot, a state record and a pair of pliers: A look back at some wild gator hunts

Alligator hunting season is almost here in Mississippi and for thousands of hunters, it is one of the most-anticipated events of the year.

The season starts at noon Aug. 30 and runs through Sept. 9. While it is among the shortest hunting seasons in the state , it is one that produces a lot of memories and a lot of stories. Every year things happen that couldn't possibly be predicted.

Everything from state records being broken to alligators that should have broken a record to hunters improvising with what they have on hand to bag a monster — something wild happens every season.

So, let's take a look back at some of the more memorable hunts that took place in recent years.

The longest alligator ever recorded in Mississippi

When a Mississippi alligator hunter got on the water the opening day of the 2023 alligator season, he met up with the longest alligator ever officially recorded in the state .

It took him and three other men in his party seven hours to land the alligator.

Donald Woods of Oxford, the tag-holder, was hunting on the Yazoo River with Joey Clark of Jackson, Will Thomas of Madison and Tanner White of Flora. They had harvested plenty of big alligators before, so they weren't interested in anything smaller the first night.

After seeing a number of smaller alligators, the hunters spotted one that caught their attention.

"We knew he was wide," Woods said in a 2023 interview. "His back was humongous. It was like we were following a jon boat."

At 9 p.m., Woods got a hook on the alligator and the next seven hours resulted in broken lines and broken rods. In fact, after seven hours of the brutal fight, the crew was down to only two working rods and when they got the monster in their boat, they understood why.

"We were just amazed at how wide his back was and how big the head was," Woods said. "It was surreal, to tell you the truth."

When officially measured by Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Alligator Program coordinator Andrew Arnett, the alligator came in at 14 feet, 3 inches and weighed 802.5 pounds. It beat the previous length record set in 2017 of 14 feet, 3/4 inches.

Alligator with three legs misses state record by a foot

Mississippi has several categories for record alligators and one of them is heaviest alligator. An alligator hunter from Alligator, Mississippi, which is located in Bolivar County, would have claimed that title, but his three-legged gator missed it by a foot .

"Evidently, it got bitten off," said Teddy Coats last year. "That leg cost me a state record.

"The game warden that weighed it said it was the oldest he'd seen and if it had its leg it would have added 12 more pounds. I guess you could say I lost it by a foot. Everybody comes up with these foot jokes when you lose it by a foot."

Coats, along with Joel Jumper of Helena, Arkansas, were on the Mississippi River during the 2023 season and weren't intending to hunt. Instead, they were trying to locate alligators for a hunt with others the following night. After locating some, they were about to pull their boat out of the water when they saw a pair of eyes shining.

The two decided to go after the alligator since it was so close to the ramp. What they thought would be a quick hunt lasted into the following day.

"It was a monster," Coats said. "He looked like an old T-rex dinosaur. He had been through a lot of battles."

The alligator measured 13 feet, 7 inches long, which was 1 foot, 7 inches longer than the boat they were using. It officially weighed 819.5 pounds — 2.5 pounds short of the state weight record for public waters.

Coats said if he ever draws a permit to hunt again, he's getting a bigger boat. He also said he wants to find the alligator that bit his alligator's foot off.

"It had to be another monster gator that bit him," Coats said.

Mississippi hunters use pliers to bag giant, 13-foot alligator

A massive alligator weighing 617 pounds and measuring 13 feet, 2 inches gave a pair of Mississippi hunters the slip two nights in a row in 2022. Facing the same possible outcome the third night, the hunters turned to something odd for help — pliers .

"We saw lots of smaller gators and one that's about 12 feet," said Tyler Emfinger of Bentonia in a 2022 interview. "I'd been chasing him three days straight, so we weren't trying to catch anything but him.

"We had hooked him two days in a row. He went under logs and pulled off. It was very frustrating."

Emfinger was hunting with Trey Davis of Flora at Dump Lake and the third night seemed to be a repeat of the previous two. The gator had gone under a log and was on the other side of it and there was no way to get the rod under the log and grab it on the other side. So, the two had to be resourceful.

The two moved so they could grab the line on the opposite side of the log. Davis then wrapped the line around the handles of Channellock pliers and secured it. They cut the line between the pliers and the rod, tied the ends of the line together using an Alberto knot.

The trick worked and Emfinger bagged his personal best gator.

"It was a miracle in the making," Emfinger said. "That's for sure."

Do you have a story idea? Contact Brian Broom at 601-961-7225 or bbroom@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: A missing foot, a state record and a pair of pliers: A look back at some wild gator hunts