Record-shattering 800-pound ‘nightmare material’ alligator caught in Mississippi

Four hunters killed the largest alligator in Mississippi history over the weekend, a beast weighing a jaw-dropping 802.5 pounds, measuring more than 14 feet long — and aptly dubbed “nightmare material.”

The prehistoric-looking beast was taken out Saturday in the Yazoo River on the second day of Mississippi’s alligator hunting season, according to Red Antler Processing on Facebook.

Don Woods, one of the four men who killed the monster gator, told the Clarion Ledger that he and his companions — all seasoned alligator hunters — spotted the gargantuan reptile in the river a short time after setting out in their boat around 9 p.m.

“We knew he was wide,” Woods said. “His back was humongous. It was like we were following a jon boat.”

What the hunters didn’t know was that it would take them seven “mentally exhausting” hours to haul the toothy behemoth onto their boat.

“We hooked him eight or nine times, and he kept breaking off,” Woods said. “He would go down, sit and then take off. He kept going under logs. He knew what he was doing. The crazy thing is he stayed in that same spot.”

Woods told the outlet that the gator ended up breaking almost all of their rods and reels before finally tiring out after a night of wild thrashing.

“He dictated everything we did. It was exhausting, but your adrenaline is going so you don’t notice it, Woods said.

The hunters finally got the upper hand over the giant reptile before 4 a.m., but even then they did not fully grasp how large it was.

“We just knew we had a big alligator,” Woods said. “We were just amazed at how wide his back was and how big the head was. It was surreal, to tell you the truth.”

The scaly predator ended up measuring a whopping 14 feet, 3 inches in length and tipping the scales at 802.5 pounds, with a belly girth of 66 inches, state wildlife officials reported.

“Nightmare material!” a woman commented on Facebook.

The previous record for the largest alligator caught in Mississippi belonged to a 14-foot, 0.75-inch specimen weighing 766.5 pounds, which was harvested in 2017.