Record gator a ‘pearly’ catch for woman

rockin'robin

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A Thomaston, Alabama, woman credits her string of pearls for the luck she and her family members needed the night they took the world-record American alligator.

Mandy Stokes told the story at a May 22 public unveiling of the taxidermy mount of the monster 15-foot, 9-inch bull gator weighing 1,011.5 pounds.

According to Safari Club International record officials, it’s the largest alligator ever taken in the wilds. The mounted snaggle-toothed reptile was put on display at the Mann Wildlife Learning Museum in Montgomery.

Several years ago, after seeing the Alabama record alligator, Stokes always made a joke that she would wear pearls if she ever went gator hunting to ensure she looked nice on television if she broke any records.

“It was just a joke,” Stokes was quoted as saying. “But then it really happened.”

She got her chance last August on the Alabama River near Camden, Alabama, when she accompanied her husband, John, and several members of her family on an all-night hunt.

Stokes made sure she wore the pearls.

Initially snagged on a bass fishing rod rigged with a large treble hook, it took another four ocean fishing rods rigged with big trebles to pull the enormous gator close enough to their 17-foot boat to kill it with a shotgun slug to the head.

The fight lasted more than six hours, until 4:45 a.m.

During the skinning process, taxidermist Ken Owens found the remains of a 115-pound doe, two squirrels, a duck and parts of a cow in the gator’s stomach. Biologists estimated the age of the male at 24 to 28 years.

A 14-foot, 31/2inch gator taken on Lake Washington west of Melbourne is the Florida record for length. It weighed 654 pounds and was killed on Halloween night in 2010 by Tres Ammerman of Orlando. It broke the previous state length record of 14 feet, 5/8 inch taken on Lake Monroe north of Sanford in 1997.

The Florida record for weight is 1,043 pounds. It was a male from Orange Lake in Alachua County measuring 13 feet, 101/2 inches.

So-called “bull gator” males grow much larger than females, which seldom exceed 10 feet.

Limited seasons and special permitting regulate gator hunting in Florida, Alabama and other states.

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story.../30/record-gator-pearly-catch-woman/28208053/
 
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