An off-duty Orange County, Fla., deputy caught and killed a massive 737-pound alligator while hunting on the Econ River near Orlando.
Deputy Jason Forgey and Jeff Harris (a recently retired Winter Park, Fla., police detective) along with Jeremy Harris spotted the gator last month for the beginning of alligator hunting season.
If Forgey's name sounds familiar, the deputy was on the national stage as a witness in the Casey Anthony murder trial in 2011. Here's a video of his testimony.
Deputy Forgey detailed his possibly record-breaking catch:
... We arrive at the alligator processing facility where we are blessed with a pole mounted winch to assist in removing the gator from the boat.
As I raised the gator from the boat I hear the winch straining. I watch as the head of the alligator reaches the top of the pole only to look back into the boat to see more of him in the boat than out of the boat. I am beginning to realize just how big this capture really is.
After we each attempted to guess how big he would be, we took the official measurement.13 feet even! WOW!!
This was an impressive alligator for sure, but not only was he long; he was fat.
At this point we hooked a digital scale onto the winch and hoisted the alligator up again, this time tying the tail up so the entire alligator hung from the scale without touching the ground.
As the scale settled I couldn't believe my eyes……737.5 pounds!
As I stared at the scale in disbelief it began to sink in that this was the gator of a lifetime.
To put it in perspective, the recent record breaking alligator captures in Mississippi shown all over the national news were 10 pounds less than this alligator.
The largest alligator ever captured in Florida was over 14 feet, but only weighed 654 pounds.
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