‘Hunting something that hunts you back.’ Monster 12-foot alligator killed in SC. Take a look

Eleanor Nash
·2 min read

On Tuesday afternoon, John Wayne Caulder was alligator hunting on the Waccamaw when he was taken on a ride.

Literally.

“[The gator] pulled us for about 30 minutes. He pulled us upriver. He pulled us back downriver,” the Marion man said.

In total, their trip covered half a mile.

Caulder and his friend Jeffery Bullard had been stalking a 12-foot-long gator in the swamps of the Waccamaw River since early September, the start of alligator hunting season. This week, the two finally snared the animal with their heavy-duty hook from their 17-foot-long boat.

Hunting alligators is unlike the deer, wild boar or ducks that Caulder usually pursues.

“You’re hunting something that hunts you back,” Caulder said.

Caulder and Bullard struggled with a rope attached to the gator, hands covered in rope burns, dripping in sweat. After a 30 minute fight, both men felt like they could puke, either from “pure exhaustion or exhaustion mixed with the adrenaline rush,” Caulder said.

Jeffery Bullard with the 12-foot-long alligator he and John Wayne Caulder hunted on the Waccamaw River near the Horry and Georgetown County border. Photo provided by John Wayne Caulder. Oct. 10, 2023.
Jeffery Bullard with the 12-foot-long alligator he and John Wayne Caulder hunted on the Waccamaw River near the Horry and Georgetown County border. Photo provided by John Wayne Caulder. Oct. 10, 2023.

Finally, the gator wore himself out too.

“His whole head come up over the side of the boat, popping his jaws,” Caulder said. When a gator comes at him, Caulder thinks, “I gotta get him before he gets me.”

The men were able to kill the animal by aiming a 9 mm pistol at the quarter-sized spot at the back of the gator’s head.

The 500 pound alligator was probably about 35 years old, judging by its 12 foot length. Of the 80 alligators killed in the Pee Dee region last season, none measured 12 feet or longer, according to a South Carolina Department of Natural Resources report. A 13-foot, 5-inch alligator was killed in Murrells Inlet in 2016.

The pair brought their kill to a Florence processor to remove meat from tail, jaw and back tenderloins and make a skull mount and trophy hide. While Caulder loves fried gator tail, complete with Cajun seasoning, he said, “I’m cool with just having the memories.”

“It was Jeffery’s tag, it was my boat. We used his granddaddy’s knife. We used one of his friend’s guns that had passed away. I mean, that’s just enough for me, you know?” Caulder said.

Bullard had one of the limited number of alligator hunting tags issued by SCDNR through an annual lottery. Last year, just over a thousand tags were given out in the state.