Mississippi hunters get the big prize in a 787-pound alligator

It’s not often you land the biggest prize of the day on your first try, but for first-time hunter Ty Powell, that’s what happened to him.

In Mississippi, it’s alligator season and this time of year typically brings an air of excitement to the area. Powell and his friends were among those who wanted to enjoy the season and they did when they landed a nearly 800-pound gator.

“We were on the Yazoo River north of Redwood,” Powell said. “We probably saw 15 or 20 on the way up, but we had that spot marked and were headed there.”

One gator caught the eyes of Powell’s friends, Kent Britton, Adam Steen and Bubba Steen.

“We had known about this alligator a month before,” Britton said. “We had him pinned on our phones along with another alligator.”

After Britton and his team went to find the other alligator on Friday night thinking they would be able to bring the cold-blooded animal into their boat, the crew ended up finding a nearly 13-foot long and 500 point gator, according to USA Today.

The crew eventually lost hope in searching for the other gator. Worried that they would never see the giant beast again, Powell thought back to when he received his alligator possession permit, a drawing done that only leaves room for 920 winners out of thousands.

“They told me to go buy a lottery ticket because I was the luckiest man in Mississippi that day,” Powell said.

Powell had more luck in him when they continued up stream and cut the power to their boat’s engine when they believed they were back in gator territory.

“When we got back down there, there was another set of eyes,” Powell said.

After Powell and his friends were able to hook the gator with a rod and reel, the beast managed to pull Powell’s boat up and down the river, only escaping after he wrapped the line around a log.

“It’s a little bit of helplessness,” Powell said. “You don’t know if you’re going to get another chance at him. When you feel that line loosen up real quick, it’s an ‘Oh, no’ feeling.”

Powell did not want to give up.

“He popped up about 30 to 40 yards between us,” Britton said. “Me and Eli hooked him at the same time from two different vessels.”

“As soon as I hooked him, we got the boats together and I passed my pole to Ty so they could fight him from the same boat. He popped up 20 minutes later and I got another line on him.”

With three lines attached the gator, confidence within the group was building but the strength of the gator was giving their gear a hard time.

“We had one guy with a broke rod, me with a broke reel and one good rod on him,” Powell said. “We were just holding on and praying at that point.”

Three hours after first hooking on to the creature, the hunters managed to bring the gator onto the side of their boat.

“Just to get him from the side of the boat into the boat took all five of us about 30 minutes,” Powell said. “I think we floated a mile or two down the river trying to catch our breath after that.”

Finally the group secured the gator and were shocked at what they saw.

Measuring in at 13 feet, 2 inches long with a belly girth of 66 inches, the 787-pound gator was finally their’s.

“We were all in shock,” Powell said. “He was also missing part of his tail. I know 13-2 is huge, but at one time he was bigger than that.

“I’m still excited and shaking about it,” Powell said. “This is the first time I’ve put in for alligator tags or even thought about it and something happens like this. It was the hunt of a lifetime. These four guys that were with me, I can’t thank them enough for helping me get that gator. I really need to go buy that lottery ticket.”