Florida hunter bags big 1,000-pound alligator

Aug. 22 (UPI) -- A Florida gator hunter bagged a massive alligator that tipped the scales at more than 1,000 pounds and nearly broke a state record.

Jim Howard, who won a gator hunting lottery as part of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Statewide Alligator Harvest Program, said he was out in Lake Okeechobee when he spotted some "giant" alligators in the water.

Howard said he used beef lung to lure the reptiles to the surface.

"I leave it out for about two days so it's extra stinky," he told the Miami Herald of the bait. "That way the gator smells it."

Howard said he struggled with a big gator for an hour and half and at one point the reptile was dragging his boat through the water.

The alligator measured 12 feet long and weighed in at more than 1,000 pounds. The state record, set in 2010, was a 14-foot, 3.5-inch gator that weighed 1,043 pounds.