Watch: Mississippi hunters bag one-eyed gator weighing nearly 500 pounds

Sept. 8 (UPI) -- A pair of gator hunters in Mississippi said they had to call for a bigger boat when they captured a one-eyed alligator weighing nearly 500 pounds.

John Ladner and Derek Stiglet said they were out hunting after dark on Ladner's 14-foot boat when they encountered the behemoth gator in the Diamondhead-area marsh.

The pair secured the 12-foot gator, which weighed in at 477.6 pounds, but they had to call a friend to bring a larger boat to transport their catch.

Ladner said it took the efforts of all three men to haul the gator out of the water, an endeavor that took three hours.

A Mississippi game warden said the alligator is one of the largest caught in the area in the past 15 years.

Ladner said the nearly 500-pound gator yielded about 100 pounds of meat.