![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/web.gatorhunters-1024x582.jpg\")
Photos courtesy Jimmy Appleton via outdoorlife.com<\/p>\n\u2018It was as big as a floating tree\u2019: Hunters bag massive gator in oxbow lake near Natchez<\/p>\n
Published 9:58 am Wednesday, September 3, 2025<\/p>\n
Photos courtesy Jimmy Appleton via outdoorlife.com<\/p>\n
NATCHEZ \u2013 A group of Mississippi alligator hunters were stalking a 12-foot gator in an oxbow lake near Natchez just hours before the season opened on Friday. But none of them were ready for what they found.<\/p>\n
Jimmy Appleton and Blake Daugherty, both from Pope, were hunting with Daugherty\u2019s two sons in an oxbow lake off the Mississippi River near Natchez, according to an article at outdoorlife.com<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve all hunted gators together for years, including Cruz and Cash,\u201d Appleton said.\u00a0\u201cWe were looking for a big 12-foot gator we knew about that morning. We found him and backed off a bit watching him, waiting until noon.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s when the group heard the \u201chair-raising growls\u201d from another nearby gator. \u201cIt was the size of a floating tree,\u201d Appleton said. The group watched the gator until noon, and Appleton hooked it on the first try \u2013 although the gator proved a challenge to land.<\/p>\n \u201cIt about snatched me out of the boat when I hooked it,\u201d Appleton said.<\/p>\n A 35-minute battle ensued, with the alligator rolling and the hunters using hooks and handlines. \u201cI was really surprised that we pretty much whipped that gator in about 35 minutes,\u201d said Appleton. \u201cA couple years ago we had a 11-footer that took us three hours to beat. I think that bigger one was just a tired old man.\u201d<\/p>\n The 17-foot aluminum boat barely fit the gator, which measured 14 feet, 1\/2 inch and 662 pounds \u2013 the third largest bagged in the state of Mississippi.<\/p>\n