A Florida man and his friend found and caught an alligator that weighed more than 1,000 pounds. The alligator was found in a river in Blountstown, Florida.

Corey Capps had been hoping to catch an alligator for the past three years. He had been searching for an alligator but he did not expect that the reptile he caught together with his friend would weigh 1,000 pounds! 

He never expected also that the animal he had been searching for is just near his home. They found and caught the alligator behind his home in a river in Blountstown, Florida. 

(Photo : Unplash/Avishalz)

Chance encounter with a massive reptile

Capps told CNN News that he and his wife were taking a boat ride on the Apalachicola River when they spotted the alligator laying on the bank. Luckily, they were not harmed from the encounter.

Capps immediately called his friend Rodney Smith who had state-issued gator tags. This is a tag that allowed a resident in Florida to legally go after the animal. It is considered illegal in the state to catch an alligator without the tag. 

"Three different times in the last two months, I've been back there fishing and he's stalked me. So me and him, something was going to give between the two of us," Capps share. Luckily he and his family were not harmed for the past few months. 

On Oct. 13, a day after Capps and his wife found the alligator, he decided to catch the alligator together with his friend Smith. At that time, they did not know how big the alligator was. They went on the river using a 12-foot Jon boat to find and catch the animal. 

They went to the area in the river where Capps and his wife first found the creature. Capps said, "We went out and harpooned him...and we didn't realize-we knew he was big, but not as big as when we pulled him up that bank. Across the top of his head was 16 inches wide."

Capps explained that never expected that the alligator was too big. It was 13 feet and it weighed 1,008 pounds. He also shared that they had difficulty in moving the animal when they caught it because of its sheer size and weight. Fortunately, they were able to move the creature 100 feet with the Jon boat without getting harm. 

Capps and Smith immediately decided to take the alligator into a recycling center to accurately measure the alligator. It weighed exactly 1,008 pounds but it still falls short in the state's record. However, the alligator that Capps and Smith caught was still massive. For Capps, it was the biggest alligator he has ever seen. 

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the heaviest so far in the state was a male alligator that weighed 1,044 pounds and was 13 feet long, same as with what Capps and Smith captured. It was captured at the Orange Lake in Alachua County.  

The longest alligator that was so far captured in the state was 14 feet long, still male, and was found from Lake Washington in Brevard County.

Capps planned to mount the front legs and the head while he sold the rest of the body to a processing business in Tallahassee.

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