Monster 13ft alligator's reign of terror ended by hunter who shot, skinned and ate it

dailystar.co.uk:

beast.There had been numerous mysterious disappearances of livestock near a lake in Okeechobee County, Florida.Doug says the rancher who owns the land suspected that an alligator had “feasting” on calves.And the bigger the reptile grew, he added, the more concerned the family became for their own safety.The creature Doug shot was over 13 feet long, and weighed some 64 stone.“I was staked out on top of the lake levee before daylight and shot him on an island in the middle of the lake, shortly after daylight,” he explained in a video on Facebook.Doug shot the giant alligator, which is estimated to have been around 80 years old, using a custom rifle at range of around 321 yards.“It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and I was lucky enough to put a perfect shot on him at such a long range.

It pays to have a good gun.”He said said he had been surprised by the size of the beast: “I had no idea the magnitude of how big his body was until we pulled him completely out of the lake.“It had been suspected of eating some of the local livestock around the lake and was considered a threat.”He added that the carcass had not gone to waste.After it was hauled from the bottom of the lake, the animal was skinned and eaten and Dough plans to have “a full life-size mount” made of the hide and skull.Doug is particularly proud not only of bagging the monster, but of how he did it.He told Mississippi radio station WXXV: “What most hunters do, as far as hunting gators, four or five guys get in a boat."They’ll go out at night time, and then when they pull him up, they hit him in the head with a bang stick."It’s got a loaded shotgun shell at the end of a stick, and I didn’t want to hunt him that way."I wanted to hunt him like I would if it.