Cash Daugherty, 9, (from left) Cruz Daugherty, 11, Blake Daugherty and Jimmy Appleton pose with a 14-foot, 1/4-inch alligator they caught on opening day of alligator season in Mississippi.
Cash Daugherty and his brother Cruz Daugherty on opening day of alligator season in Mississippi (Aug. 29, 2025).
An alligator measuring over 14 feet long captured on opening day of alligator season in Mississippi (Aug. 29, 2025).
Blake Daugherty and his sons, Cash Daugherty, 9, and Cruz Daugherty, 11, with a 14-foot, 1/4-inch alligator they caught on opening day of alligator season in Mississippi (Aug. 29, 2025).
Cash Daugherty, 9, with an alligator he helped catch on Aug. 29, 2025 in Mississippi.
Cash Daugherty (left) and his brother Cruz Daugherty (right) on opening day of alligator season in Mississippi (Aug. 29, 2025).

A group of north central Mississippi hunters captured an alligator weighing nearly 700 pounds and measuring nearly 14 feet long, nearly setting a state record.

When the group made the catch on Friday, Aug. 29, hunter Blake Daugherty was with his two sons and his hunting partner in a lake off the Mississippi River in Natchez, about 103 miles southwest of Jackson, he told USA TODAY this week.

Initially speaking to the Clarion-Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network, Daugherty and his hunting partner Jimmy Appleton said they were hoping to catch a 12-footer. As they waited patiently for hunting season to begin at noon that day, they heard a "guttural growl," Appleton told the Clarion-Ledger.

Daugherty echoed his hunting partner's sentiments on Sept. 4, telling USA TODAY that the hunters quickly forgot about the 12-foot alligator they'd previously spotted when they heard the other animal nearby.

'King of the swamp'

Calling the noise a "bellowing growl" and a dinosaur-like "roar," Daugherty said the lone animal was clearly the most dominant alligator in the area, or "the big guy" in the lake, pushing the other alligators to another area.

"We knew then, that's the king of the swamp," Daugherty said. "He's letting everybody know 'I'm the big dog.'"

They spotted the alligator as its head broke through the surface of the lake, but sometime after noon, the alligator had submerged itself deeper into the water. The team then began tracking the alligator using Appleton's sonar device and found it at the bottom of the lake, submerged 16 feet deep, the hunters told the Clarion-Ledger.

Appleton was able to hook the alligator on the first try using a rod and reel, but it wasn’t until his hunting partner’s sons, 11-year-old Cruz and 9-year-old Cash, stepped in to help that they got the alligator under control.

Altogether, it took a rod and reel, two hand lines, a snare or steel loop used to control a gator or lock its jaws, as well as two strikes from a bang stick (or a shaft with powerful force behind it).

It took teamwork to snag the big gator

Appleton and Daugherty's son, 11-year-old Cruz, worked together to get the alligator under control, the Clarion-Ledger reported. Daugherty put the snare around the animal. His younger son, 9-year-old Cash, handed Appleton the bang stick, allowing him to dispatch the alligator.

"We really started wearing him out," Appleton told the Clarion-Ledger. "I could feel him rolling and shaking his head. I knew he was a good one. He was dragging my 17-foot boat around like it was nothing."

Daugherty told USA TODAY that teamwork and organization allowed them to make the catch.

"Just having that experience to know not only what to do and to be able to have a clean path in the boat," Daugherty said. "Everybody has a job they do so we're not getting in each other's way."

The group took the alligator to a facility called Red Antler Processing, where the gator weighed in at 662 pounds and measured 14 feet, 1/4 inches. The catch barely missed the state record for public waters alligators, which is 14 feet, 3 inches, the Clarion-Ledger reported.

Check out photos of Appleton, Daugherty, and his sons Cash and Cruz after capturing the nearly record-breaking alligator below.

Photos show hunters nabbing a 14-foot alligator

This story has been updated to add photos.

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'King of the swamp': Photos show hunters capture 14-foot alligator

Reporting by Saleen Martin and Brian Broom, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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