A South Carolina mother has bagged an alligator nearly three times her size, and the biggest in the state so far this season.
Mother-of-three Laura Robinson Griffin, 37, was out on her first alligator hunt ever when she captured and killed the 12-foot-7 gator in South Carolina’s Lake Moultrie on September 9.
The petite 4-foot-10 Griffin was with her husband Darrell, an experienced hunter, on a group hunt when she spotted the gator and stalked it by boat for about two hours.
‘We were in a 16-foot boat and when it came up, I saw the alligator was almost as long as the boat. I didn’t shoot it just once. I shot it three times,’ Griffin told the Charlotte Observer.
Laura Robinson Griffin, 37, bagged this 12-foot-7 alligator in South Carolina’s Lake Moultrie. It’s nearly three times the height of petite 4-foot-10 Griffin, a mother of three
Griffin shot the gator three times just to make sure it was dead, and said the meat from the massive creature will last for a year
Assisted by others in the party, Griffin secured the alligator with hooks before shooting it with her handgun – following the hunting method required for alligators under state law.
‘If that thing was coming into the boat with us, I was going to make sure it was dead,’ the mom said. ‘I shot him three times with my .38 special.’
‘I keep getting asked, “Was I scared?” No, I wasn’t scared. I was intimidated,’ she said.
Although this was Griffin’s first gator hunt, she has hunted deer and turkey in the past.
The massive alligator is said to be the largest harvested so far this hunting season, which opened on September 9 and closes October 14.
South Carolina has roughly 100,000 alligators and manages the animal’s population through a public lottery for hunting licenses.
Griffin says the hunt was the experience of a lifetime, and that her husband and three kids, ages two, eight and 10, are all proud of her
Griffin plans to eat the meat from her kill, which she says filled up two freezers and will last her family for a year.
‘We don’t kill for sport. We harvest the meat,’ she said, adding that she’s been making alligator nuggets for the kids and plans to grill up some fillets soon.
Though she’d love to have some alligator skin boots, getting the animal’s hide done would just be too expensive, Griffin said.
Griffin says the hunt was the experience of a lifetime, and that her husband and three kids, ages two, eight and 10, are all proud of her prize kill.
‘Next to having my three precious kids and marrying my best friend, it’s the best thing I’ve ever done,’ she said.
Griffin plans to go hunting again next year and says that next to getting married and having kids, it’s the best thing she’s ever done