South Carolina Hunters Capture 844-Pound Alligator Named Snaggletooth

Four South Carolina residents finally ended a four-year search by capturing a gigantic alligator that weighed over 800 pounds. They named the beast Snaggletooth because of its jagged teeth. The reptile was caught near Lake Moultrie in Berkeley County on September 28 at 11pm. At the moment of capture, it weighed a shocking 844 pounds and measured nearly 14 feet long.

Cole Poplin and William Ard from Renegade Bowfishing LLC harpooned the animal with hunters Chris and Craig Webb. Poplin told The Post and Courier that he had spotted this gator roughly four years ago. He noted he hunted it often during those three or four years. Now a magical night arrived when Snaggletooth slipped up and made a mistake.

Poplin said he would often see the animal outside official hunting season, which runs from early September to early October. The hunters needed a tractor just to pull the weight of the creature due to its ginormous size. Renegade Bowfishing LLC posted on Facebook that the elusive Snaggletooth finally slipped up and stalled out a 1000lb winch. They called him an absolute freak of a dinosaur.

Webb shared details about this unforgettable experience in a social media post where he called it the hunt of a lifetime. He wrote that all hell broke loose when they put eyes on a monster near the last bit of ground to cover. Cole and Webb scrambled to get him harpooned because one bolt bounced off while three others stuck. They ended up with a treble by his front leg as well.

Poplin and Webb explained how they had passed an 11-foot alligator earlier that night but decided to wait for something bigger. Webb wrote that he said let us keep looking instead of taking the easier catch. He noted nobody finds an 11-footer that fast and then passes it up. They pressed on until their unexpected catch arrived.

Their catch was the second largest alligator caught in South Carolina history, successfully making it to the state record list. The largest one ever caught happened in 2010 when Maryellen Mara-Christian captured a 1025-pound gator measuring 13 feet at Lake Moultrie. That resident came from Massachusetts back then.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Chris Webb and Renegade Bowfishing LLC for comments on this story. This event reflects the risks these communities take when hunting large wildlife near populated areas like Lake Moultrie. The sheer size of Snaggletooth shows why safety protocols matter around alligators in South Carolina waters.