A family of Alabama hunters is celebrating the catch of a lifetime: A 15-foot-long alligator weighing more than 1,000 pounds.
The gator is the largest ever legally killed by an Alabama hunter, and weighing it posed a challenge. The first attempt completely destroyed a winch assembly used to hoist most average gators, so they had to use a backhoe to lift the animal. It weighed in at 1,011.5 pounds.
In the photo above, Mandy Stokes stands next to the alligator's head with her husband John Stokes, while the rest of her crew -- brother-in-law Kevin Jenkins and his children Savannah, 16, and Parker, 14 -- stand at left.
