‘Unbelievable 2½-hour fight’ ends with ‘monster in the boat,’ SC hunter says

Three men recently encountered a “monster” in South Carolina. Not only did they survive, but their story was shared on social media for others to discover their adventure battling a large alligator.

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John Wayne Caulder posted on Facebook about how he — along with son Kelly Caulder and friend Josh Bumgarner — endured to harvest the alligator in South Carolina’s Pee Dee region.

The men caught a 12-foot-8, 493-pound alligator, Caulder said in the Facebook post. It was no easy feat.

“After an unbelievable 2½-hour fight, we finally got this monster in the boat,” Caulder said in the post, where he suggested it was possible the alligator actually might have exceeded 500 pounds. “That weight was with his tail still hanging in the boat!”

Two stainless-steel hooks were bent while attempting to weigh the gator, according to Caulder.

The men encountered the gator Monday on a stretch of the Waccamaw River that’s between Georgetown and Myrtle Beach, WPDE reported. That’s in Zone 4 of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources alligator hunting territory.

For more than 150 minutes, the men battled the gator, which Caulder said pulled their nearly 18-foot long boat more than a quarter mile up the river before the hunters prevailed. Information about what the hunters used to get the alligator to succumb was not available.

But this wasn’t the gator’s first battle, Caulder said.

“There was a huge scar across his snout from another gator fight,” Caulder said. “When BM Venison Processing & Taxidermy got him opened up, they found a tooth from another gator embedded in the that old scar. … This old boy was built different.”

Caulder said he believes this is the largest alligator to be caught in Zone 4 this year. There’s no word about the size of the biggest gator caught in South Carolina in 2026.

Big, but not biggest

Despite the alligator’s massive measurements, it was not the largest gator ever caught in South Carolina. In fact, during the 2025 alligator hunting season in 2025 were reported to be 13 feet or greater, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.

That’s closer to the size of what’s believed to be the largest alligator ever caught in South Carolina.

In 2010, Maryellen Mara-Christian, a woman from Massachusetts, bagged a record-setting 13-foot-6, 1,025-pound alligator during the experienced wild game hunter’s visit to Lake Moultrie, A-Z Animals reported. That’s in Berkeley County, which falls in Zone 2 of South Carolina’s Middle Coast region, according to the state DNR.

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Another contender for largest alligator harvested in South Carolina was the one caught in 2020, according to Codray’s taxidermist/butcher shop. Also fished from the waters of Lake Moultrie, this gator unofficially was listed as 13-foot-9, Codray’s said.

The Stokes Alligator, caught in Alabama in 2014, is believed to be the largest gator ever harvested, measuring in at 15-foot-9, Our Planet reported.

“The best part wasn’t the number on the tape or the scale,” Caulder said. “It was the memories made with my son … and my good friend. … I couldn’t have asked for a better crew to share this experience with.”

Gator hunting in SC

This year, the public alligator hunting season in South Carolina runs from Sept. 12 to Oct. 10, according to the state DNR. Hunters looking to participate must have previously been selected in a lottery, South Carolina DNR said.

During alligator hunting season hunters are not allowed to shoot free swimming or basking alligators, according to South Carolina DNR. Additionally, no bait, baited hooks, set hooks, or pole hunting is allowed, and only one alligator can be taken per permit.

To be harvested, alligators must be 4-feet long or greater, South Carolina DNR said. Being shorter than that length was not an issue in this particular hunt.

Additionally, alligators can be taken in public waters, but not on Wildlife Management Areas or USFWS Refuges, and on private land where permission is granted, according to South Carolina DNR.

Finally, alligator meat can be kept, but not sold. Hides and parts are allowed to be sold according to regulation, South Carolina DNR said.

Caulder said that he and his fellow hunters kept meat from the alligator’s tail, WPDE reported. They also are planning to turn the gator’s skull into a European-style mount, according to the TV station.

This story was originally published September 23, 2026 at 11:09 AM with the headline “‘Unbelievable 2½-hour fight’ ends with ‘monster in the boat,’ SC hunter says.”

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