This picture was taken by a Life Flight helicopter flying over Lake Istapoka, in Sebring, Florida.

That has to be a HUGE gator to have a whole deer it its mouth!!!!

Date: Mon, 1 Aug, 2006 06:14:24 -0500

The alligator was found between Lake Istapoka and Pinedale estates...near a house.  Game Wardens were forced to shoot the alligator- guess he wouldn't cooperate!  Jayne and Don Hobkirk could hear the bellowing in the night. Their neighbors had been telling them that they had seen a mammoth alligator in the Lake that runs behind their house, but they dismissed the stories as being exaggerations.  "I didn't believe it", Don Hobkirk said.  Friday they realized the stories were, if anything, understat ed. Florida Game and Parks game wardens had to shoot the beast...

Joe Goff, 6' 5" tall, a game warden with the Florida Game and Parks Commission,

walks past the 23-foot, one inch alligator that he shot and killed in the back yard of Jayne & Don Hobkirk...

Dan

Wow!!!! Glad I dont live in Florida. 23ft. is crazy and it ate a deer.   :o

Wonder how old it was. That is a scarey but amazing animal.

to bad they had to kill it, I dont think that many alligators grow to 20+ft.

wowzers that thing is the size of the bass that snapped my line last fall!!!

;D ;D ;D ;D

Thats crazy. Imagine canoeing along and having that thing snack on you and your canoe. That is why I always have a flipping stick with a 3 oz weight ready, incase something like that comes to the surface.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/wcgator.asp

Nice try Dan

Only saltwater crocodiles get that size I think. Big gator never the less.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/wcgator.asp

Nice try Dan

Only saltwater crocodiles get that size I think. Big gator never the less.

Well, I got the quotes and pics from a nephew in Florida.  Never thought to look at Snopes :-[

I can't blame ya, I believed the "world record bear" email for years before I got  "snoped" ha ha!

I don't care if its 23 foot or 13 its still something i would not want to find  when i'm cruising along in my boat, unless i was going the opposite way wide open lol.

That is one big gator.Those are awesome pictures,Dan,thanks for sharing them.

It is seriously to bad they killed it thats amazing if it can get downa deer but if i saw that thing i probably would have pulled out my bow and got it between the eyes. I'd have a new rug in the living room.

I have no doubt that Dan posted that story and pic. with all sincerity.  

It's good that someone got the real deal, but let's not get to the point where we have to "verify our sources" before posting something of interest.

This is a fun site.  Let's keep all the fun and interesting stuff coming.

good catch fourbiz but thanks to Dan as well.

I love this place.

avid

Just wanted to clarify:

I didn't look that up just so I could correct you lightninrod. 23 sounded crazy big to me (an admitted discovery channel junkie ) so I looked a little deeper. My post was meant to be lighthearted and I sincerely hope that it will be taken as such.

Jay

You southern guys don't realize how amazing it is to us northern boys that you fish the  canals and lakes down there with those animals swimming around. I have never fished in Florida and if I ever do and a 13' gator swims toward my boat I am going to start that baby up and not slow down until I get back to the ramp !!! Any critter that is big enough to lug a deer around in its mouth needs to stay about two zip codes away from me !!!  

How would you have liked to foul hook that thing .

Jay:  No problem young man.  I was upset at the nephew that emailed me the pics and quotes and I was angry with myself for not checking it out.  I posted it on 5 or 6 BBs and went back to each of them and posted your Snope's site/info.

There are 5 and 8' foot gators in the swamp pond where I fish often though not lately.  A few years ago, I was in my little 10'X4' plastic boat at a small lake right next to downtown Macon and here comes a 12-14' gator across the water's surface about a 50 yards away.  It had to be 4-5' across its back.  Kept my good eye on that critter for sure as it cruised back-n-forth from one corner of the lake to the other.

Dan

this is a real (dumb) florida gator  :.

roll tide

Imagine that much muscle, hide, teeth, and bone!  

I saw one in a roadside ditch just south of Charleston, SC one night about midnight a few years ago.  It looked like a log, but my buddy said, "that ain't no log" and I backed up.  It was close to a well lit fenced in yard with a yapping dog.  When I stopped the car the gator go up on all four feet and ran down the ditch and back into the swamp.  Had I been outside the car, I don't believe that I could have out run it.  I had no idea how fast they can move.