Sumter County, SC (WLTX) - A group of men in the Midlands caught a massive gator in the Midlands over the weekend.
Brittany Johnson says her husband and his friends found the gator around 1 a.m. Saturday near Pack's Landing on Lake Marion. The animal weighed 700 pounds and was 12 feet long.
In the pictures that she sent News19, you can see the men--Chris Barfield, David Ardis, and Tripp Boney.
The three were spending their Saturday night on Lake Marion.
"It was definitely an interesting night. (Their eyes) shine pretty good. You can see them across the lake and we ran up in a spot that probably had ten or twelve gators in it," said Ardis.
The three were riding in their 16-foot boat and quickly realized they were in a battle with an alligator almost longer the boat.
With the alligator being 700 pounds, they say it wasn't an easy fight.
"Most people are fighting them for four or five hours and they don't ever get them in or anything like that but luckily he wore himself out towing the boat around," explained Ardis.
The three friends say that Chris will be mounting the gator in his home and they'll split the meat in between them all.
Gator hunting season in South Carolina started on September 8 and runs until October 13.
