Pictured: a record-breaking 14-foot alligator caught in Mississippi.

A group of hunters have broken the national record for the longest alligator caught. Photo: Shane Smith/Red Antler Processing

The record is a 14-foot, 3-inch alligator caught by a group of hunters in Mississippi after a seven-hour struggle.

Hunters, Tanner White, Don Woods, Will Thomas and Joey Clark , broke the state record for the longest alligator ever caught during the annual certified hunting season.

A male alligator weighing almost 365 kilograms was retrieved from the Yazoo River after destroying much of the equipment in the early morning on their boat. Saturday morning.

“It was pandemonium. It was chaos,” Mr. Thomas, a 43-year-old Mississippi lawyer, told the Washington Post. , everyone is going crazy, and the adrenaline is running high.

The group of hunters became even more excited when they realized the huge size of the animal. Photo: Shane Smith/Red Antler Processing

Mr Thomas said the hunters put a noose around the creature to comply with state hunting laws before shooting it with a shotgun.

He said the group was even more excited when they realized the animal's sheer size.

The longest alligator ever recorded measured 15 feet 9 inches in 2014 in Alabama.

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> In 2005, Mississippi began offering alligator sport hunting seasons as part of an effort to manage the alligator population. During the 10-day season of this year, more than 950 hunting tokens were raffled off as part of the state lottery.