Braxton Bielski, from the Houston area in Texas, will spend his final high school days basking in the glory of his record-setting, 14-foot-3-inch, 800-pound alligator.
The 18-year-old hooked what is now the heaviest gator ever bagged in Texas -- on a line with raw chicken as bait -- and then shot it.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) officials certified the teen as the official state record holder last week, according to Fox News.
Bielski
made the catch while hunting with his father, and a friend in the
Daughtrey Wildlife Management Area, near a reservoir 90 miles south of
San Antonio, the Houston Chronicle reported. The TPWD had granted them a
permit to legally hunt gators.
The teen's beast beats out a catch from 2011, when a 19-year-old Florida student reeled in a 12-foot, 3-inch, 800-pound gator during a boating trip.
Of course, neither gator compares to the 2,370-pound, world record-breaking crocodile, Lolong, that was captured alive that same year by villagers in the Philippines. The 20-foot croc passed away in February 2013.
