Cooper City man bags nearly 12-foot alligator on Lake Okeechobee, report says

He caught a big gator in a small boat.

A Cooper City man’s latest trek to Lake Okeechobee to hunt alligators — as permitted by the state — netted him a nearly 12-foot gator weighing an estimated 1,000 pounds, WPLG-Ch. 10 is reporting.

Airline pilot and gator-hunting enthusiast Jim Howard and some friends caught the creature in his 18 1/2-foot ski boat on Thursday after a quite monumental struggle, the station reported.

Howard will make wallets and purses from the gator’s hide — and keep its skull for display.

“I think at first they [his family] thought I was crazy — and I think they still do,” he joked to WPLG.

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