Teen hunter bags 800-pound record alligator in Texas

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials have certified an 800-pound gator bagged last week by Braxton Bielski. (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)

Braxton Bielski with the new Texas state record alligator. (Troy Bielski)

An unidentified man seen with a record-setting gator. (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)

An 18-year-old Fort Bend County high school senior has become the record holder for the heaviest alligator ever caught in Texas.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials have certified an 800-pound gator bagged last week by Braxton Bielski.

He was hunting with his dad and a friend, both Houston police officers, after they won a Parks and Wildlife drawing for a 5-day permit to hunt in the Daughtrey Wildlife Management Area in South Texas, about 90 miles south of San Antonio.

Wildlife officials say the 14-foot-3-inch gator could be 30 to 50 years old. It was hooked on a line with raw chicken as bait, then shot. They had to pull the alligator alongside their flat-bottom boat across the lake to a beach area to lift it into their boat.