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In last year's hunt, 362 alligators were killed.
Beaufort County is part of the Southern Coastal hunting unit -- the state is divided into hunting regions -- and 94 gators were "harvested" in this area, according to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. The region also covers Colleton, Hampton, Jasper, Barnwell, Bamberg, Allendale and Aiken counties.
The DNR says the average alligator taken was about 9 feet long, and the largest in the state was 13.7 feet. Each licensed hunter can capture only one alligator a season.
This year, the same lottery system was used, and 250 hunters were chosen from each of the four regions. Applications were filled out in the summer.
DNR Furbearer and Alligator Program supervisor Jay Butfiloski talked with The Sun News about this year's hunting season.
Question. What's new this year?
Answer. The biggest change is that hunting season now starts and ends at noon. Last year, you could go out at midnight, but that posed a few problems with law enforcement seeing people out at night with hunting equipment. Also, you don't have as many problems trying to spotlight everything while you hunt.
Q. Is the hunt good for the ecosystem?
A. It potentially takes care of some alligators that might cause problems with humans, and it helps control the population.
Q. DNR chose to use the same lottery system this year. It must have worked well.
A. Yes. Everyone has been notified whether they got a permit or not. We had more than 3,700 applications this year and about 1,500 last year.
Q. To what do you attribute that growth?
A. I think there might have been some reticence last year because people weren't sure how the lottery was going to work. But this year, we had whole groups of people -- whole families -- applying in hopes that at least one of them would get a permit.
Q. So you can hunt with a permitted hunter?
A. Yes. Everyone in the group has to have a regular hunting permit, but they can participate in the gator hunt with the one person who has the alligator permit. If you bag an alligator, you're going to need some help. Not everyone can take home an alligator, but at least they can participate.
The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette contributed to this report.
