A 12-foot 2-inch, 463-pound alligator is measured at the Five Rivers check station after being weighed on Thursday, August 15, 2013. Alvin Nelson, James Nelson, Tori Nelson, John Harrison and Bill Greer caught the gator. (Dennis Pillion | dpillion@al.com)

-- James Nelson and his hunting party thought the battle was over when they had their 12-foot 2-inch, 463-pound alligator bound on the floor of their boat, shot in the head, bound at the legs and taped at the mouth.

But after the gator kept moving inside the boat, the group jabbed a screwdriver in the gator's head to make sure. That screwdriver was still stuck in the gator when they brought it to the weigh station at Five Rivers Delta Resource Center.

Nelson caught the gator along with his wife Tori Nelson, cousin Alvin Nelson, and friends John Harrison, Bill Greer and Mitch Walters. Nelson said it took all five men to get the gator into the boat.

As a general rule, the gators were not willing to go gentle into that muggy Mobile night.

Another group, led by Trevor Walters, shot their 9-foot 7-inch gator with a crossbow, landed a hook in it and harpooned the gator at the side of the boat. That's when the gator got mad, rolling over and freeing itself from the boat and forcing Walters -- with friends Matthew Murphy and Shane Barnett -- to chase it down and fire one final, fatal shot with a standard bow and arrow.

So far six gators have been brought in to the check station. Only

for this hunting season. Keep checking AL.com for updates on the 2013 Alabama gator hunt.