By Tim Binnall
A deer hunter in Minnesota had a rather impressive start to his season when he bagged both a ten-point buck as well as a three-foot-long alligator. According to a local media report, the strange incident occurred this past Saturday, the opening day of the state's firearm hunting season, when Cory Klocek was in pursuit of the deer near a pond in the community of East Bethel. Momentarily looking down at the ground, the hunter stopped in his tracks when he saw a fairly sizeable alligator lurking about ten feet away from him.
"I thought somebody was playing a prank on me," he recalled, noting that he suspected that perhaps the oddity was a fake rubber replica until it started moving, which is when Klocek realized "that's a real live alligator in Minnesota in November." Keeping an eye on the out-of-place animal, the dutiful sportsman quickly phoned the local game warden to report the weird sighting. The stunned official subsequently told the hunter that he could shoot the creature since it was an invasive species.
In response, Klocek promptly put down the three-foot-long reptile which he suspects had once been someone's pet before being released into the wild after it had gotten too big. After shooting the alligator, the hunter went on to bag the buck and he now plans to have both creatures mounted in a showcase of his once-in-a-lifetime season opener. "Only in 2020 can you go out to sit for deer gun season opener in Minnesota and shoot an alligator," Klocek marveled, "I'm still at a loss for words."