16-Year-Old Cheerleader Cammie Colin Kills 10-Foot Alligator With a Crossbow

Cammie Colin, a 16-year-old cheerleader at her high school in White Knoll, South Carolina, took down a 10-foot gator during a weekend hunt with a crossbow.

Cammie Colin (thestate.com)
Colin won one of 1,000 lottery slots South Carolina makes available every year for those wishing to partake in the annual public alligator harvest. The 5'4", 120-pound girl says her friends thought she was joking about going gator hunting, but now her family is stocked with 40 pounds of alligator steak in the freezer.

"Don't be afraid, and just go at it," she said of her attitude toward going after gators at 3 a.m. last Saturday night. "My classmates were amazed. They didn't think I was serious about going gator hunting."

Cammie Colin's gator and crossbow. (thestate.com)
Hunters use spotlights to find the eyes of gators lying mostly hidden in the water. Colin was in an 18-foot aluminum boat with a silent electric motor carrying a hunting party of 4 other people. Hunters use harpoons or crossbows to hunt gators because something with a line must be used. Colin shot the 353-pound gator in the tail, and it dragged their boat around for an hour before another member of the hunting party shot it in the head.

Colin, whose crossbow weighed nearly 10 pounds, says she has a new nickname at school.

"Almost all the teachers call me 'Killer' now." (More at thestate.com)