Cheerleader Among Women Bagging Gators

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - Two woman set out recently on alligator hunts and came back with huge prizes.

Arianne Prevost, of Satellite Beach, Fla. netted an 11-foot alligator, weighing in at nearly 500 pounds, on her very first alligator hunt Tuesday.

Prevost described the hunt on Fox News Thursday (watch the video in the player at right). She detailed how she shot the animal at least twice before she and her crew engaged in a "tug-of-war" with it. She delivered the "kill shot," a term describing the soft spot behind the eyes. It is a difficult shot, but she nailed it. The alligator, though, was not done and Prevost had to drop a second "kill shot."

"It happens really fast," said Prevost.

“An 11-footer is a true trophy in anyone's book,” said Capt. Peter Deeks of Native Sons Outfitters, who led the hunt.

Prevost spotted the gator in the St. Johns River during the statewide public alligator hunt. She, along with Deeks and Prevost’s boyfriend, Robert Rohmann, chartered an airboat armed with a crossbow in search of the large reptile they had spotted in the past.

"Arianne made two perfect shots with her crossbow to secure the trophy, before quickly dispatching it with a broadhead,” said Deeks. “This makes it a trophy archery kill."

The alligator's head will be mounted in Orlando, and the meat processed for food.

A second young lady on her alligator hunt is also making news. Cammie Colin, a 16-year-old cheerleader from White Knoll, S.C., bagged an alligator early Sunday morning. Her prize came in at 10 feet 5 inches and weighed 353 pounds. She also was hunting with a crossbow. ( See a photo )

Colin and her father spoke with Fox News ( watch the clip ) and described how she hooked the alligator and the struggle that followed. As a meal, she said alligator "tastes like chicken, or like chicken with a fish taste."

The State reported that Colin was on Lake Marion with with a guide, her father, an uncle and her brother, but she was the only one authorized to take a alligator in the weekend hunt. South Carolina holds a lottery for the 1,000 slots in the annual public alligator harvest, which runs through Oct. 11.

"Don't be afraid, and just go at it," she told the paper offering advice for others who might want to hunt alligators or something equally unusual. She said that most of her teachers are using her new nickname, "Killer."

With reports from MyFoxOrlando.com.