CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- As many as 1,200 hunters are expected on South Carolina rivers and marshes as the state opens the month-long alligator hunting season.
Nearly 3,800 people from across the country applied for a gator hunting permit this season.
Experts think there are about 10,000 gators in South Carolina, mostly in the southern and eastern portions of the state. The state resumed gator hunting season two years ago.
State law requires alligators be captured and brought alongside a boat or to shore before they are killed. Hunters can't simply stand on shore and shoot gators with a rifle.
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