When hunting teams combed hundreds of rivers, creeks and tributaries during a rare alligator hunting season last year, the results shattered state records and peaked the interest of many statewide.

At season’s end, however, it was Shelby County resident Keith Fancher and his team of six friends who held that state record for their 838 pound, 14-foot, 2-inch alligator, caught in Fosters Creek in Wilcox County.

Beginning July 27, the alligator — known as the Fancher Gator — will be on display in Selma at the Central Alabama Farmers Cooperative through the month of August before continuing it’s tour around the state.

“I think people will travel to come see this thing,” Tim Wood, the general manager of the Co-Op, said. “There’s no doubt about it. You don’t see things like this that many times in your life.”

The day after the Fancher Gator’s arrival in Selma, the recipients of the 50 tags that will be awarded to those in the Dallas, Wilcox and Monroe county radius to participate in this year’s hunt will meet at the Co-Op for a mandatory one-day class to learn the dos and don’ts of alligator harvesting.

While they learn about the impending hunt, last season’s ultimate prize will sit just feet away from them in the Co-Op showroom.

“We wanted it to be here in time for the meeting,” Wood said. “When they come into the co-op, they won’t miss it. They’ll get to see what they’re trying for.”

James “Big Daddy” Lawler, host of 95.5’s Gettin’ Outdoors Show, said hunting for alligators in Alabama is entirely different than what everyone watches on TV show Swamp People.

On the show, the bait is hung in the daytime and then, once the gators are hooked, the hunters shoot them the head, Lawler said. In Alabama, he said, the hunters can only hunt between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., and they cannot use bait.

Rather, hunters must use some type of hook or projectile to hook the gator, and then get it to their boat and secure it with a lasso or a similar device before shooting it, he said.

“They do this to control the alligator population,” Lawler said. “It’s more of a sport and tool to control the population. But there is a lot of misconception with all that’s out there on TV, but in Alabama, the way your harvest alligator is entirely different.”

Registration for the 2012 alligator hunt began June 5 and will run until July 13 at 8 a.m. The hunts are scheduled for August 16-18 and 23-25 in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta and west central Alabama. Hunts in southeast Alabama will be held on August 10-26.

More information is available at www.outdooralabama.com.