DUBLIN, N.C. -- The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is considering the state's first alligator hunting season, and they want your input.
Hunters would only be allowed to kill one alligator per season which would run from Sept. 1 to Oct. 1.
The season would help control North Carolina's gator population, which experts say is a lot bigger than you may think.
"Most all developments have retention ponds in them, and your golf courses have ponds in them. And these gators would get in these retention ponds and crawl up in people's yards and lay up in the sun," said James English, damage control agent.
Nine public hearings on the topic are scheduled for early next year.
The first one will be held at 7 p.m. Jan. 5 at Bladen Community College.